Can you help me respond to this discussion post ?

Privacy is a constant target within cyber space due to the amount of data that is stored within personal, corporate and government networks. Following September 11^th, the United States was on edge, trying to find every possible solution to identifying terroristic intentions. The outcome to this was the creation of The Patriot Act. This act made it easier for the government to access sensitive information from American citizens by authorizing the monitorization of electronic communications, financial records and search history and activity (Parikh et al. 2017, 154). Even though this act was meant help assist with cyber security against terrorism and cyber terrorism, citizens believed that it enabled the government to commit cybercrimes against Americans and their privacy rights. This was an extremely controversial act among American citizens because personnel felt like their civil liberties were being compromised by collection that should be considered illegal.

In 2015, The Patriot Act was replaced by the USA Freedom Act. With similar ideologies to the Patriot Act, the USA Freedom Act ended all bulk collection, and allows for limited bulk collection of data in the event of emergencies (History 2018). While this act limits authorized bulk collection, the wording of the act can still be open for interpretation. Section 102: Emergency Authority of the USA Freedom Act gives emergency authority authorization when information "reasonably determines that an emergency situation requires the production of tangible things before an order authorizing such production can with due diligence be obtained" (USA Freedom Act 2015) Identifying an event as an emergency can be subjective, and still leave collection vulnerable to bias and perspective limitations. In this instance, authorization is not required until seven days after the initial collection. This still leaves loopholes for proper oversight and makes the government susceptible to illegally collecting data on United States citizens.

There were good intentions behind the enactment of both The Patriot Act and the USA Freedom Act to help monitor cyber space to protect the nation against future terrorist attacks, whether physical or cyber related. However, growing concerns manifested regarding the bulk collection techniques that were now authorized. The public considers bulk collection a cyber crime that the government is committing against their civil liberties. In order to better protect the general public from unethical bulk collection, The USA Freedom Act should require total authorization for collection, and not have loopholes around how collection can occur. By forcing the government to have preauthorization before any collection, civil liberties will be protected against innocent citizens.

References:

114^th Congress. 2015. H.R.2048 - USA FREEDOM Act of 2015. Accessed April 26^th, 2023. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2048/text.

History. 2018. Patriot Act. Accessed April 26^th, 2023. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/patriot-act.

Parikh, Devansh; Shani, Harshvardhan; Dave, Suraj; Patel, Piyush. 2017. Organized Cybercrime and the State of User Privacy. Accessed April 26^th, 2023. www.ijirst.org/articles/SALLTNCSP035.pdf.

-Eden Rodriguez