How Media Impacts the Patriot Act

The media  provides a form on communication of daily events to important messages. The Patriot Act of 2001 was in response to the attack on the World Trade Center in New York.  The purpose was to legilsate stricter laws against terrorism and to broaden the defination of a terrorist.

The Patriot Act was enacted in October 26, 2001.  It and it's sister Patriot Act II give the US Government and law enforcement agencies the power to investigate and stop acts of terrorism on US soil and US interests.  Even though this sounds good, the Patriot Act has controversial implications in its text. 

The Patriot Act was used in violation of Federal media privacy statutes in September 23, 2003, the FBI demanded journalists, MSNBC, news service writers and other personnel to save all notes, interview details and any pertinent information on a computer hacker under threat of arrest and detainment under the Patriot Act implying obstruction of justice.  Federal law enforcement petitioned a subpoena to take possession of the material. The DOJ denied the subpoena due to the language of the request, not recognizing the request violated journalist First Amendment rights of the news media covering the story.

When the media is a witness to a crime, under federal regulations, the Attorney General must OK the subpoena, and the criminal investigation team is to seek evidence elsewhere if possible.  In this case, the FBI violated several federal laws, the US Constitution and used the Patriot Act in a frightening manner.  Once this incident was publicized, many questioned what other infringements lay within its text.  It's use to impose or restrict media First Amendment rights is a horrifying and holds dark possibilities for the rest of our long held freedoms.