Thanks
to 9/11, the U.S. has instated the Patriot Act, a mandate that allows the
government to spy on its citizens without a court order. Sending e-mails
is no longer a private matter; the FBI now has the authorization to intercept
everything we send electronically. So don't e-mail grandma to thank her
for the tasty cookies made of nitroglycerin she made you last weekend.
Write a letter the old-fashioned way instead.
The
timing couldn't be worse for another aspect of this Act. Now that I've
started going to the library, they've made it legal for the FBI to monitor
which library books we're checking out. Books thought to inspire
terrorist activity are flagged, marking anyone who checks them out as a
possible terrorist.
I think
this is a huge overreaction to our most tragic national event. It's nice
to feel safe, but not at the expense of our liberties. If I get flagged
for checking out a book like The Communist Manifesto simply
because I'm interested in economic theory, is that really appropriate for their
profiling me as a terrorist? It seems like a passive aggressive way to
control people, and could lead to more dangerous things down the road if we
aren't careful.
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