Domestic Data Mining

The NSA has been performing mass surveillance on United States citizens since as early as 2001. They have teamed up with AT&T and other mass communication companies to have access to phone records and internet traffic to keep an eye on possible terrorist activities (Electronic Frontier Foundation). People use their smart phones every day to talk, send email, and browse the web for

The NSA program on surveillance began in 2001. This is when Congress authorized government officials to listen in on the phone calls and emails of those individuals suspected of engaging in terrorist activities (via the USA Patriot Act). It is designed to ensure that the intelligence community and law enforcement have the tools they need to track / monitor those suspected

NSA infringes on the 1st and 4th Amendment rights. America was the safe zone: a lot of people came to the United States so that they would have the freedom to express who they are, what they believe, and their thoughts without punishment. Edward Snowden, NSA whistle blower, wasn’t allowed that freedom when he made it know what the NSA was doing with Verizon’s phone records. Snowden did break the law but he brought awareness of this dilemma to the average citizen, villain, and hero. In the end, it caused the NSA to change some policies but it doesn’t even make a difference because still the administration continues to collect data without a cause. Correction: the NSA uses surveillance to protect United States of America from terrorist, terrorism and terrorism related crimes… The agency’s interpretation: anyone and anything under the sun.

The NSA program, uncovered by the former CIA agent and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is called Prism. Snowden, while working for the NSA disclosed this information by leaking this classified information to a web site called The Guardian. The fact that the information was classified means that the NSA had no intention of telling the citizens of the USA about its ability to monitor and record this great amount of data. This program while legally not able to record the conversation in the of a phone call can detect and record the number who is making the call, the number being called, the duration of the call, and, if necessary, the cellular tower used to send the call. This is intruding upon a huge portion of what most people consider personal, private data. (The Guardian)

Without a warrant, searching through a person’s intimate records is considered illegal and unconstitutional according to the U.S Fourth Amendment. However, these infractions are still being committed today, some are even being committed by the U.S government. When the government agreed upon the Patriot Act, after the law was signed, confidential agencies were formed, such as, the NSA. The NSA was assembled by the government to collect and store data secretly, this information is received from popular internet companies and phone companies. The NSA derives information from a total of nine American Internet companies, and tracks millions of Americans using data from Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth. By court order, Verizon is forced to provide

The Patriot Act. Signed by George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, this act provided the government permission to spy on Americans. NSA can now monitor phone calls, emails, bank and credit report records, and Internet activity.

The American people privacy is violated by the NSA. Everyday person today in the USA uses technology to communicate and pleasure use: e-mail, texting, social networks, calling, blogs, forums, instant messaging, Internet and using search engines. The American people personal computer or electronic information is spied on and collect by the NSA this is wrong this is violating the fourth amendment.

The NSA’s program of collecting e-mail data is neither constitutional or legal. Though our Constitution does not extend its freedoms to those outside of the United States, the program still greatly affects the personal privacies of American citizens. A search warrant is needed to view any citizen’s e-mails, and from my knowledge and experiences, in order to obtain a valid search warrant from a judge, probable cause, and a strong certainty that evidence will be found in the area being searched, otherwise the warrant is invalid and cannot be issued; “searches are generally considered reasonable when…a judge issues a search warrant based on probable cause.” (2). This obstructs the rights every United States citizen is protected by under the Constitution.

If the patriot act was ever repealed, they would have to stop and could no longer continue to collect and gather data. By the government’s authority, they must do this even if the public despise the organization, which they do. All those employed at the NSA carry out an important job and they are trusted to protect the country by looking through hundreds of thousands data files only to find possible threats. They aren’t even that common, most of the data is most likely useless to them as it doesn’t have any information that is important to them. Having to search through all of this has to be a tedious job, but they continue to do it as they are aware that they are potentially saving their country from another terrorist attack like 9/11.

Ever since the American public was made aware of the United States government’s surveillance policies, it has been a hotly debated issue across the nation. In 2013, it was revealed that the NSA had, for some time, been collecting data on American citizens, in terms of everything from their Internet history to their phone records. When the story broke, it was a huge talking point, not only across the country, but also throughout the world. The man who introduced Americans to this idea was Edward Snowden.

Firstly, Many Americans think that the NSA spying program is unconstitutional, but they are wrong. Our founding fathers and Abraham lincoln's teachings are even stronger when applies to the NSA’s surveillance program violates no constitutional provision. The National Review said “It examines only the addressee and sender emails, and telephone numbers called and called from. The supreme court has long held that such information is

Disturbingly the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting metadata on Americans personal telephones and electronics devices for several years. This collection was happening before the NSA Analyst Edward Snowden leaked these facts to the world in late 2013. The NSA was formed in the 1950’s, and during this time frame the NSA disseminated intelligence information from electronic signals for foreign and counter intelligence purposes, which supported the American military needs. Currently the NSA has refocused their spying tactics to technology driven devices. The NSA has an extensive “telephone-metadata program, since 2001, and they collect phone records of virtually all Americans” (Lizza, 2013).

I have a very strong opinion on this issues. I believe that NSA does not have the legal rights to collect all digital data. This kind of behavior violates the fourth amendment which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant. The fact that NSA is allowed to collect all digital data is an example of bending the law when it’s inconvenient. Additionally, the fact that a Supreme Court ruling from 1960 was used to justify collecting all data is laughable. Ensuring the safety of citizens is the priority of NSA but that does not mean they have the right to ignore the constitution. That whole purpose of the constitution is to limit the power of the government. Yet by allowing NSA to collect digital date we lose our right to privacy,

In many criminal cases, there is some type of surveillance used on suspects, whether it be of their phone calls, location, or their online activity. Phone calls and text messages, specifically, are collected at all times by phone carriers, and the NSA has the ability to query this data for specific records under the USA Freedom Act, which came into effect after the end of Section 215 of the Patriot Act; the primary difference is that, before, the NSA collected this data themselves and stored it within their own database while the data is now stored by phone companies, though the NSA can still access it. This is done with the goal of giving a constant means of tracking terrorist and similar threats, but this data can also be used in court cases. Similar provisions allow them to collect other data such as e-mails, though data is only supposed to be collected on communications

Collecting data on everyone without a warrant or reasonable is assuming that everyone is guilty, which is just wrong. The American justice system was built on innocent until proven guilty, and it is unethical to force millions of Americans to give up their right to privacy just because of unreasonable government suspicion. In the article “Edward Snowden”, by Tim J. Watts, he discusses Edward Snowden and what he has released about National Security Agency’s surveillance of online activity. In the article, he discusses some programs that the NSA has been using in order to collect data; he says, “Internet companies, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Apple, were said to have allowed the NSA access to their servers, including the content of user's personal communications. Other programs included surveillance of foreign embassies and mobile phone usage in other countries.” He is saying that the NSA is using companies to collect data on people’s personal conversations and messages. The NSA has absolutely no right to collect such personal information about