Should The Government Be Allowed To Wiretap Without Court Consent?

The government is always watching to ensure safety of their country, including everything and everyone in it. Camera surveillance has become an accepted and almost expected addition to modern safety and crime prevention (“Where” para 1). Many people willingly give authorization to companies like Google and Facebook to make billions selling their personal preferences, interests, and data. Canada participates with the United States and other countries in monitoring national and even global communications (“Where” para 2). Many question the usefulness of this kind of surveillance (Hier, Let, and Walby 1).However, surveillance, used non-discriminatorily, is, arguably, the key technology to preventing terrorist plots (Eijkman 1). Government

Privacy and safety of citizens is common in today's society, as well as the government looking over their shoulder at all times. As an example, George Orwell wrote a book called, "1984" which in it gave an outlook of society being taken over by a party. Government surveillance is different from protecting and bringing safety to the citizens, it violates their freedom, privacy, and human rights.

Most Americans feel trapped by the government. They believe that the government is spying on them just to do so and that there is absolutely no reason for it. However this is wrong because the government has several reasons to spy on us Americans. Even though this may seem outrageous, it is needed and there are ways the United States’ citizens have privacy. With all of these false accusations it is simple to see why people would be supportive of our right to privacy. On the other hand, the government eavesdropping on the people of the United States has helped save many lives and justice being served. The United States of America is a free country, so we should have the option to be spied on by the government; however, as citizens we do

Supreme court rules federal investigators can wiretap into suspects phones legally, and use those conversations as evidence.

In 1928, the United States Supreme Court approved the practice of wiretapping for the police and other government officials, though some states have banned it. (Harris, 2017) Wiretapping is regulated by both the state and federal governments and, if illegal, can be punished by criminal sanctions. When an officer observes unusual conduct which leads to reasonably to conclude that criminal activity may be afoot, the officer may make reasonable inquiries aimed at confirming or dispelling the officer's suspicions.

A few months ago, Edward Snowden leaked confidential information about a NSA surveillance program known as PRISM. NSA agents have been recording and listening to our phone calls, reading our text messages and emails, and archiving our activities. There has been controversy about whether it is a violation of our privacy right. There has been a lot of talk about abuse of this program. Journalists have been the primary target of this unauthorized surveillance according to some report. I intend to find out if there is any abuse of this program, and also whether it violates our fourth amendment right or not.

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.

With the establishment of the US Patriot Act, the government has been granted the ability to tap into phone lines without the knowledge of or notification to the owner of the line. I have personally been effected by this on a local level due to a high political case my ex-husband was involved in with his former employer. The local government tapped into all of our phone lines and recorded a lot of information from conversations and text messages that I personally had with my ex-husband and conversations he had with his former employer. We did not know that our phones were tapped until they presented the transcripts in court. Granted, none of the information provided was incriminating in any nature, but the fact that our constitutional right was invaded was just beyond mind blowing.

A government should not waste its time and resources keeping tabs and spying on its own civilians who are innocent haven’t done anything to make them a person of interest. Only people who have had previous offenses or are suspected of being terrorist and or criminals should be tracked. The government in 1984 spies on its citizens day and night. For example “They could spy upon you night and day”(Orwell, 182). Watching people in their daily lives is an extreme invasion of privacy. Imagine if your parents watched you twentyfour seven in your room when you were growing up. You probably wish they’d have some human decency and give you some privacy. When you are constantly being monitored nothing in your life is or can be private and there is no escape from being stocked. For example “Always

On September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks the Twin Tower of the World Trade Center. In response to this attack, President George W. Bush administration increases their data capability. “A federal judge sitting on the secret surveillance, panel called the Fisa court would approve a bulk collection order for internet metadata every 90 days.” So does the NSA violate the 4th amendment? According to uscourts.gov “4th Amendment, protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The 4th Amendment, however, is not granted against all searches and seizures, but only those that are being unreasonable under the law.” On one hand, the 4th amendment and other hand you have the Patriot Act and now called the USA Freedom Act.

Some people are saying that letting the government go through all your texts, emails, and call are violating the Fourth Amendment. In some cases I do feel that they are but in others I don't. On one side I feel that the government just wants to project the US form another attack like 9/11. But I also feel that you really don't have any secrets from the government because of them going through everything you've sent.

In a case where it would be justified, is when a crisis could have been prevented. The Boston marathon bombing is one case that brought on a new effort to concentrate on anti terrorism. The two men that were accused of the bombing could’ve been heavily monitored, which may have prevented the entire incident. They had to communicate somehow, and cell phones probably came into play. But that still may not give the government the right to spy on everyone.

Wiretap warrants are an issued by the court that allows Law Enforcement to listen to phone conversations, information from fax machines, computers or other devices used for communication. There is an exclusionary rule to the fourth amendment. It says when there is a wiretap warrant it has to be expressed about the type of communication device that will be seized. If Law Enforcement discover new information about other crimes the officer will need to go back to the issuing judge and get a new warrant.

Our argument is that the government should be able to wiretap and spy without warrant. My partner brought up our first main contention which was how wiretapping and spying stop terrorism. Our other contentions are is it helps speed up trials and brings a more accurate verdict, and there wouldn't be as much paperwork if it was warrantless. Our next main contention that I will be discussing is how wiretapping and spying stops organized crimes. The organized crimes that it would be able to stop is murder, robbery, drug distribution, human trafficking, and many other crimes. Think about all the lives that would be saved by spying on suspected people who would commit the crimes… How warrantless wiretapping and spying will work is they will be able to listen on conversations and read emails. After that they will be able to apprehend the suspect if they are suspected of committing a crime. With crime and terrorism on the rise our country can seriously benefit from warrantless wiretapping. The law enforcement and government officials using wiretaps are not spying random but instead suspect criminals. Also when they collect information by using wiretaps it does interfere with innocent U.S citizens. This is some of the reasoning behind our argument.

Thomas Jefferson once said that “Everyone has the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” If the government spied on its citizens, the citizens would carry the burden of having the government constantly watch every move being made, interfering with citizens pursuit of happiness. With that being said, if a citizen’s privacy was invaded then their pursuit of happiness would be demolished. The government should not be able to spy on its citizens because it is a major invasion of privacy, people become fearful of the government, and is a large violation of the rights citizens are permitted.