Miscellaneous Entry #1 Matt Marquand

I have to write a ten page research paper for my judicial process class and my paper topic is the right of privacy.  The right of privacy is applicable to every American.  A recent example of the invasion of privacy was the wiretapping and collecting data after the 9/11 attacks.  In the summer 2006, USA Today disclosed that the US Spy Agency (NSA) was secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions Americans without their consent.  NSA didn’t get prior approval from a court to pursue electronic surveillance on domestic phone calls; President Bush explained this policy as falling under the Patriot Act of 2001.  The Patriot Act of 2001 gave the government authority to take unusual security measures to protect its citizens.  Did the Patriot Act infringe upon Americans right of privacy?  President Bush claimed the efforts were used to link to terrorists and the government was not mining through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans.  Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 which explicitly prohibited the collecting or disclosing of customer calling records or any other “personally identifiable information”.  The concept of privacy drastically changed after the 9/11 attacks and according to a Gallup Poll almost 2/3 (63%) of Americans said such efforts were acceptable in the war on terrorism.  The fight on terrorism appeared to be more important to the public than what they perceive as violations of their privacy.  It was fascinating the see how Americans will allow an intrusion to their privacy if they believed it gave them protection.