With the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act, our country started on its track to being a full out Orwellian society. We need to stop this before it goes too far. The surveillance being done is not helping as much as it should, or even is said to be.

With national security in consideration, mass surveillance in the United States has been increasingly apparent by different motions of the government. Yet these actions only seem to be invading our privacy.

In this post-9/11 age, nothing is certain. Not even our constitutional rights.

The government has too much power over citizens since it has established wireless surveillance in order to track possible terrorists. This is an invasion of our privacy because it goes against our rights as citizens of this United States such the rights of speech and freedom of the press. Wireless surveillance not only enables the government to tap our phone records, but they have enough information to know what we read and who we talk to.

Section 213 of the PATRIOT Act allows government officials to be issued a covert entry warrant or surreptitious entry warrant—more colloquially know as the sneak and peak warrant. Essentially, this warrant allows investigators to enter a suspect’s home without their knowledge or consent, and even confiscate objects as evidence. This violation would be serious enough if it were only used in conjunction with terrorist investigations, but it can be issued under any federal investigation.

The domestic surveillance program started by the Bush Administration attempts to protect Americans by spying on them. Government must find a way to protect Americans without invading our freedom.

Wiretapping just seems useless and a violation of privacy. First, it is racial profiling, and second, there is a very slim chance of a terrorist being found.