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Christian GonzalezEnglish 201008/03/2015Argumentative EssayNSA – Unconstitutional ActsThe fourth amendment of the constitution states "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 be 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."(bill) There perhaps may be various opinions on how you might interpret the 4th amendment. However, for most of the US it seems self- explanatory. In 2013 a man by the name of Edward Snowed exposed vast amounts of data, which included various NSA initiatives created in the name of National Security. Found among these initiatives were government-generated contracts that allowed the consumption of millions of consumer profiles and accounts to be surveyed and analyzed thoroughly. Many may think to themselves, “I have nothing to hide” or “this doesn’t affect me” the reality is that as we begin to neglect to inconsistencies of our government we are slowly depriving ourselves of our rights as citizens. A system of secrecy has been developed amongst our government and we are on the verge losing the liberties that were endowed upon all citizens during the birth of this great nation.In June of 2013 another revelation exposed one of the government’s major secrets. Prism, a system created to collect data in the amounts of zettabytes (1 zettabyte = 1million terabytes) was brought to light. The system was created to allow the NSA access to the private communications of users of nine popular Internet services (grabiner). Some these companies included; Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo, etc… information such as emails, browsing history, text messages etc. was to be collected and analyzed. This means that your entire phone calls, emails, text messages, etc. Are being monitored without your consent. This opportunity for government mass surveillance became legal during the Bush administration. President Bush secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop without a warrant on people in the United States - including American citizens - for evidence of terrorist activity (electronic surveillance). Although the actions of President Bush can be justified by his administration, the fact that these decisions were made without the consent of the people demonstrates the integrity of our nations leaders. Historically countries with tendencies of mass surveillance will exercise rule over governance.In order to understand why these data seizures are unconstitutional we must first understand the purpose of the fourth amendment. According to the website , a site founded to help children understand historical and scientific topics, it provides us with the following definition of our 4th amendment. “Nobody can search your body, or your house, or your papers and things, unless they can prove to a judge that they have a good reason to think you have committed a crime.” (Carr) This definition clearly interprets the fourth amendment in terms simple enough for a child to understand. Although the NSA has still managed to excuse their actions, we must see beyond their jargon and stand up for our rights. Randy Barnett a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center and former Harvard law student, said the following regarding these unconstitutional data seizures. “Because we maintain that section 215 orders must be “relevant” to an already existing investigation, in our brief we contended that orders of the seizure of bulk metadata on every American for future analysis to uncover evidence of wrong doing are not authorized by the statute and are therefore illegal.” He goes on to explain “ The secrecy of these surveillance programs is inconsistent with a republican form of government in which the citizens are the principles or masters, and those in government their agents or servants. For the people to control their servants, they must know what their servants are doing.” Furthermore, we cannot be properly be governed without first knowing what those governing us are doing. In order for our government to serve us we must be aware of their decisions and hold individuals accountable for their wrongdoing. Instead of prosecuting the individuals who were brave enough to uncover what they felt to be unconstitutional. The exposure of prism and other NSA plans is not the first time our government has violated the trust of its people. In June of 1971, the New York Times magazine began to publish what became known as the Pentagon Papers. These documents exposed the arrogant and deceptive practices authorized by government officials in Vietnam. The documents contained initiatives such as air strikes, raids, and other offensive actions taken on by US marines (pentagon papers). Prior to the disclosure of these documents Americans were led to believe that the US had minimal involvement in Southeast Asia. The documents also uncovered that the deception had been ongoing, covered up by four consecutive presidential administrations. Those administrations consisted of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. This however was not the end to presidential cover-ups. Later in 1985, during the administration of Ronald Reagan, Iran exposed a deal in which Reagan had authorized the trade of weapons for hostages. The deal violated an embargo that had been created against Iran and was seen as “dealing with terrorists.” At first Reagan publicly denied the allegations, only to retract his statement a week later. Over 1500 missiles were sold to Iran among other weapons. It doesn't stop there however; the profits made from the weapon sales to Iran went to support contras (rebel groups) in Nicaragua. Also, in 2010, a website designed to support whistleblowing known as WikiLeaks revealed over 400,000 war logs