Memo on the Patriot Act

Samuel Sugimoto

Section A01

Week 6 Reading Report: Memo on the Patriot Act

            In the fear fueled political chaos after the September 11^th terrorist attacks, politicians, without the consent of the American people, stripped their constituents of the many privacies they had in the years past.  As discussed in the ASNE Memo on the Patriot Act II, the government is now free to perform warrantless search of electronic data in the name of rooting out domestic and international terrorist activities targeting the United States.  Data gathered in this manner is even allowed to be presented in court as evidence against defendants.  Honestly, all of this is a moot point, a way to gradually legalize what the government has been doing with the dragnet surveillance program it utilizes on its own civilians.  Of course, that is not to say what they are doing is ok, what many ignorant people and politician who believe this is not a problem do not seem to comprehend that this kind of surveillance is akin to the government post office opening and storing a photocopy everyone’s personal mail.