The USA Patriot Act and Educational IT Policy: .
A Brief Insight into Issues Concerning Colleges.
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT ACT) of 2001 was signed into law on October 26th, 2001. Since it was signed into law the USA Patriot Act has been the subject of numerous alarms from privacy advocates. However little attention has been addressed to the effects of the USA Patriot Act on institutions of higher education. .
This paper will provide a brief overview of the USA Patriot Act; included in this overview will be comments and opinions as to the impact of the USA Patriot Act on business world. I will then make a case for my opinion of the impact the USA Patriot Act will have on colleges, and other institutions of higher education, between now and the "sunset" date of December 31, 2005. I"ll conclude with suggestions for pro-active responses addressing potential problems and liability issues facing educational institutions.
Overview of the USA Patriot Act.
The foremost objective of the Congress and the President in enacting the USA Patriot Act was to provide the Federal law enforcement and Intelligence agencies with the financial resources required and the legal authority to combat all perceived forms of terrorism or possible terrorist activity without prior judicial review. The USA Patriot Act was passed in direct response to the events of September 11th, 2001. This was revealed in its over-riding theme: "to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes." However the problem with any bill is the politics required to get it passed into law. The USA Patriot Act was no different. Many of the items encompassed as a part of the "Act" had failed in several previous attempts at being enacted into law.
