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The USA Patriot Act of 2001 came about as a federal government's response to the terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001, otherwise known as 9/11. Although the legislation received blessings of most Americans, recent events have generated a debate as to the sincerity of President George Bush's administration on the need to tighten the noose on terrorism and its perpetrators, the most prominent been the issue of privacy as it affects people's lives. This has been the anchor on which critics hang their argument against the piece of legislation.

That Americans cherish their freedom of expression and association is an understatement. It is therefore, not uncommon to witness stiff opposition when the people feel that their rights as citizens are being violated in any form. The government on the other hand, thinks that all things being equal, it has a duty to protect the people from terrorists and acts of terrorism at all cost. It is against the backdrop that the federal government feel compelled to enact a law that it deems more comprehensive in taking care of protecting the citizens. For effect, the Act gives the Secretary of Treasury, among others, the regulatory powers to "combat corruption of US financial institutions for foreign money-laundering purposes." More importantly, "it more actively works to close our borders to foreign terrorists and to detain and remove those within our borders; it establishes new crimes, new penalties and new procedural techniques for use against domestic and international terrorists."

The Patriot Act with the full meaning of "Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001" has many sections that the oppositions like the American Civil Liberties Union feel strongly about. These include section 505 that "authorizes the use of an administrative subpoena of personal records, without requiring probable cause or judicial oversight." According to critics, this is contradictory to the fundamental freedom as enjoyed by Americans. It is therefore, in their view a breach of that freedom. Another section that attracts most criticism is 206, which "authorizes roving wiretaps: allowing taps on every phone or computer the target may use, and expands Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, (FISA) to permit surveillance of any communications made to or by an intelligence target without specifying the particular phone line or computer to be monitored."

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