Wasn't The PATRIOT Act Supposed To Be About Stopping Terrorism?
by
Mike Masnick, Thu,
Sep 8
th 2011 10:30am
[REPRINT]
The PATRIOT Act was all about stopping
terrorism, right? We were told that special provisions that ate away at our civil liberties were needed specifically to catch dangerous terrorists -- and that the reason for such an abdication of our rights had nothing to do with simply giving the government more useful surveillance powers. Aaron DeOliveira points us to a
fascinating chart that shows how often law enforcement has been using "sneak-and-peek" warrants. These warrants let officials search private property without letting the target of the investigation know. Again, we were told that these expanded powers were needed to stop terrorism. So what have they been used for? Take a look:
Yup. They're all pretty much being used in drug cases. Now some might make the argument that it's important to go after drug dealers -- but that's not how the
PATRIOT Act was supposed to be used.
