Covert Government Surveillance Where do we draw the line between Safety and privacy?

Covert Government SurveillanceWhere do we draw the line between Safety and privacy?By Michael Micka

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Fourth AmendmentThe 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.

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Why The Fourth Amendment Was Added To The Constitution Before the American Revolution English agents could enter any colonists house or building to look for prohibited goods without probable cause.Our forefathers wanted to protect its citizens from its newly formed government and put the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures in the Bill of Rights .

Wiretapping

Started 1890New York made it a felony in 1892Police ignored law and continued wire tapping listening to private conversationsPopular for catching bootleggers 1919-1933In 1934 the U.S. Congress Passed Federal Communications Act making warrantless wiretapping illegalFBI Continued wire tapping despite ruling and is still done today

BugsFBI tried using bugs to get around law which is a hidden microphone used for surveillanceTried placing a bug outside phone booth thinking it did not intrude into the boothSupreme court ruled the Fourth Amendment protected people not places so bugging is illegal also.

Operation Shamrock

Government illegally censored all messages entering and leaving country from foreign governmentsStarted during World War IINSA took over in 1952 Transition from telegram to computers allowed for key word and phrase searchBecame useful for monitoring governmental concerns among foreign nations and U.S. civilians (Cuba, Vietnam, War on Drugs).Ended in 1975 after Congressional and press scrutiny

Carnivore Surveillance SystemDeveloped by FBI in 1990 to monitor Internet trafficWith a search warrant it was set up at the suspects internet service provider to detect and record packetsFBI forced an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to allow them to use it without a warrant and it was upheld by the U.S. District CourtFBI replaced it in 2001 with a commercial software that could perform the same function

After 9/112002 CIA captured several al-Qaeda members along with their computers and cell phonesThis allowed NSA to eavesdrop without a warrant and disrupt future terrorist attacksList grew to 500 inside USA, including US citizens, and 5000 to 7000 outside USA2010 Federal District Court in San Francisco rules warrantless wiretapping illegalStill under appeal by Obama administration

TALON DatabaseCreated in 2003 by Department of DefenseDatabase of reports of suspicious activities near military bases2005 NBC News found anti-war protesters and college students protesting on-campus military recruiting were added to the data baseDepartment of Defense removed many of these reports after an in-house reviewTALON was shut down September 17, 2007

Covert Government Activities Today

Andrew Snowden a contractor working for NSA recently released information that the NSA is using secret surveillance against the American publicAll electronic communication from anyone in the country can be intercepted, stored, and retrieved by NSASnowden a junior employee who didnt even work directly for the federal government had access to this information

Terrorists Activities Continue Despite covert government surveillance terrorists activities continue in the US and around the world The bombing of the Boston Marathon April 15, 2003 using two pressure cooker bombs3 people died and 264 others were injuredTwo brothers of Chechen origin are convicted of committing the attacksThey were caught because of camera surveillance at the scene

Safety VS Privacy

Where do we draw the line between our right to privacy and our safetyCitizens want their right to privacy, but they also want the government to ensure their safety and securityCovert government surveillance has been around since the 1890s and continues to this dayWe need to find common ground between surveillance accountability and our privacy

References

Boston Marathon Terror Attack Fast Facts. (2013, July 11).CNN, Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/boston-marathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/

Daniel Ellsberg:Snowden's NSA Leak Was Heroic, Historic. (n.d.).Justice Integrity Project, Retrieved from http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/490-daniel-ellsberg-snowden-s-nsa-leak-was-heroic-historic

Quinn, M. J. (Ed.). (2013).Ethics For The Information Age(5 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: