The ACLU exists for the sole purpose of extending the freedoms and rights guaranteed under our Constitution to every individual in this country, including those individuals whose voice would not otherwise be heard.In light of the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, ACLU of Illinois’ Executive Director Colleen Connell was invited to join a discussion on WBBM News Radio 780 about privacy and security concerns in a post-9/11 world. The main frame of the conversation centered around the balance between security and civil liberties in a time when government surveillance has become a preventative measure against terrorism, while also an invasion of privacy for many Americans.
As Connell stated,
“…What has happened post-9/11 is that the United States has become, in many respects, a surveillance state, by which i mean the government at all levels: local, state and federal, monitors the telephone records, cell phone records, the email records, and actually the location of millions of innocent Americans who have engaged in absolutely no wrong-doing let alone terrorism.”
