What do you think about when you hear the two words Patriot Act? Some people think about flying the flag and some get that warm fuzzy feeling of being patriotic. But some know of the real meaning of the USA Patriot Act which stands for [Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism ](Mary Minow online ). Those people know that it is a act that was passed a little over a month and a half after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington (Mary Minow online). The Patriot Act was passed by congress so that government officials would be able to pursue terrorists more easily . When it passed it seemed to be a great idea , but a year and a half later it is under heavy fire for some of the provisions . One of the most heated provisions is section 215 which allows the FBI to check into personal and business records of all sorts ( Goldstein online ).
In section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the government to search business records and use them to track down a suspected person. This section of the Patriot Act amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. (Stories and Articles online) The FISA was established so that the FBI could try to make a application for a search warrant to get hold of tangible things. It sounds a lot alike the provision in the Patriot Act and basically is. Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the director of the FBI to .
. . .make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things including books, records, papers, documents, and other items for an investigation to protect against international terrorism provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of .
activities protected by the first amendment of the Constitution. (Goldstein on-line).
.
This means that the FBI has to get a paper giving permission to search records before preforming the search and it also says that normal people will not be singled out just because they are of different background and that the only people who would be pen pointed will be people who are suspected of something foul .