from the war in Iraq. The documents exposed military initiatives that included information regarding undocumented deaths of civilians as well as evidence that suggested unlawful conduct by the military. It was recorded that there were over 109,000 violent deaths between 2004 and 2009; over 66,000 of those were civilian deaths, 15,000 of which were unreported. This information came in complete contradiction to US military claims, which stated no records of civilian deaths were taken. The details of these documents also exposed the unethical mistreatment of Iraqi citizens including torture and public humiliation. The details describe within these 400,0000 logs expose the reality and brutality of the war in Iraq, but more so the government cover-up that so evidently supported the war (wikileaks). As I have clearly described in these examples, time and time again our governing elected officials have abused their power and undermined the opinion of the people by sugar coating and falsifying the information released the public. We must come to the understanding that as we allow the government to do as it wishes, we slowly loose the power we have to control it. Although the majority of population may feel unaffected by the government’s current actions, there are others who must deal with these issues on a daily basis. The ACLU, (American Civil Rights Union) an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of people, along with the human rights watch website () published a report that included a 120 page document where 92 people including journalists and lawyers who were interviewed. The article, titled With Liberty to Monitor All provides the following insights. “However, journalists interviewed for the report are finding that surveillance is harming their ability to report on matters of great public concern.” As the NSA has further developed the capability to monitor everything we do, government employees are becoming more and more afraid of exposing unconstitutional government acts due to potential charges they may face. The government is utilizing the NSA and other government entities to better protect its secrets and eliminate public awareness. The article further states “Many journalists described adopting elaborate techniques in an environment of tremendous uncertainty in an effort to protect evidence of their interaction with sources.” Healthy governments rely on consistent checks by journalists to ensure they are staying within constitutional bounds. If we eliminate these essential government checks we are taking a step into darkness, leading to the path of uncertainty. “One prominent journalist summed up what many seemed to be feeling: “I don't want the government to force me to act like a spy. I'm not a spy; I'm a journalist (sinha).” Instead of worrying about what other governments are plotting, or trying to uncover international threats that may threaten our societies. The journalists of this country are now worried about what US government officials are spying on them. They are worried about whether or not they will be prosecuted for writing about actual government wrongdoing. One perfect example is Edward Snowden who fled the United Sates after exposing all of the NSA initiatives. In fear, that he would be imprisoned for having uncovered so many government secrets. He now resides in Russia while he awaits US felony charges for espionage. No form of government will ever achieve perfection however, as we learn to control the powers that we have elected to governs us. We can ensure that our liberty will be preserved, as well the power each of us have, as citizens, to manage this great nation. We must no longer allow the day-to-day commodity to deprive us of the knowledge we must gain in order to enforce and preserve our freedoms. It necessary that we obtain the appropriate understanding and take action against anything that gets in the way of diminishing our rights, or the rights of others, even when it is our own government that is trying to deprive us of those rights. One of the founding father of this nation emphasized the importance of preserving our rights and liberties by saying “Any society that will give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” – Benjamin Franklin. Are we willing to give up our freedom? Liberty is cornerstone of this country; we must learn to preserve it in order to guarantee our freedom. Works CitedGrabiner, Gene. "Commentary: Government And Market Surveillance, Emergence Of Mass Political Society, And The Need For Progressive Social Change." Social Justice 39.4 (2013): 115-125. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 July 2015.BARNETT, RANDY. "Why The NSA Data Seizures Are Unconstitutional." Harvard Journal Of Law & Public Policy 38.1 (2015): 3-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 July 2015ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE -- CONGRESS GRANTS TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL SUITS FOR COMPLYING WITH NSA TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM. -- FISA Amendments Act Of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-261, 122 Stat. 2436." Harvard Law Review 122.4 (2009): 1271-1278. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 July 2015."Wikileaks: Iraq War Logs 'reveal Truth about Conflict' - BBC News." BBC News. Web. 1 Aug. 2015."Pentagon Papers." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 July 2015."Bill of Rights - Bill of Rights Institute." Bill of Rights Institute. Web. 4 Aug. 2015.Sinha, G. Alex. "With Liberty to Monitor All - How Large-Scale US Surveillance Is Harming Journalism, Law, and American Democracy." . Human Rights Watch. Web. 4 Aug. 2015. ................
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