The NSA Surveillance Constitutionality: Edward Snowden

Snowden and Senator Rand Paul oppose the Patriot Act because they both feel that it violates our 4th Amendment. The Patriot Act entitles allows inferior agencies to unreasonable searches and seizures of a person’s house and papers. The 4th Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant from a judge. The Patriot act allow the Federal Government to violate this amendment. In fact, when the Patriot Act enables violation of the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, Amendments 1 and 2 are also violated. It infringes on our right to bear arms and the freedom of speech. Our government makes shallow promises to protect us during times of crisis, such as terrorist attacks, but what do we give up? They offer us freedom

On June 6, 2013, The Guardian published a story about the National Security Agency's (NSA) secret Internet surveillance program, PRISM (Greenwald and MacAskill 2013). The story was based on documents leaked by one of the most successful whistle-blowers in American history, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The documents that Snowden has released up to this time have shown the NSA to be heavily engaged in the collection of personal Internet activity, bulk collection of telephone "metadata," and other forms of surveillance that have brought U.S. intelligence practices into question.

Body 4 Con: Numbers suggest effectiveness, one prevented attack could save billions especially with groups like ISIS only continually growing

The integrity of one’s communications and privacy of online activities is the largest casualty of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance over digital lives. Years since September 11, 2009, the NSA’s mass surveillance has greatly expanded due to the heightened concern that new technology can be used by terrorists to plan and execute a terrorist attack. In today’s age of technology, there are easier ways of accessing information and communication as well as new ways of hacking and gathering personal information. The new surveillance programs and regulations are enabled by the Patriot Act and post 9/11 paranoia, but it has been over fourteen years since the incident. After whistleblower, Edward Snowden, it was revealed that the government’s mass surveillance went beyond what many considered acceptable. It can be predicted that unless the U.S Government reins in NSA mass surveillance, the

After the disclosures by Edward Snowden turned a critical eye to the NSA many people questioned the legality of the acts. The NSA claimed that their work was legal and had prevented many terrorist plots. However, evidence of only four plots was ever found. Even if the acts were founded in law, they still angered large numbers of citizens. Many citizens do not care if the spying is legal, believing that it is morally wrong. Government surveillance organizations have grown to be extremely powerful and are capable of accessing large swaths of personal information; these abilities intrude into the private lives of citizens and need to be curtailed.

Edward Snowden’s disclosures have brought to light many secret government actions that were previously unknown. One of the most controversial government programs that Snowden disclosed was how the National Security Agency (NSA) collected virtually every phone record for calls made in the United States between US citizens. It makes sense to monitor phone calls to or from callers located outside the United States, because non-US citizens don 't have the protection of the US Constitution and monitoring these calls also might be helpful in identifying foreigners who might be plotting terrorist attacks in the US. However, US citizens have 4th Amendment privacy rights under the Constitution, so it is much more of a problem when the US government collects bulk information about US citizens who do not pose an obvious danger to the country.

Edward Snowden’s disclosures about the National Intelligence Agency surveillance extension is some of the most comprehensive news in recent history. It has incited a ferocious debate over national security and information privacy. As the U.S government deliberates various reform proposals, arguments continue on whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor (Simcox, 2015).

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.

“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded,” said former NSA information technology contractor, Edward Snowden, as quoted in an article by CNN political reporter, Jeremy Diamond. Despite his low position in the National Security Agency, Snowden caught the world’s eye in 2013 when he leaked documents revealing the NSA and FISC’s plans for mass domestic surveillance in the United States. His decision to reveal classified documents sent the nation into widespread outrage. The NSA had access to not only metadata (records of activity), but also content containing personal information that Americans rightfully assumed was protected by laws such as the Stored Communications Act (SCA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act

The USA FREEDOM Act, the acronymic title for H.R. 2048, Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015, replaced the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001), which expired on May 31, 2015. The USA FREEDOM Act was created in response to public backlash against the PATRIOT Act and the NSA, particularly in the wake of Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing release of information about massive surveillance and data gathering.

Dingwen Zhang English 3 12 August 2016 NSA Surveillance NSA Surveillance: Is safety worth losing freedom? Recently there is debate about if it is okay for the United States government to spy on citizens using NSA and FBI. This became common knowledge when Edward Snowden leaked millions of documents that show the government is spying on the public. The United States government should not keep the NSA surveillance going because it hurts the public more than it keeps the public safe.

In “How the NSA’s Domestic Spying Program Works,” the author reveals that many of “aspects of the (NSA) Program were aimed not just at targeted individuals, but perhaps millions of innocent Americans never suspected of a crime.” The author develops his thesis by detailing a few examples of major telecommunication companies that share customer’s call records to the NSA (AT&T, Sprint) and explaining that programs were implemented to monitor the emails of citizens (“amounted to at least 1.7 billion emails a day”). The author uses examples of how NSA decisions were made without a “warrant or any judicial oversight,” in order to increase citizen awareness of how the NSA functions. The author uses a erudite tone to address the audience of Americans

The third aspect is called “Upstream” where the NSA collects data from fiber optic cables, which are the cables that connect the USA and foreign countries Internet communication, as data flows through them (8). These three aspects of the NSA that Edward Snowden specifically wanted reveal to the American people is what has created the most conversation and discussion. Some people are outraged, some people think this is a necessity in this era, and some just do not understand the ramifications thoroughly to have an opinion (9).

The justifications provided for the leakage of the NSA unlawful spying activities also support the argument that Snowman’s act was permissible. For instance, Snowden justifies his act by stating that he relied on the U.S Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the 1945 Nuremberg declaration. He provides his explanation for his shift from the his earlier held philosophy of nationalism by noting that people have an international duty that surpasses their national obligations of loyalty, (Scheuerman, 2014). He further expounds that sometimes national loyalty leads to national relativism whereby people overlook their country’s evils, instead preferring to focus on distant and external evils.

One of the prominent examples of uncontrolled surveillance is the United States, recently brought to the spotlight with whistleblower Edward Snowden. The bulk collection of data conducted by the NSA and other agencies in secrecy violates the privacy rights of the American people as stated on the constitution by the 4th amendment. The founders of the constitution did not predict the creation of phones and the internet and incorporate privacy to specifically include these products. Nonetheless, even if the privacy rights is not stated in the amendments, the act of invading civilian privacy without warrant is still a reach too far in regards to government capabilities to monitor its citizens. This capability can lead to corrupt power in the government