Broken tool | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I have great concerns with the approval by Congress of the covert collection of the private telephone numbers of people I talk to, the email addresses of people I correspond with and my Facebook information. It is amazing that anyone would think it is OK to invade my privacy in any way without "probable cause" or "due process."

The fact that the Patriot Act allows this type of intrusion does not make it moral, and it shouldn't be "legal." There was a time when it was legal to own slaves. It was once legal to discriminate against people because of their color, age, religion, gender and more. It was once legal to put thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps — all for the good of the nation.

The president and many in Congress defend this practice because it serves a "higher good." I disagree.

My constitutional rights are more important than looking for any terrorist. If you trample on my freedom under the guise of protecting me, you are also taking away one of the most important freedoms I have — the right to privacy.

We have many tools in our box to handle terrorists. Take this one out of the box.

Susan Marzec

Cottonwood Heights