According to Glenn Greenwald 's No Place to Hide, the reason why did Edward Snowden seek out Greenwald rather than leaking the NSA documents to the New York Times was because Glenn Greenwald was in was and constitutional civil rights lawyer and independent journalist, who wrote on several Issues mass surveillance and state secrecy. Snowden felt like Greenwald would understand where he was coming from since he was a constitutional civil rights lawyer, Snowden felt that he would be safe with him when informing Glen about what was going on since he felt like what the NSA was doing, was consider against the law and was breaking the 4th amendment. He believes that by spying on the people without providing a probable cause and warrants they were …show more content…
They believe by performing this mass surveillance they could combat terrorism and in turn, protect the nation. The NSA wiretapped phone lines, wirelessly tapped cell phones, and read personal emails searching for code words. To the belief of some, the government 's intention of spying invasively was part of a grander plan for complete governmental control. For those who are advocates of privacy over the NSA intrusion on privacy, their defense is a direct violation of their fourth amendment constitutional right. Which 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 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." (U.S. Const. Am. 4.) (Greenwald, 2014) This amendment states that they must have the warrant to conduct this type of "information gathering." However, the NSA did not obtain a warrant before spying on people. Therefore, they are without question in violation of the 4th …show more content…
By doing this, they believe that it will help fix the disconnecting between young people and journalism. By having the government allocate funds, so every middle school, high school, and college have a well-funded student newspaper and a low-power FM radio station, all of them with substantial websites (McChesney & Nichols, 2009). This will get young people accustomed to producing journalism and to appreciating what differentiates good journalism from the other stuff. (McChesney & Nichols, 2009) This is very insightful and I completely agree! By be investing in the children, we can better prepare the future and hopefully end the corruption and the bias main stream media. And finally four, we need to significantly increase in public broadcasting funding. (McChesney & Nichols, 2009) I agree with McChesney and Nichols about these ideas, and yes these proposals are a good start, but it will be a challenge to get the ball rolling. However, it will be worth it, if we can stop failing newspaper and bias media, then we can better prepare the
The National Security Agency or NSA for short is a United States federal government intelligence organization that is used for global monitoring and collecting data. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush implemented the NSA’s domestic spying program to conduct a range of surveillance activities inside the United States. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this program as it allows the NSA to tap into the public’s phone calls, cameras, internet searches, text messages, and many other mediums to seek out individuals that may be potential threats to the security of the general public. Many individuals say that the tactics used by the NSA are unconstitutional as they invade people’s privacy. This is primarily
Greenwald is currently contributing to The Guardian. The Guardian is an English newspaper digital US edition established in 2011. It is the third most widely read online newspaper. The Guardian as well as Greenwald writes for the politically savvy. Before he started with the Guardian, he was Constitutional lawyer and enjoyed that occupation until he realized he did not want to protect those people but rather sue them. After quitting that he eventually wound up writing for The Salon. He went to George Washington University and then went to Graduate School at New York University Law School (Testa). Greenwald is neither a Democrat nor a republican. He is opposed to big government and he is against the expansion of presidential powers. Greenwald is a very educated man who has won many awards for his journalism. Eric Snowden, NSA whistle blower risked not only his job but his life, breaking silence about the mass surveillance and trusted Glenn Greenwald with the information showing that Greenwald has credibility. However, with this particular article, Greenwald left out vital information that would make this article grab the /more headlines. For instance he does not give any reason why the readers should be angry. Most people will say somethin...
The NSA and U.S. government sifting through our private information is but a small inconvenience that we must sacrifice in order to protect our own freedom and safety. Domestic Surveillance roots back to the 1910’s, where the assassination of President McKinley, created a Bureau of Investigation that would trace the efforts of the Communists attempting an uprising in America. This would be the foundings behind Domestic Surveillance in America, and would continue on after World War II where the government created the NSA and CIA, with the main purposes
The NSA is a U.S. intelligence agency responsible for providing the government with information on inner and foreign affairs, particularly for the prevention of terrorism and crime. The NSA maintains several database networks in which they receive private information on American citizens. The agency has access to phone calls, emails, photos, recordings, and backgrounds of practically all people residing in the United States. Started in 1952 by President Harry Truman, the NSA is tasked with the global monitoring and surveillance of targeted individuals in American territory. As part of the growing practice of mass surveillance in the United States, the agency collects and stores all phone records of all American citizens. People argue that this collected information is very intrusive, and the NSA may find something personal that someone may not have wanted anyone to know. While this intrusion's main purpose is to avoid events of terrorism, recent information leaks by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, show that the agency may actually be infringing upon the rights of the American citizen. Whether people like it or not, it seems that the NSA will continue to spy on the people of the United States in an attempt to avert acts of terrorism. Although there are many pros and cons to this surveillance of American citizens, the agency is ultimately just doing its job to protect the lives of the people. Unless a person is actually planning on committing a major crime, there is no real reason for citizens to worry about the NSA and it's invasion of our privacy. The agency is not out to look for embarrassing information about its citizens, rather, only searches for and analyzes information which may lead to the identification of a targe...
