Privacy After September 11

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the history of privacy rights, such as the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Wiretap Acts, government computer surveillance systems such as Carnivore and ECHELON, the Patriot Act, terrorist uses of the Internet, and the effects of interest groups.

From the Paper:

"It is obvious that the September 11th attacks on America have reshaped the lives of the American people. These attacks shook up the American system and altered the lives of our people and the priorities of our government. As we watched the towers fall and the war on terrorism begin, the right to personal privacy was the last thing on the minds of American citizens, lost in a deluge of right, white, and blue patriotism. As time goes by and the impact of these events has begun to lessen, the concern over privacy and other rights has made a resurgence. Many Americans fear that in the months following the attacks we may have lost rights in the name of protecting our nation. Meanwhile, the government and a great number of American citizens fear that a second attack of similar proportions, or greater, could cause far worse problems for our nation. With this in mind, the government has taken an extremely aggressive stance on terrorism issues since the attacks. Following September 11th, the government has pushed anti-terrorism legislation through congress at an impressive pace. The piece of legislation with the greatest impact on America thus far is the Patriot Act of 2001. Prompted by fears of sleeper cells and terrorists living and operating amongst us, this act has changed the way the government is allowed to operate and what it is allowed to do in the name of protecting its people, but is all this really necessary? As this piece of legislation was quickly pushed through congress, many people fear that their rights may have been violated and innocent people have become subject of investigation in the name of stopping terrorists. There has been much talk of Americans living in fear of terrorism, but now that more than two years have gone by without another attack, is it our own loss of rights and privacy that we should be afraid of?"

More papers on Privacy After September 11:

• Research Paper # 26201 : "Privacy and Security after September 11"
• Research Paper # 61117 : "Post 9-11 Security and Privacy in IT"
• Essay # 29922 : "Civil Liberties"

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