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National Security Controversy

Decent Essays

Controversy Surrounding “Eavesdropping” under the guise of “National Security”
Charles R. Amara
Macomb Community College

Abstract
There is a lot of controversy surrounding “eavesdropping” and social media monitoring under the guise of “National Security”. Are our individual rights and privacy being violated? Is the government doing this for national security? The Patriot Act should not override an individual’s Constitutional Rights, except when a crime or terrorism is involved with that individual. Is the government being too intrusive as it pertains to snooping into the privacy of citizens? Katz v. United States, the warrantless wiretapping of a pay phone violates the fourth amendment. Are you willing to give up your “Rights” in the name …show more content…

One notable case involves Katz v. United States, which includes the illegal use of wiretapping in an area protected by the Fourth Amendment. The Patriot Act should not override Constitutional Rights, instead it allows law enforcement to work more effectively.
Intrusive Government
The government is abusing their “National Security” guise. They use this excuse because they know they are in the wrong. Why does the government have to be secretive and eavesdrop on normal civilians? The government with-holds a lot of information from the public. The introduced the Patriot Act to allow law enforcement to use surveillance on more crimes of terror and follow sophisticated terrorists. It should not be used to override our Constitutional Rights.
Privacy of citizens1
The Bill of Rights, particularly speaking the Fourth and First Amendment are there to protect us, give us freedom, and privacy. I do believe the government is being pushy when it comes to snooping because it then limits our First Amendment, freedom of speech. If the government is eavesdropping, we have to watch what we are talking about on the phone, in e-mails and even text messages. I’m sure there are certain keywords that triggers the government to place wiretaps and listen in on certain individuals. But wait, how are they listening in the first place to know what we are talking about? And because we are just citizens, …show more content…

Would you give up your “Rights” in the name of security? I sure wouldn’t. To me our rights are our protection, our security. “Rights” is broad, as this paper mostly pertains to the fourth amendment. When I am asked if I will give up my rights, I think of losing the power of right to bear arms, freedom of speech, and protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. What if we gave up our fourth amendment, everybody’s house, car, and personal belongings would be searched whenever the government felt like it. Don’t you think this could cause conflict among the community? Maybe even rioting if it got serious enough? If something like this did happen and we gave up our right to bear arms, who is protecting us against other members of the community? So if we were to give up our rights in the name of security, we take the chance of causing an even bigger security threat or

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