“The Fourth Amendment wasn't written for people with nothing to hide any more than the First Amendment was written for people with nothing to say.” (Dave Krueger). The Fourth Amendment protects the people's values, including the right of privacy. The Fourth Amendment includes, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, paper, effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure, shall not be violated.” When the founding fathers created the Constitution they ensured the people fundamental laws that would be used to any issue portrayed in the Supreme Court. That gave the people a relief that no one is ever above the law that is created. The privacy of the people was a very big value enforced by warrants. In the case of the
There are many types of surveillance’s that the government as set in motion. For instance, computer surveillance, phone surveillance, and Camera surveillance. The government is always claiming that they aren’t spying on everyday Americans but on the webpage www.eff.org on How the National Security Agency private domestic Spying Program Works, tells us a whole different story. The Government first convinced the major telephone companies such as Sprint and AT&T to deliver the records of the call-detail of their customers. This was done without any judicial oversight or a warrant. Also these phone companies allowed the National Security Agency to install practical transmission surveillance equipment Where the NSA could analyze certain key words or keyboard patterns and the connections. No warrant was issued for this as well it violat...
“Many opponents have come to see the patriot act as a violation of the fourth amendment to the U. S constitution.” (Belanger, Newton 2). The side effect of the patriot act is that it weakens many rights. This act weakens the fourth amendment which is our privacy protection. The fourth amendment allows citizens to be protected from unreasonable searches without a warrant. The police search suspects mainly because of their race or ethnic group.
To give the full picture of Edward Snowden I must start before his role in the government. Edward Snowden never graduated from high school, nor did he graduate from community college (Yann 1). In 2003 He joined the U.S. Army briefly until he was discharged when he broke both his legs in a training accident (BBC 1). His first job with the NSA was as a security guard, until he took a job at the CIA dealing with computer security (Yann 2). Edward’s final job, the one that gave him access to the leaks, was in Hawaii with a six figure salary (BBC 2). Snowden was a systems administrator, meaning he had the responsibility to go through the NSA database and move extremely sensitive documents to a secure location (NPR 1). His position was the perfect place for him to leak all the secrets the NSA held close. Edward Snowden’s activities were seen by the NSA the entire time, he didn’t have to hide that he was taking the documents it was his job (NPR 2). Mr. Snowden left for Hong Kong after he leaked his information, but once there he flew to Moscow because Hong Kong had a treaty with the...
“They may identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism, if these folks — if the intelligence community then actually wants to listen to a phone call, they’ve got to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation.”(Obama’s remarks) President Obama said this in an interview regarding the NSA’s work on surveillance to protect the country while also following the Fourth amendment’s Guidelines. The fourth amendment can be beneficial to the government by allowing them to legally conduct search and seizures. The Fourth Amendment also allows law enforcement to access suspect’s phones and any electronic devices. It also allows law enforcement to access all suspects’ files. Even though, The Fourth Amendment can help Law Enforcement it can also invade privacy. Although some believe the Fourth Amendment promotes invasion of privacy, it is beneficial to the government because it helps protect citizens from illegal search and seizures, allows the IRS to access foreigners, and in some cases American’s emails/phones, and helps law enforcement access suspects’ files.
Every citizen should have a basic right to privacy when they are using technology. This is another thing that the Fourth Amendment covers. The Fourth Amendment basically states that the government is not allowed to use your personal technology against you. Just because personal information is not physically there, but on the Internet or on a computer, it does not give the government the right to use it against
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the extent of the N.S.A breaches of American privacy and in doing so, became ostracized by the media and barred from freely reentering America, his home country.
The government gives each American citizen a set of unalienable rights that protect them from the government’s power. These rights cannot be broken, yet the government violates the Fourth Amendment daily to find ways to spy on the American public under the guise of protecting against terrorism. In 2007 President Obama said the American administration “acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our securities – it is not.” Americans need to understand that their privacy is worth the fight. The people need to tell their neighbors, their congressmen, and their senators that they will not allow their internet privacy to be violated by needless spying. American citizens deserve the rights given to them and need to fight for the right to keep them by changing privacy laws to include Internet privacy.
The purpose for the Fourth Amendment is to protect people from intrusion of the government in areas where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy. It prohibits searches and seizures unless they are conducted with probable cause and under reasonable circumstances. “The Fourth Amendment only protects against searches and seizures conducted by the government or pursuant to governmental direction. Surveillance and investigatory actions taken by strictly private persons, such as private investigators, suspicious spouses, or nosey neighbors, are not governed by the Fourth Amendment” (Criminal.Findlaw.com, 2013).
In conclusion, Edward Snowden was justified in leaking the unlawful actions conducted by the NSA because he wanted to uphold the constitutional rights of privacy, which Americans are entitled to. While few may view Edward Snowden as a traitor for sharing sensitive information to the public, many commend him for his courageousness. Snowden broke the law in order to expose the unlawful practices conducted by governments officials. It is unfortunate to live in a society where the people elected to protect the rights of the people are the ones violating them.. It takes a lot of strength and courage for one man to stand up against the government, to protect the rights of an entire nation. Edward Snowden will go down in history as one of the most notorious whistle blowers
Privacy is defined by many as the ability for a person to act as they desire -these actions being legal of course- without being observed by other people. Privacy is a right granted to all American citizens in the fourth amendment which states “people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable search and seizures”. Although our founding fathers could have never predicted the technological advancements we have achieved today, it would be logical to assume that a person's internet and phone data would be considered their effects. This would then make actions such as secretive government surveillance illegal because the surveillance is done so without probable cause and would be considered unreasonable search or seizure. Therefore, access to a citizen’s private information should only be provided using probable cause with the knowledge and consent of those who are being