The US PATRIOT Act

For the first time since I've been old enough to know what the government was, I felt scared today.

Thanks to the US PATRIOT Act, the government is now free to tap into any of my online conversations, search my home without a warrant (without even telling me), put me in jail without an attorney or telling me why, and many many more scary things that violate our very Bill of Rights. The freedom of speech, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, privacy, etc are all in question now in the name of safety. The PATRIOT Act is supposed to be safety against terrorism but the FBI now uses every opportunity they can to find common criminals.

So why am I scared? Because I talk a lot about communism and do a lot of Google searches on the subject, out of pure curiousity and therefore could quite likely be of interest to the FBI. And I made a comment over IM today that was thoughtless and private, but if taken into the wrong hands could eventually cause trouble for someone. If some 22 yr old girl on a cruise ship got put in jail for two years for "Threatening the safety of a mass transportation vehicle" or some crap because she swore to her parents that she would NOT stay on this ship because she wanted to see her boyfriend in California, the same could happen to any of us.

As Ben Franklin once said, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." I second that.