The Liberties Of The United States

As human beings and citizens of the world, everyone values their privacy. It is a right that is often looked over and taken for granted by most. Since the beginning of time, there have been concerns about individuals’ rights to privacy and their personal information remaining confidential. Our founding fathers had concerns about this which is why, “…this right has developed into

During the past decade, an issue has arisen from the minds of people, on which is more important? Privacy or national security? The problem with the privacy is that people do not feel they have enough of it and national security is increasing causing the government to be less worried about the people. National security is growing out of control which has led to the decrease in people’s privacy and has created fear in the eyes of U.S. citizens. “Twelve years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and amid a summer of revelations about the extent of the surveillance state built up to prevent others, leaders, experts and average Americans alike are searching for the right balance between security and privacy” (Noble). Americans should be able to live their daily lives without fear of an overpowered government or a “big brother” figure taking over. “According to a CBS News poll released Tuesday evening, nearly 6 in 10 Americans said they disapproved of the federal government’s collecting phone records of ordinary Americans in order to reduce terrorism” (Gonchar). While it is good to keep our country safe with security, American’s privacy should be more important because there is a substantial amount of national security, the people 's rights should matter first.

When the first 10 amendments of the constitution were written, one of the main concerns was government intrusion. In the 1800s, citizens were concern about the confidentiality of their correspondence. Likewise in 1890, the concern was photography and yellow journalism. With lack of privacy laws, citizens brought several cases to the U.S courts because they felt there were violations of privacy. As a consequent, several torts were written and recognize by most states. This torts included the intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light or publicity, and appropriation. Though, historical events have help to expand the definition of privacy, there has not been a critical event that forced America to have a comprehensive federal policy about protecting the right to privacy. Nevertheless, every time that there is a major concern that threatens the right to privacy, the government and the states have passed laws to eliminate those

Privacy is one of the most controversial, yet most essential topics in the discussion of civil liberties. Some treat it as a necessity along with life, liberty, and property, whereas other people see it as something that shouldn’t get in the way of things like security (Sadowski).

In the developing stages of America, many Americans had a very hard time adapting and accepting people of different backgrounds. America has battled the war on our civil liberties all the way from the 1800s until now. The law that was passed to protect the people of the United States from certain things has caused more damage then it was intended to do. America has many loopholes that have given the government many opportunities to violate the civil liberties of people when they feel the country is in any type of danger. In the 1800 and 1900s America was infested with many different types of disease, such as Cholera, Typhoid and Whooping Cough. With the amount of immigrants coming into the U.S, people often blamed them on bringing diseases with them. Many civil liberties were put at risk here because the Americans wanted to protect their nation at any cost. They held people against their will such as Typhoid Mary and the Chinese, treated women and children differently from their male counterparts, and immigrant workers were not treated correctly.

Privacy is what allows people to feel secure in their surroundings. With privacy, one is allowed to withhold or distribute the information they want by choice, but the ability to have that choice is being violated in today’s society. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who sacrifices freedom or liberty will eventually have neither.” And that’s the unfortunate truth that is and has occurred in recent years. Privacy, especially in such a fast paced moving world, is extremely vital yet is extremely violated, as recently discovered the NSA has been spying on U.S. citizens for quite a while now; based on the Fourth Amendment, the risk of leaked and distorted individual information, as well as vulnerability to lack of anonymity.

In 1787, the constitution was born. The constitution has been America’s guideline to the American way of life. Our US constitution has many points in it to protect America and it’s people from an overpowered government, our economy, and ourselves. The only thing the constitution doesn’t directly give us, is our right to privacy, and our right to privacy has been a big concern lately courtesy of the National Security Agency (NSA).(#7) Although our constitution doesn’t necessarily cover the privacy topic, it does suggest that privacy is a given right. Some people say that the right to privacy was so obvious, that our founding fathers didn’t even feel the need to make a point about it.(#9) It also didn’t help

Daniel J. Solove is the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School, one of the world’s leading experts on privacy law, and well known for his academic work on privacy and its correlations with technology. Author of many popular books, Solove also served as White House counsel for President Nixon. In the article, The Nothing-to-Hide Argument, Solove further explains the threats of allowing the government to access personal information. One of many arguments in regards to privacy, is freedom and how it hinders people under surveillance, giving a sense of being less inferior. People don’t Acknowledge certain problems because they don’t fit into the particular one-size-fits-all conception of privacy (Solove 738). Privacy is a right granted to every individual that reinforces the freedoms of expression, association and assembly; being that the U.S. is a democratic society and should not be tampered with.

