I wanted to articulate my opinion on this as I have not done so yet and as there have been some very good replies within this thread. I’m going to cover the phone monitoring and internet monitoring topics separately. We’ll start with something I feel is very important to the discussion. Let’s take a moment and read the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution:
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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 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.”
Now let’s talk about the Verizon court order and the collection of all phone related “meta-data” across the United States. Now according to various publications and our dear leader himself the NSA is not collecting the content of our phone calls, content of our text massages, or pictures we send across a cellular network. I am skeptical about this claim but let’s take the regime at face value on it.
They are however collecting a massive amount of meta-data like IMEI numbers, called numbers, calls received, length of the calls, call locations, and serial number of the device used. The list goes on from there. Now I hear people saying that the collection of such “meta-data” does not violate the 4th Amendment. I strongly disagree with these people. The “meta-data” can be used to determine your most frequent locations, the timeframes of which you’re most active, who you associate with, and much more.
The mass collection of this personal and private data is of great concern to me. Is this not an unreasonable search? Where is the probable cause? In my opinion they should not be able to acquire this information without first appearing before a Judge and showing probable cause to obtain my information. Indeed they appeared before a secret court (beyond the scrutiny of the American people – a shadow court) and justified their actions (using classified rationale) and therefore we have zero way to contest it.
Are you going to sit here and tell me that they’ve met the “probable cause” aspect under our Constitution and that collecting this information on every single American citizen (and most likely millions of foreign citizens as well) is compatible with the 4th Amendment? I personally have troubles believing that and I know many other people do as well.
Now let’s talk about something more significant than the NSA phone monitoring scandal. Let us discuss Internet privacy & monitoring. This is the revelation that I find to be most troubling. Now I’ll admit that nothing you put on the Internet should be considered private. However there are situations that I believe a reasonable expectation of privacy does exist. Did your jaws hit the floor just yet?
Our banking records are online now. Our healthcare records are online now. Our employment information, tax records, utility bills, and so much more is tied into the grid. It is nigh impossible to disconnect from the grid today. I have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to this information. I do not expect it to be accessed by a 3rd party and believe this information is protected by my 4th Amendment.
Do I expect content I post to Facebook to remain private? Absolutely not. That’s social media and is inherently public by nature. Facebook does not have the strongest track record when it comes to privacy anyway. I do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when related to content when I post content on the Facebook. I do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in my email however as this is meant to be a private communication medium. Did you know my Insurance provider sent me confidential information through email? Did you know my tax agent sent me confidential information through email? Why should the Government be able to acquire this information for long term storage in some database without proving probable cause before a court? Why can I not contest their need for this information in front of a Judge? The same goes for private calls made through Skype. Skype is “encrypted”. Why should the content of my Skype messages and the audio/visual content of these calls not be protected under the 4th Amendment? We’re talking about intimate moments in our private lives here. I believe I have a reasonable expectation of privacy and that a warrant should be required to review and collect this information. Period.
In my opinion the revelations of the previous two days is extremely serious and warrants the rage of the American people. I hope to see officials flogged publicly for this. Ideally I’d like to see the entire NSA audited, gutted, and reworked through and through. Furthermore I’d like to see several Congressional resignations, a Presidential impeachment, and the repeal of the Patriot Act. Will that happen? Unfortunately it probably won’t and I fear the American people are too complacent to react how they should. It’s all about the Starbucks coffee, the episode of Game of Thrones, and Sunday Night Football.
I spent the morning as an activist today. I called Harry Reid. I emailed Harry Reid. I even sat down and wrote a handwritten letter to Harry Reid. I did the same for the Congressman of my district. I did the same for my Governor. I signed petitions sponsored by the ACLU, EFF, and FSF. I am spreading the word and fighting to defend my liberties and I wish more people would do the same. Look I know I am going to take flack for this next comment but while we’re being honest I would rather witness another event like September 11th occur than sacrifice any of my Constitutional liberties. Freedom is not free and occasionally the cost of that freedom is pretty steep. I am not willing to sacrifice liberty in the name of security otherwise I’ll lose both in the end.
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Ninja Edit: Now that is a strong denial. Carefully worded however.
