Government Invasion of Privacy
Gregory A Stecklow
ENG 122
Instructor: Anthony Baker
12 November, 2012

Facebook has become the largest social media site with over 1 billion active users as of September 14, 2012. Of those 1 billion users on average for June 2012, 552 million were considered daily active users. (Potalinski, Oct 4, 2012) The world has gone crazy with social media. The ability to update one’s status on anything that has an internet connection has been enhanced through technological advances in both phones and tablets. The Federal Government deemed it necessary to monitor social sites on October 26, 2001 with the inception of the Patriot Act. The liberties given to the government since the Patriot Act was signed into law has been debated over the potential violation of an individual’s privacy. This author believes the Patriot Act does not violate individual privacy rights. The individuals violate their own rights by what they post. The Federal Government monitors for potential national security threats through watch words. The Patriot Act affords them this right. An individual has the ability to speak their mind. The Federal Government is only concerned with posts that show potential threats to national security. There have been 50 cases of threats to national security since the Patriot Act’s inception in 2001 that have been stopped. Jason from Austin Texas was questioned and released hours following a seemingly harmless personal opinion post on Facebook. Did the Federal Government overstep the liberties given by the Patriot Act to even question Jason? Let us find out what the research reveals.

Jason from Austin Texas simply commented on a political post one of his friends had made on Facebook regarding the former Senator Rick Santorum. Jason did not reveal his full name to the reporter Jason Brashear who writes for CivilinWars.com with his story. For the lack of confusion from here on out, the reporter will be noted as Brashear. The comment that got Jason in trouble was “I wish there was a magic wand to make Santorum disappear…” This post was taken directly off of the post thread on February 20, 2012. The Austin Police and two Williamson County Sher...

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