Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

under surveillance right now. Everything that you search, and everywhere that you go is being recorded and stored in a private corporation’s warehouse, sitting and waiting for it to be recalled and analyzed. In the past, information was much more difficult to come by. Files were only made on individuals that have been identified as suspects. Now with the help of personal laptops, cellphones and modern technology, being watched has become so much simpler. No one is exempt from the surveillance state

Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companies

quickly passed antiterrorism legislation known as the USA Patriot Act. The title of the act is a ten-letter acronym [USA PATRIOT] that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The act was understood to give the government sweeping authority to take necessary safety measures like conducting electronic surveillance via the Internet. The initial Patriot Act was passed by President George W. Bush in 2001. On May 26, 2011

day that will live in infamy. Once the first plane flew into the world trade center, the earth stopped turning. Later, the pentagon would be attacked too. Our government was faced with an act of war. “The attacks of September 11 awakened many to the reality that the end of the Cold War did not mean an end to foreign violent threats. Some Americans grew wary of alleged possible enemies in their midst” (OpenStax College 2014). So how were we going to retaliate? What was the game plan for making sure this

that should not be assaulted against. Of course, we must give up some of our privacy to have safety but with proper permission the NSA (National Security Agency) should obtain. The NSA is an intelligence organization for the U. S.and its sole responsibility is to protect information systems and foreign intelligence information. The NSA has corrupted our right to privacy by going through our technical data we use every day such as cellphones calls and emails. Our everyday life we use technology personally

recent years, have largely been ignored by the public eye. To be clear, the use of government surveillance in it of itself is necessary and acceptable. However, the lack of regulation and public transparency in the recent decades have resulted in intelligence agencies overstepping their jurisdiction along with an overall loss of focus in regards to identifying the enemy. In other terms, government surveillance, when left unchecked by the people, can and will result in the invalidation of natural rights

America with an agency founded to prevent such a catastrophe. After these acts of terror Congress felt they needed to do better and step up their game, they decided it was time to act so just one vote short of unanimous bipartisan support, they passed the USA Patriot Act. The measure gave law enforcement officials sweeping new powers to conduct searches without warrants,

reason for its controversialness is the double standard that it uses to justify surveillance of US persons (US citizens and foreigners in US land) and non US persons (foreigners outside the US). For US citizens, whether or not they are in US territory, Section 702 does not allow US intelligence agencies to intercept their information or to put them on record. To put US persons on record, the NSA or other intelligence agencies should seek a warrant from the court after showing a probable cause that

with an overwhelmingly large amount of terrorism and foreign threats since the birth of the country. Now, more than ever, the measure of foreign threats to the U.S has increased tremendously. The attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, shifted the country’s priorities to national security. From that point on, the country’s priority was to prevent future terrorist attacks on American soil. This leads to the passage of the USA Patriot Act. Technology helped revolutionize the nation’s means

advances in government surveillance practices are in evident violation of the fourth amendment. It is lawful, and understandable to varying degrees among the public, that “warrantless wiretapping” under special circumstances, such as the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks can be deemed necessary if the said practice was conducted strictly temporarily (Landau 55). In fact, this very excuse was used to justify and serve as the initial rationale behind these surveillance practices. Following