The Bad Lieutenant - Why are the most violent, brutal figures in video games usually police officers and soldiers? Commentary by Clive Thompson. [Joystick]

The suggestions made by this article drawing parallels with the injustices a cop is allowed to commit in True Crime: New York City and the injustices that are currently being made legal through Congress’ allowing, not to mention making stronger, the patriot act to remain in place frankly scares me to no end. This bill supposedly allows the government to catch terrorists by obtaining personal information about anyone, anytime they please. This includes you. I do not see how allowing our government to have a list of books I check out of the library is deterring the terrorists.

The Patriot Act also allows for the seizure of other personal records without any approval from a judge. From the books you check out to the medications you take, the government has the power to seize all of this personal and confidential information at the drop of a hat. Does anyone see the potential for corruption here? The FBI uses the power given to them through this act rather often, issuing more than 30,000 requests of this kind in a year.

Is there another way to gain information on potential terrorists without throwing civil liberties out the window? If there is, no one in our government is willing to employ it. Instead they’ve decided to reinstate the Patriot Act even though it was originally written to be a temporary measure employed after 9-11.

The damage that could potentially be caused based on a single person becoming corrupt within the FBI is phenomenal. Think about how useful your health records could be to large drug companies or other powerful corporations. Scared yet? I am. These companies have the power (or should I say money) needed to sway a member of the FBI to leak a little bit of this information. That’s all it takes. One bribe and your medical history becomes part of some executive’s brilliant plan to make his company millions.

The Patriot Act provides the means for corruption and misuse of private information to occur. How our government does not recognize the potentially harmful implications of this Act is beyond me.