Research Paper on:
American Privacy and its Post 911 Erosion

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
about the U.S. war on drugs as they announce plans to spend $200?million to shut down a $150-a-week marijuana drug dealer Timmy Westons business in Ohio. The article explains  that it is believed that profits are used to buy video games and that the state-of-the-art surveillance systems confirm that this dealer has not yet finished the last game  he bought from the criminal proceeds, called the Legend of Zelda (2002). While an obvious mocking look at the U.S. war on drugs there is some truth to the  article. Indeed, the U.S. government has blown things out of proportion by using surveillance on small time drug dealers. Growing marijuana--something that not everyone deems harmful--can prompt the government to  listen in on ones conversations for quite some time, even if such individuals have never been convicted of a crime. The article further points to a greater problem which  is that individuals are in danger of losing privacy. Gray (2001) emphasizes this fact in his expose about the drug war that exists for political purposes and not really to  help society. Slowly but surely, privacy is eroding in America and while in part one can attribute this to the war on drugs, there are other reasons that this is  occurring. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, many citizens have willingly given up some rights due to new laws. Rosenfeld (2002) explains that The U.S. A.  Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) is a 342 page document which essentially amends fifteen different laws. It  had been approved by Congress and signed by President Bush only after scant debate shortly after 911 (2002). It is also something which dramatically increases federal search and surveillance