Walking down the streets, minding ones business, the average American takes for granted many immutable rights dictated through the American Bill of Rights. As the fourth amendement of the United States Constitution states: .
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized (LoC, 2003).
Yet as this average American passes down Center Street of New York, New York, a booming explosion yards away, would unknowigly alter the way that the Rights of Americans would be treated. On September 11, 2001, a day to be locked into the minds and hearts of Americans and the world for one of terrorist tyrany. As two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Centers, one into the Pentagon, and another steered off course while heading to the White House, the rights of American citizens and landed immigrants would change forever.
Shockwaves rippled Congress one afternoon as the USA Patriot Act (the Act) entered legislation. On October 24, 2001, as a response to terrorist activities culminating on September 11, 2001, Congress passed a bill "allowing federal officers greater authority to track and intercept communications" (Doyle, 1). According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation the Act was passed in order to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, while enhancing law enforcement investigatory tools (p. 1). Simply stated, the Patriot Act covers a grey area between what is correct and what is illegal when granting the right of citizens in the United States of America. In hindsight of the destruction and loss on September 11, the U.S. government realized that the detailed surveillance of library books, analysis of phone conversations, and research of computer information, would have yielded potential possabilities to deter if not stop the terrorist activities.