Patriot Act & Homeland Security Act and Cyber Crime
Prior to beginning work on this discussion read the Fong and Delaney (2013) (Links to an external site.) article and the Mitchell and Pate online resource (Links to an external site.).
The destruction of the World Trade Towers, the attack on the Pentagon, and the crashing of Flight 93 in September 2001 changed the ways in which the United States sought to protect itself from enemies and criminals, both foreign and domestic. The two landmark criminal justice federal laws enacted after the attacks were the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act (HSA). This week our discussion examines both the Patriot Act and the HSA and their applications to cyber crime investigations. Students will explore provisions of both Acts and explain how they assist in cyber-crime deterrence and prosecution.
Your initial posts will be divided into two groups. Please see the instructions below to determine which topics you must include in your 400 word minimum initial post.
Last names beginning with the letters A through L
Address the following issues in your initial post:
Explain the major provisions of the Patriot Act which assist the U.S. government in deterring cyber crimes.
Point out at least one example of how the Patriot Act can be used as an effective tool in investigating cyber crimes.
Evaluate whether or not the Patriot Act violates traditional notions of privacy found in the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Department of Justice`s first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11. 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part, and often the leading role, in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. The Act improves the counter-terrorism efforts in several significant ways: it allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking; and facilitating information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better “connect the dots.”
