Big Brother

Paper Summary:

This paper details the events that led to the 2001 Patriot Act, which increased the rights of law enforcement organizations while diminishing the right to privacy of American citizens. The writer of this paper examines various laws and acts passed over the years which were implemented to give the U.S. government the right to curtail its citizens' basic right to privacy and free speech. This paper discusses the Sedition Act of 1798 which gave the federal authorities permission to prosecute any person who was suspected to be plotting against the government. The writer contends and explains how the government has been trying to collect personal data about individual American citizens by way of the Social Security Administration. This paper discusses the government's intention to exchange and merge all available governmental databases in order to obtain the personal data of all American citizens. This paper also examines the recent restriction of public access to documents normally available under the Freedom of Information Act, which has led government officials to start denying public access to documents, for no apparent reason.

From the Paper:

"Along with the Patriot Act, there has been a restriction of public access to documents normally available under the Freedom of Information Act. This has led the government officials to start denying public access to documents even when they have no real reason for doing so. The printing office of the government has destroyed the government records in over a thousand libraries where they were being stored, and information from the Internet has been removed by 15 government agencies. As early as 1st November 2001, President Bush had blocked the release of presidential papers as per the Presidential Records Act of 1978, even though the demand had been made before 9/11. Homeland Security Director has not testified before the Congress, and his example has been followed by other members of the Bush team in all situations even when the testimony was not related to national security."

More papers on Big Brother:

• Essay # 44835 : "Big Brothers Big Sisters"
• Essay # 36648 : "Beware - Big Brother Is Watching"
• Essay # 44225 : "Cuba's Big Brother"
• Argumentative Essay # 9690 : "How Big Brother Watches America"

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