The controversial Patriot Act is up for reauthorization on June 1, 2015. A few days after the September 11 terrorist attack, The Patriot Act was created to increase the power of law enforcement agencies so they could combat terrorism with more force and greater discretion.

In 2013 Edward Snowden leaked just how extensively the NSA (National Security Agency) could peer into American lives.

Snowden informed the Washington Post of the reasons why he leaked the NSA’s privacy breach.

“People can have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state,” said Snowden.

The fourth amendment protects American citizens from unreasonable government searches and seizures. NSA had requested to see phone records without due cause, invading millions of American’s privacy.

Revealed in both the Washington Post and The Guardian, the NSA also used a program named Prism to track communication online. The scandal became even more shocking when Britain’s spy agency, GCHQ, was discovered to have tapped fibre-optic cables.

These cables carry the world’s phone calls and internet traffic. GCHQ also shared the highly personal information they discovered with the NSA. This was all done in secret.

The NSA was able to request Verizon’s phone records through Section 215. Section 215 is part of the Patriot Act; it states that the government can demand businesses to hand over anything tangible to investigate for a possible breach in national security. It is an extension of FISA, or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from 1978.

FISA allowed the government to issue secret warrants regarding specific items. Car rental and storage companies could be secretly searched, however only if it was related to terrorism. In Section 215, the relevance to terrorism limitation was lifted. This lead to a very high volition for security agencies to seize personal information.

In March of 2015, Pew Research Center surveyed the reactions of adults to learning about how far the government can see into their private lives.

87% of those who responded had knowledge of surveillance programs. 34% have reported changes to their online settings in an attempt to protect their information from the government.

25% of those aware have altered the patterns in which they use the internet. They use search engines differently, and use more complex passwords.

While these surveillance programs have obvious benefits in preventing internationalism terrorism and other attacks, they were not only used for protection. The Patriot Act had good intentions, but the controversy of Section 215 and programs like Prism largely reduced the credibility of the act and stood to allow a large invasion of privacy.