Government Privacy Susan Maret Summary

Is the government trying to hide something? This outpour of facts is a way to convey and reveal the truth the government is keeping from its people. “People continuing to make claims about leaked US government documents, which supposedly prove it was a cover-up”

“The Fourth Amendment says that you have an expectation of privacy in your home and person (body). The government cannot search you, your home, or belongings without a good reason.” (Background Essay). But, through the years the government has invaded the protection the Fourth Amendment has given to society. For example, “Federal agents put a bug- a device that allowed them to listen to the conversations” (Doc A).

The U.S follows a different school of surveillance. Despite the fundamental right to be held “innocent until proven guilty”, it monitors everyone until proven innocent. The status quo could of course damage America’s long known liberties granted by the Constitution. Recent revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden, have confirmed that the government is more likely to cross some constitutional lines in the name of national security. “The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) regulates the government’s acquisition of any electronic surveillance within the country for foreign intelligence use.

Some Americans believe that the Patriot Act is a violation of privacy, but the government takes crucial steps to ensure the privacy of all law-abiding Americans. Despite contrary beliefs, the

Since September 11th, fear connected with national security threats has shifted to fear of the federal government. The U.S.A. Patriot Act certainly caused much anxiety amongst society. Signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, this act increased law enforcement’s surveillance and investigative powers, “The purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes.” Clearly, federal agents have abused their power, as personal information, telephone calls, and Internet searches were and are being recorded and saved. A recent news article, posted in The Guardian, fully elucidates the intrusive government spying of American citizens, “the watchlist tracks ‘known’ and ‘suspected’ terrorists and includes both foreigners and Americans.

We the people are being monitored and controlled every day by “Big Brother” or what we call it our government. Our society today is also filled with false information and fake news. Michiko Kakutani says it best in the article, “It’s an era in which misinformation and fake news have proliferated on the web.” Since it is difficult to determine what is fake or real news it keeps people uninformed, which could be an advantage to the government. By the people not knowing the real news or by being distracted by the fake news makes it ten times easier for the government to get away with scandals, actions, decisions, and much more.

John F. Kennedy Secrecy, when used in the context of the Constitution, is an important safeguard for our nation’s interests. It protects America from the stealing of national security information by foreign enemies bent on the destruction of our form of government. It protects the lives of our service men and women who serve on the front lines of war. It protects the lives of intelligence assets who have chosen to assist our country in the defense of democracy. But, secrecy is a powerful weapon and must be under the appropriate controls.

It is crucial that the American public stay ignorant to secret military projects not because the government does not want its people to know, but because it does not want its rivals to know. For example, the SR-71 “Blackbird” was flown in secret for decades with few Americans ever knowing it existed. The American public’s ignorance of this plane allowed America’s technology to stay ahead of the Soviets, and helped America come out on top of overall intelligence levels. The American government would have likely loved to share its new technology; however, the risks outweighed the benefits, and thus the public were kept in the dark. Regardless of being in a way lied to, no one today complains about being left in the dark, as we all know it was for a good cause.

In 2008, President Bush signed into law The FISA Amendment Act, an act which allowed the government to monitor Americans’ electronic devices. Bush claimed that this Act could help save lives, as mentioned before, but what he did not mention is that this allows the government to conduct surveillance without probable cause. (“How the NSA’s Surveillance Procedures Threaten Americans’ Privacy.”) When people heard about this, they became concerned, and many began to question if the NSA would abuse this power.

According to the text “Our value is founded on a unique and deep understanding of risks, vulnerabilities, mitigations, and threats. Domestic Surveillance plays a vital role in our national security by using advanced data mining systems to "connect the dots" to identify suspicious patterns” (NSA). One of the slogans of the NSA is, “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. However, if you have nothing to hide there is no argumentation as to why the NSA taps into any form of communication or access to the internet. Therefore, this withdraws the power of the people and puts it directly back into the government and, simultaneously belittles citizen’s

Every government around the world is slightly different, nevertheless they all have one concern in common, secrets. The government around the world and the government described by George Orwell in 1984 are unquestionably much similar. In both governments described there are secrets held from the public. These secrets are held from us on the grounds that the government believes that they are protecting us from something terribly frightening or harmful.

Many people might say that the privacy of modern day American citizens is being violated, that to similar to the world of 1984. The novel 1984 written by George Orwell is about a totalitarian government who oppresses its people and controls all aspects of their lives. The government is symbolized by Big Brother, people are monitored their entire day for flaws in their thinking towards Big Brother. I believe that privacy of American citizens is being violated and that people should not give up aspects of their personal privacy for greater good of society.

In the united states today the government has so much power than what people may think. They have control over innocent citizens. The kind of power the government has over us has gotten to a limit where now they know where we are at and all of our private information safe on our cell phones. George Orwell’s novel 1984 gives a great example of how the government controls the people. In the novel they tell us about the government from Oceania, and how they control every single second of the citizens’ lives.

Many believe that this action is violating their right inscribed in the fifth amendment which protects against self-incrimination, which in turn protects the privacy of personal information. But with the existence of agencies such as the NSA and Acts like the USA PATRIOT Act, the government has shown that it is more concerned with the national

The balance between national security and the rights of American citizens was forged in 1791 with The Fourth Amendment. This was implemented to enforce the notion that “each man’s home is his castle” and to protect “the people” from warrantless searches and seizures