Can someone please explain the Patriot Act to me in human language?

Question

I have an article written in law

Answer 1

Here's what the Patriot Act itself did. Not what dozens of other laws passed in the last five years or fifty years have done. Just the Patriot Act. And the link below is to the full text of the Act, to verify.

Most of Title I just sets forth the intent. Most of Title II and Title V allows information gained from various intelligence gathering programs to be shared between law enforcement agencies.

The rest of Title II expands surveillance authority to allow roving taps where a specific target is difficult to tie to a particular line, extends the duration of taps to 120 days for terrorism-related activities, and makes other procedural changes to FISA.

Note. The NSA warrantless wiretapping program violates even the expanded authority under FISA (50 USC 7201 et seq). There was never any attempt to make the NSA program comply with the law, even with the expansions granted by the Patriot Act.

Title III provides extra tools for tracking money laundering and funding of terrorist activities. Title IV expands border security. Title VI sets up a fund for victim relief.

Title VII and Title IX provide yet more tools for sharing information between intelligence agencies. Title VIII adds and expands the list of federal crimes relating to terrorism.

The most controversial provisions are those in Title V, and a few others, than dramatically expand the type of information that can be obtained by law enforcement personnel. School records, medical records, library records, etc. However, while these might be odious and intrusive, none of these are actually unconstitutional, since they all apply in situations where a person arguably has no reasonable expectation of privacy.

The Patriot Act is like pulling open the curtains in someone's house. Yes, it's a minor invasion of privacy, and it's rude. But it's nowhere near as bad as dozens of other laws that have been passed over the past few years or the past few decades.

Answer 2

In a phrase, we are screwed!

Answer 3

It means we are watching you, and if we don't like what you write, we will label you criminal, communist, fascist, terrorist or whatever.

Got it?