The Pros And Cons Of Government Surveillance

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.

Unreasonable, warrantless searches and seizures should not take place because it violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, by not being justified by law. The NSA goes to the FISA court to get the kind of warrant needed for going through metadata, if the warrant is issued, then the NSA may go through the metadata. When the NSA goes to the FISA court, it means that the surveillance requires judicial oversight. Also, If the “intelligence committee” wants to listen to a phone call, then they have to take special measures such as a federal judge. The intelligence committee may not just listen to a phone call, all that the intelligence committee can do without taking special measures is look at the length of a phone call. Warrantless

“After years of denial, much of which likely constituted perjury, officials of the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted to having conducted unwarranted surveillance of Americans, a violation of the protections against such searches provided by the Fourth Amendment.” "NSA Admits Directly Targeting Americans for Warrantless Surveillance." NSA Admits Directly Targeting Americans for Warrantless Surveillance. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. The NSA abuses their power by going to the extreme and spying on innocent citizens warrantless. It isn’t fair to the society. The NSA shouldn’t be able to view anyone’s personal information without a warrant. With or without a warrant, The NSA should still have certain rules that will create boundaries. President Obama and the National Security Chief stated that they do not monitor the communications of

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

Up until this point, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, applied to surveillance for domestic threats (Surveillance). However, this act now “stipulated that government officials have the authority to ‘intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to terrorism, computer fraud, abuse offenses’” (Ambrose and Brinkley, 498). For the first time the “CIA could spy on American citizens within the U.S. borders” (Ambrose and Brinkley, 498), and for the first time, Americans were forced to trade their liberty for some sense of

The National Security Agency (NSA) has been an information gathering arm of the Executive branch since the Cold War and continues to be an essential part of ensuring the security of the United States. The public issue that involves the NSA is the spying of U.S citizens which can be seen as a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This was revealed to the public by the whistleblower Edward Snowden who released classified documents of activities that the NSA had been conducting in conjuncture with telecommunication companies, which angered many U.S citizens and received media coverage with a call for the U.S Government to restrict the NSA’s activities or at least for there to be Congressional oversight. This debate revolves around how much the NSA’s surveillance activities are actually used for national security as well as the constitutionality of the NSA’s surveillance. This all began after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 when there was a call for the attacks to never happen again and the adoption of the Patriot Act in that same year which increased the power of the NSA.

According to the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Yet, in the United States at this very moment, the government is collecting information on everyone who makes a call, sends an email, plays a video game, or even owns a computer. They are in people’s houses without actually having to be there. This collection of information is unlawful, and unconstitutional, violating exactly what the government

Despite the Fourth Amendment being created to protect the privacy of the American people, the NSA and other government agencies have put that to the test by using legislation such as the Patriot Act to data mine Americans, keep records on individuals, and create a tension between the American people and the Government, although it has helped the war on

Many of the NSA’s goals have been completely contradicted by the leaked files. Their first goal, to protect privacy rights, was a complete joke. The Fourth amendment states that there should be no unreasonable searches or seizures. Collecting people’s metadata that isn’t public violates this right, not achieving their first goal. Their second goal, protecting vital networks, is also ambiguous. Since the NSA uses the zero day exploits, and since the companies they get the exploits from sell them, The NSA is letting the hacks be used. Another problem with this statement is that it says “vital networks”. How would US citizens know what the NSA considers vital. Were Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state’s emails not vital enough to protect? There

“The Fourth Amendment protects the people from unreasonable searches and seizures, which means that many searches are fine as long as they meet certain requirements.” (2). The NSA claims that “most of those collected, by definition, are suspected of no wrongdoing. Officials say they do not purposely collect U.S. phone locations in bulk, but a large number are swept up ‘incidentally’” (1). Even if there is no interest in the information, they are still gathering it without the approval of the people and should be required to find legal ways that do not impede on the constitutional rights of privacy on its citizens. If the NSA’s wants to review the e-mails sent, they should take have the proper evidence and probably cause to search for the information they are

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.

As a senate select committee on intelligence member, you are likely aware of the nsa’s information and intelligence program put in place in place a short time after the 9/11 attacks. Despite laws against it, the nsa took president Bush’s authorization to target people with known ties to terrorism as authorization to intercept phone calls and emails without any warrant. I believe this practice is dangerous and unconstitutional. It is obviously unconstitutional because it violates the fourth amendment.

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

Keeping the United States of America safe from foreign threats is far from an easy task. However, preventing domestic threats is a much more complicated and delicate one. Government organizations such as the National Security Agency [NSA] are known to have invaded our privacy through our connection to technology. The NSA has publicly admitted to the surveillance. Due to media coverage, the NSA is often viewed as the main agency that bulk collects data. Emails, phone calls, and even our text messages have been surveilled under an NSA program known as “PRISM” (“Domestic Surveillance Techniques”). Everyday government organizations invade our privacy for the sake of national security in an attempt to defend us from domestic threats, but it seems they often take surveillance a step too far. United States citizens should understand legality of these actions, as well as the purpose this data collection serves.