It's a cliche to say that 11 September "changed the world", but it's nonetheless true. The impact of the attacks is still being felt as civil liberties are being curtailed as a consequence and reaction to them. It seems logical that some liberties have to be given up in order to combat terrorism; it's a logic that police and the goverment have used to justify infringing on people's rights. Thanks to the attacks and the "War on Terrorism", the US government has a convenient excuse for any infringement upon civil liberties it undertakes. Any criticism can be dismissed with the magical phrase "national security".
Within the United States, critics argue that the Bush Administration and lower governments have restricted civil liberties and created a "culture of fear". Bush introduced the USA PATRIOT Act legislation to the United States Congress shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which significantly expanded U.S. law enforcement's power. It has been criticized as being too broad and having been abused for purposes unrelated to counter-terrorism. President Bush had also proposed Total Information Awareness, a federal program to collect and process massive amounts of data to identify behaviors consistent with terrorist threats. It was heavily criticized as being an "Orwellian" case of mass surveillance. Having personal information of citizens nationwide undoubtedly takes away some personal freedoms as "Big Brother" directly takes away some privacy with each viewing of this personal information. A person and American citizen should have control of his or her own information, and this Total Information Awareness takes away that control.
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