Blog 6

Wen Gao

ASA 2 Section A03

10/25/2015

Response to “The USA Patriot Act”

Charles Doyle briefly introduces the USA Patriot Act, which was generated after the terrorists’ attacks of September 11, 2001. It makes the federal government have greater authority and power to prevent terrorist attack. In my opinion, although this Act is beneficial for terrorist attack in many aspects, for instance, money laundry for the purpose of supporting terrorist attack, and keep alien terrorists from entering the U.S., it still need to be improved based on the benefit of the public. In order to gather foreign intelligence, the Act tracks and intercepts public communication such as phone calls and emails. But it might also lead to power abuse and privacy issues. Our phone calls or emails can be recorded without our awareness. And we don’t know whether our personal information will be leaked secretly to other government institutions for profit. The surveillance would make the public lose lost trust of government. Although this Act is powerful and targeted, it still need to be improved.

Question: What is the outcome of the Patriot Act from so far? Does it efficiently prevent terrorists attacks?