Take a moment and consider that we are living in the year 2005. Almost four years have passed since the infamous and devastating Sept. 11 attacks, and much has changed in our nation during that span of time. Along the lines of instigating a pre-emptive war and imprisoning Saddam Hussein, the United States government has made terrorism the defining force in both national and international policy, and the USA PATRIOT Act is a prime example of this new national agenda.
Since its passage on Oct. 26, 2001 the PATRIOT Act has been hotly contested by both liberal and conservative groups, the most vocal of those being the American Civil Liberties Union. The act was, and still is, touted by supporters as an important mechanism in fighting terrorism because it grants U.S. government and federal officials powers specific to an international tone of terrorism. The right of federal investigators to search and seize electronic information without a warrant, for instance, could be key to swiftly understanding and stopping a future terrorist attack. Yet many deem the act an infringement on constitutional rights. The Emerald stands as one of those many.
Now, three-and-a-half years later, 15 sections of the PATRIOT Act will expire if Congress does not renew them at the end of 2005. Among others, those provisions being considered for renewal, and heavily discussed this week in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, include: Section 505, which allows the FBI to seize records without a specific or concrete subpoena; Section 214, which allows investigators to watch and record the numbers of all incoming calls to a particular phone line; and Section 207, which gives federal officials the right to monitor any individual communications, through a wiretap or other means.
This means that were you, a university student, fingered as a potential terrorist by a federal investigator, it is legal for him or her to listen in on your phone calls, analyze your text messages and read your e-mail — without your knowledge. Shall we play a game of Are You Nervous?
The provisions within the PATRIOT Act as a whole are still largely unnecessary. Sept. 11 did not occur because the FBI didn’t have time to get a warrant and go through someone’s library records. The attacks occurred primarily because of a government that chose to ignore both the world community at large and the warning signs that members of that community were preparing a massive act of vengeance. Unwarranted seizure of documents can hardly make up for the terrorists’ belief that the United States is inherently evil and deserving of violence.
It is important to remember that guarantees of liberty found within the U.S. Constitution were not designed to be applicable in only times of peace. Rather, provisions such as the fourth amendment right to privacy, or the guarantee of a fair trial by jury, were created so that even in times of country-wide turmoil, the needs and rights of the individual could be ever-present.
The U.S. Congress should remember the values that this country was built on, as it failed to do at the original passage of this act, and begin a disintegration of the
PATRIOT Act this year by rejecting the renewal of any provisions.

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