Anti-Terror Laws - What Americ essays

Anti-Terror Laws - What Americ essays Anti-Terror Laws - What Americans Should Know Unaware to most people in the US, recently passed laws allow the government to watch them just about as much as they want. After the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 there have been many laws passed to protect our nation from these terrible people. In the process of trying to protect us, the citizens of the United States, they have started to pry into our lives. Making some uncomfortable. Many people believe there are too many flaws and that these new laws can give the government too much access to our lives. The main laws that have passed include the USA Patriot Act, the Homeland Security Act, and a possible Domestic Security Enhancement Act, currently in draft form. I am not saying do away with these laws, but they should be revised, reconsidered, and then put back into place. Initially, the USA Patriot Act was passed by an overwhelming vote by the US Congress on October 26, 2001. This act was passed very quickly after the 9/11 attacks, it is considered a weaker version of the upcoming Homeland Security Act. This law allows the FBI to begin spying on American's that were considered a threat. There was judicial over-sight established in the 70's to stop this. Some of the FBI and CIA monitoring affect a lot of areas of typical American's lives. Internet usage can be spied on if a law enforcement agent believes that surveillance is "relevant" in an ongoing investigation. When a person signs on to the internet they send and receive "packets" of information and that creates what comes up on the screen and this is what a user interacts with. New government software named Carnivore is included in the expanded investigative powers included in this act. This software "sniffs" these packets for key words or e-mail addresses that have become deemed a threat by investigators. FBI now can obtain access to many sensitive documents about a person's life just by sta...