By all accounts, Americans' civil liberties were reduced in the name of terrorism during the Bush Administration --there are only differences of opinion on whether this was a good or bad occurence. The PATRIOT Act, passed by Congress in October 2001, expanded the ability of the government to watch private Americans' activities and collect information about them, and strengthened barriers against aliens' entry to the country, including through indefinite detentions.
The PATRIOT Act as a whole will remain in place. Obama has promised to review the constitutionality of such legislation as soon as he gets into office. Many find his selection of Eric Holder reassuring, since Holder has spoken out against such excesses. An Obama administration might reinstate or insert oversight requirements into legislation that has the capacity to threaten individual privacy. Bush routinely disregarded or circumvented requirements for Congressional oversight.
A certain degree of increased government and private sector cooperation on sharing information about private individuals, and increased government surveillance of its citizens, is here to stay, however. No government will roll back trends in surveillance technology, and government surveillance habits, that began well before 2001. The September 11, 2001 attacks helped make intrusions palatable that were not when, for example, they were proposed in counterterrorism legislation during the Clinton administration.
The PATRIOT Act as a whole will remain in place. Obama has promised to review the constitutionality of such legislation as soon as he gets into office. Many find his selection of Eric Holder reassuring, since Holder has spoken out against such excesses. An Obama administration might reinstate or insert oversight requirements into legislation that has the capacity to threaten individual privacy. Bush routinely disregarded or circumvented requirements for Congressional oversight.
A certain degree of increased government and private sector cooperation on sharing information about private individuals, and increased government surveillance of its citizens, is here to stay, however. No government will roll back trends in surveillance technology, and government surveillance habits, that began well before 2001. The September 11, 2001 attacks helped make intrusions palatable that were not when, for example, they were proposed in counterterrorism legislation during the Clinton administration.
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