In the United States, citizens have rights, and the United States Constitution guarantees these rights. The Bill of Rights states the basic liberties of the people of this nation in the first ten amendments in the U.S. Constitution. However, these liberties can be met with denied liberty, while sacrificing freedom, as people live in fear threatened by racism, religious beliefs, police brutality, invasion of privacy, and the horrific terrorism acts on United States soil.

It is well known that the United States have been seen internationally as a key actor, for better or worse, when it comes to the field of universal human rights. At the same time, recent events have shown a disassociation between the words and actions of the nation. Despite the fact that these rights are supposed to be constitutionally-protected, the United States has been criticized for repeatedly violating them not only in the past but in recent memory: criminalization of poverty and homelessness, violation of the privacy of citizens all over the world, racism, police brutality, the prison-for-profit system, mistreatment or even torture of the prisoners. These are just some examples of the most common forms of human rights violations

Here in America, people have the right to protest and speak their views granted by the first Amendment in their Constitution. Reading or watching the news lately, there are a lot of protests happening. People are gathering and protesting so many different things all over the world right now and America is no different. However, what the media shows in America are arrests of protestors by security and police, both of which attack them at times, using pepper spray and other brutal methods. How is this behavior allowed? Pauline Maier sums up what the issue at hand is, “The affection with which Americans regard the three “founding documents” of the United States has not been constant over time.” (Maier pg3). American protestors are at times fighting for equal rights as equal citizens. While many others are asking for justice due to corruption in Wall Street, Banks, and American Government; however, the people who don’t hold affection for the first Amendment have been shown in the media as an increasingly violent force against those who support it. Should people be allowed to protest regardless of their cause, and without any execution of force unless provoked? I believe they should have this right and be guaranteed safety in acting on it. With these ideas in mind, America’s first Amendment is being contradicted by US government authority and private authority figures because these same people have enacted numerous assaults on people using their first amendment rights.

In liberal-democratic societies, the right to individual privacy is among the core components of the democratic system. The right to privacy is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States and is a part of value systems Americans are proud of and cherish. Concepts related to privacy "touch on freedom, trust, the right to be left alone, obedience, and free will" (Michael & Michael, 2006, p. 360). The privacy needs of citizens, however, can be fully met only in times of peace and stability. National security threats sometimes may require security measures that allow law enforcement agencies to collect data that is crucial to protecting the nation. These security measures may clash with privacy concerns of the citizens. And since the national security is for greater good, citizens must be ready to give up some of their privacy rights for overall good. National security concerns are more important for the safety and security of the nation.

American culture is built on the right to privacy. As the Constitution explicitly states Americans have, “the right... to make personal decisions regarding intimate matters; ...the right... to lead their lives in a manner that is reasonably secluded from public scrutiny, whether such scrutiny comes from a neighbor's ...eyes, an investigator's eavesdropping ..., or a news photographer's ... camera; and... the right… to be free from unwarranted drug testing and electronic surveillance” (Privacy). Privacy is an inherent need of human beings because people need a safe space where they are not obligated to censor themselves in order to make people in society feel comfortable. Privacy creates a space where

For the sake of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, American citizens crumple up their own desires and follow laws such as the speed limit and paying taxes. These laws are given by the government, created by citizens to protect all residences. After all, one would give up a few priorities for the name of common good too, right? But there is a borderline between what an individual should and shouldn’t give up. For example, privacy rights. In most cases, people would claim that they have nothing to hide, but the definition of privacy is not covering the atrocious. Privacy is a fundamental value of human right; it is our defense and space permitted to us of being ourselves. The right to privacy is to forestall the invasion of privacy by other people and the government to have absolute regulation over people’s lives.

Right to privacy became an issue in the US as far back as 1890 in words not unfamiliar to 21st century ears: