ASA 2 Sec 2
Week 6
In Charles Doyle's abridged political analysis of "The USA Patriot Act: A Legal Analysis," Doyle provides a brief sketch of the primary provisions of the USA Patriot Act. The Act, signed by the President in 2001, provides for a three-tiered system for collecting information on communication, lesser restrictions on gathering foreign intelligence, strengthened policing against money laundering, and new laws to fight against terrorism.
It is hard to choose a stance on this type of legal action. On one hand, terrorism was shown to be a very real thing through the events that occured on September 11, 2001. On the other, the power that the Patriot Act gives to invade the privacy of civilians seems rather unnerving. One of the most concerning provisions of the Patriot Act is the "sneak and peak warrant" provision. This allows investigators to secretly enter private property in order to investigate suspicious activity. It is hard to say if our individual liberties are worth preventing terrorist acts, and if the two don't have to be mutually exclusive ideals.
Question: Have politicians, and people in general, overreacted in the passing of the Patriot Act, or has it been a beneficial safe-guard for the American people?
Image: A Cartoon satirizing the extended reach that the Patriot Act allowed the government.
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