A Price for a Broken System

Danny Wong

ASA 002

May 4, 2014

Reading Blog 6

A Price for a Broken System

                Upon reading about the Patriot Act 2 I thought about what the Patriot Act 1 was about. The main point of I was to provide better security to the United States from encountering another terrorist incident. I thought by having the same name it would be an evolution to how to prevent the issue at a more efficient rate, but I was wrong. The Patriot Act 2 is pretty much a big brother type scenario like in the book 1984 by George Orwell. It gives the government more power to do whatever they like. From the article it states that it will “relax the procedural safeguards protecting citizens from widespread government surveillance such as warrantless wiretaps on telephones…” Anyone in the United States can clearly say that is a violation of our privacy and it is unconstitutional which I agree upon. I like the fact that the main idea is to provide a better security to the people, but not at a cost like this. The scariest part to me was section 101 of the Patriot Act 2. In this particular section it stated that “allowing approval for such surveillance with only the merest evidence of a crime—even if that crime has no relationship to terrorist organizations or activities.” Essentially people usually get spied on if they are related to certain terrorist acts, but this section shows that anyone could be under surveillance if they have committed a misdemeanor. How is that even a fair punishment for the person being spied on. I believe the United States need to focus more on making the current security measures more effective and stop trying to use the term “terrorism protection” to fool people into giving up their constitutional rights.

Question: Do you think it is worth giving up part of your rights for a bit of extra security?