The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act, more commonly cited as the Patriot Act) is an act that has greatly increased the surveillance, investigative, and enforcement powers of governmental agencies as a central part of the War on Terrorism. The act can be read as a direct response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It quickly became one of the most controversial series of laws of the era, raising troubling questions over the nature and scope of the U.S. government's antiterrorism and crime-prevention tactics, as well as questions over the civil liberty and privacy protections of American citizens. While its provisions allow for the surveillance of all Web content used or generated by a suspect, the act has particularly raised the ire of privacy advocates over its broad-reaching allowances for the search and…