The recent revelations about the NSA surveillance programme have cause concern and outrage by citizens and politicians across the world. What has been missing, though, is any extended discussion of why the government wants the surveillance and on what basis is it authorised. For many commentators surveillance is wrong and it cannot be justified. Some commentators have argued that surveillance is intrinsic to the nature of government and its ability to deliver the public good.[1] Few, though have looked at the surveillance within a wider context to understand how it developed. A notable exception is the work by Steven Aftergood.
In his excellent blog NSA surveillance and the Failure of Intelligence, Aftergood looks at the history of domestic
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Yet, is this the right question? If we are to argue that the surveillance is inappropriate, we need to understand the change in context. If we look at the world 10 years ago, when attitudes to surveillance changed, the attack of 11 September 2011 is seen as a catalyst. However, it is not the source of the surveillance. The surveillance reflects the constitution and the social contract the government has with its citizens.
The source of the surveillance is the law and the
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We are not facing an issue of civil rights. We do not have a 21st century Martin Luther King who is trying to deliver a people from a constitutional injustice. Instead, surveillance is a symptom rather than a cause of the constitutional crisis. Perhaps with greater understanding of constitutional history and the constitutional effects of war, commentators would have seen this issue.[6] How does America remains secure in the world where such threats exist? Can it do this without a constitutional crisis each time the threat emerges? Perhaps a constitutional crisis the price that America has to pay to remain secure. Perhaps the deeper question is who decides when the threat is no longer a threat? We may believe that Bush made a poor decision. However, what alternative did he have? What alternative does Obama have? If we simply say the threat is the fear of tyranny from a president swollen with power from foreign wars, we miss the perverse result our constitution has created. In no small measure, our fear of an overly powerful president waging war abroad has had the unintended result that the government has to become more powerful and intrusive because America will not resolve the constitutional issue. Who will decide that the public’s demand that the president and the government act to keep them safe is now excessive? If security requires America to shape the world by its direct military efforts, how
Debates focus on violations of civil liberties. There are also questions about the appropriateness of the Act because it was passed and signed into law without extensive review. As the United States continues to experience terror threats and attacks, it is expected that the patriot act will continue to take effect. Civil liberties throughout American history have always expanded in peacetime and contracted during emergencies and wartime. During the Civil War, the two world wars, and the Cold War, Congress, and the president restricted civil liberties, and courts deferred.
Prior to the Patriot act a search warrant was needed, after the Patriot Act a search warrant is no longer required for agents to employ surveillance “…when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes,” (Dept. of Justice). The Patriot Act allows federal officials to gather information for suspected terrorist activity without needing to have evidence. In addition to this, Howard Ball observed that in the seventh title of the Patriot Act information is able to be shared between federal, state, and local law enforcement (52). Banks and Tauber analyzed federal district court decisions on cases regarding the Patriot act and they found, “[T]hey [district courts] are not inclined to protect civil rights and liberties during times of domestic or international conflict.” They continue to note that judicial ideology does not affect the outcomes of these cases, that civil-libertarian interest groups make a deferential decision less likely, and that if a more conservative Senate and president are in power a deferential decision is more
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.
These statistics not only make you question whether or not the Patriot Act is successfully completing its job, but it makes you wonder whether those suspected of regular crimes were rightfully convicted. Although the Patriot Act has played a
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
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.
This paper will discuss how to balance out civil liberties and security in intelligence activities; mainly surrounding the topic of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2002. With this topic and its perceived downfalls, identifying how to make both sides work efficiently will be discussed. Discussion When asked the question of “how can the United States balance civil liberties and security in intelligence activities?” the thought of the USA PATRIOT Act comes into mind; for two reasons. The first one is it caused a enormous uproar in the community after it was enacted based upon the fact it was perceived to infringe on civil liberties.
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
The United States spends more on its defense than any other country in the world, in a democratic state whose constitution Alexander Hamilton helped to inspire. It’s questionable as to what lengths a democratic system should go to keep its citizens safe as ultimately security cannot be unconditionally guaranteed. Having a debate between liberty and security is by no means a new one, its influence on political thought can be profoundly polarizing, as the extremes of both liberty and security can be witnessed around the world and throughout history. The principles that must be prioritized within a democracy while still affording safety, revolves around the ability of citizens to exercise their political liberties.
On September 11, 2001 terrorists attacked our country. Immediately after these attacks our US congress had to do something. They passed two major pieces of legislature. The first being authorization for use of military force, which gave George W Bush permission to use military force against terrorists, which he used to wage a full war. The second legislature was Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, or the patriot act, which allowed government to use loopholes in the fourth amendment to keep surveillance on their citizens to stop terrorism.
It is very important to use surveillance, but if you use it unjustly it can give more power to public order than individual rights. It causes a similar problem as the ones mentioned before, that it can prove challenging to identify if you had a good reason to use surveillance. You might not always know if you have a good enough reason to use surveillance, but you should exercise your best judgement to decide whether or not to use
Surveillance is becoming increasingly integrated into human lives. Seemingly inconsequential minutiae like how long one spends in line at a grocery store or how many times a headline is clicked on a social media site are collected automatically by both public and private institutions. Whatever we do and wherever we go, there is likely some trace of it. This has led to great debates about the right to privacy, how much surveillance is too much, and under what circumstances surveillance is justifiable. Film and Television play important roles in these debates and in the way in which the public conceptualizes the utility and threat of surveillance more generally.
The focus of this Extended Essay is to evaluate the problems that lie in the department of surveillance within the workplace. By definition, Surveillance is the use of IT to monitor the actions of people. For example, monitoring may be used totrack, record and assess employees’ performance. (“Surveillance”, 1.7, itgswikispaces, web, 2014). Social and Ethical issues are the primary problems that not only employees but also employers face with the topic of surveillance.
However, in the 21st century surveillance is used in different and very complicated ways. So many crimes and terrorist attacks forced governments around the world to use electronic surveillance to protect their own people. This electronic surveillance is very complicated. You don’t even know it’s happening and you are the
Big brother implies the authority that regulates and monitors information and citizens. Currently, technology developments such as closed-circuit television, black box, cell phone, and a bunch of search engines, allow to record every moves that people make and to give rise to surveillance society. Surveillance society has two sides of the coin. In this essay, I will deliver pros and cons about surveillance society and possible solutions to deal with the issue.