Security is an ever-changing entity that must be adjusted in response to events happening over time to ensure the safety of a country's citizens. In the United States, the Bush administration put forth the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) of 2001 and the Homeland Security Act and the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) has been using surveillance techniques such as the Carnivore program to monitor activity in order to identify threats. These measures, while undoubtedly increasing the security level of the nation, have breached the sacrosanct right of privacy and freedom of speech by monitoring electronic mail, websites and telephone calls, regardless of the person. The government is clearly blurring lines set forth by the Constitution by taking action through these means of surveillance and promoting corporate scandals by giving companies incentives to comply with these measures through new laws and loopholes. Citizens of the United States are forced to permit the government to invade what was once considered one of the ten unalienable rights guaranteed to all citizens of the United States by the Bill of Rights. The boundary between free speech and security has officially been broken by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which ensures that no soul in the United States will ever have a true opportunity to express their opinions without the threat of governmental scrutiny, at least through electronic mail and telephone conversations.
The FBI's Carnivore was first introduced to the public in 2000, which was when the FBI acknowledged that they had such a system in place. This program, now replaced with a newer version, was used to monitor internet transfers and telephone calls taking place in the United States. The details involving exactly what is monitored are classified thus making it so the public is blindly consenting to the FBI to collect data on them, whether or not it was warranted.
