USA PATRIOT Act

The USA PATRIOT Act is an act signed by George W. Bush after the massive terrorist attack that took place in 2001. The name is an acronym which comes from "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001". It was introduced in order to keep the wrongdoings under control and to stop the crimes before being commited. The most important stipulations are:

1. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking.
2. The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better "connect the dots."
3. The Patriot Act updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats.
4. The Patriot Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes.

Taking into consideration the fact that the Act violates people's privacy, it is no wonder that a number of Americans doesn't agree with it. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is one of the organs that represents resistance. The members argue that there is not enough information about what can be done with retrieved data. Moreover, it is not specifically said who is responsible for the performed actions. The case of warrants is also not clarified enough. They can be issued to everyone and the circumstances for receiving one are not as strict as they were before. Generally, the main problem is about the provisions being too broad and, what comes after that, the freedom of an average citizen is considerably reduced. 

In my opinion, the Act can do more good than evil. Of course, the opponents have right about some issues and there is no doubt that some changes need to be introduced. The basic problem is that Americans are not informed enough and they simply fear of the unknown. The Internet security is not perfect and while people rebel against the government's actions that are performed for the greater good, they are not even aware that some hackers can have their data without them even knowing. 

sources 1), 2)