Carnivore: Chewing Through Our Right to Privacy
The debate around Carnivore is not really about Carnivore itself. It is more of a debate of whether or not Carnivore oversteps current privacy laws and the Fourth Amendment. Carnivore is a software program that enables the FBI to filter and collect email on a subject of a court order to be used as evidence. The issue around Carnivore started when the ACLU and other such groups demanded a review of the system in 2000. Since then, there has been a Congressional review of Carnivore. The FBI believes that Carnivore is well within the bounds of the law and that such a system is necessary to fight crime on the Internet. Advocates of privacy such as the ACLU believe that Carnivore violates Fourth Amendment rights and that the FBI cannot be trusted not to abuse Carnivore. In return, the FBI believes that the public should trust the FBI with electronic surveillance.
Basically, the debate around Carnivore is the FBI versus everyone else. Both sides of the Carnivore debate use mainly argument of definition to present their points. Since the integrity of the FBI has been called into question, the FBI’s argument for the use and need of Carnivore consists mainly of logos and ethos. Ethos is also used in order to build an image that the public can trust. Those who are against Carnivore use mainly pathos in their arguments to point out that Carnivore is a threat to personal privacy and that the FBI cannot be trusted.
The FBI’s position on Carnivore is outlined in Donald M. Kerr’s congressional statement made before a Senate committee that was reviewing the FBI’s Carnivore system. As the Assistant Director of the Laboratory Division for the FBI, Kerr has extensive knowledge of the workings and capabilities of the Carnivore system. In his statement, Kerr makes five points ranging from what Carnivore is to why the public should trust the FBI with Carnivore. Kerr explains that because terrorists, spies, hackers, and criminals used computers and the Internet, the FBI needs a tool like Carnivore to counter them. Another reason the FBI feels that they need Carnivore is to combat information warfare, fraud, and the spread of child pornography on the Internet. Logos in the form of statistics and examples is used to show that there has been an increased use of the Internet for criminal activity.
...ood and give them the money that would help build up a strong government in foreign affairs, in fact they would not even want their government to be strong in any matter.
James Stacey Taylor's article, "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance" begins reviewing the concept of "Big Brother" as it was originally presented in George Orwell's 1984. The Big Brother started off as a fictional character in 1984-- a dictator of Oceania within a totalitarian state. Set within a society in which everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens, the people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Wikipedia) . Taylor goes on to explain some examples of recent surveillance technology and how it is applied in lives today. An interesting note and comparison between today’s technology and that of the telescreens in 1984, is that people could be sure that they could not be watched by Big Brother’s telescreens by going out of the cities into the country, where they only had to take care that their conversations were not monitored by hidden microphones (Taylor 227). He contrasts the two, highlighting the fact that “Such an escape is not impossible, for spy satellites can be used to monitor people wherever they go” (277). From there, Taylor perpetuates the framework for his position on the Big Brother notion. Taylor argues that, "rather than opposing such an expansion of surveillance technology, its use should be encouraged -- and not only in the public realm" (227). Taylor’s argument presented in a more formal construction is as follows:
Just like a dog needs a leash, so does Carnivore. Carnivore is a software program that the FBI has developed to aid in the collection of evidence. After obtaining the proper court order, the FBI connects the Carnivore system to the subjects ISP. The system then scans and collects emails only relevant to the subject of the court order. The issue surrounding the Carnivore is rather or not the system enables to the FBI to violate personal privacy, and that the FBI cannot be trusted with such a system. Those opposed believe that Carnivore violates Fourth Amendment rights and that the FBI cannot be trusted not to abuse Carnivore. The FBI believes that Carnivore is well within the bounds of the law and that they can be trusted with Carnivore. I believe that the FBI should be able to use the Carnivore system, but only under strict guidelines and oversight. Some government control needs to exist on the Internet or else any one could get away with anything on the Internet. But at the same time, the use of Carnivore needs to be controlled.
The Articles of Confederation were not the best laws Congress passed, nor were they the worst. The Articles, which was supposed to be the constitution of the United States, brought along terrible changes and numerous problems. In the Rhode Island Assembly’s letter to Congress, it stated that the Articles created a weak and unhelpful government, one that could not levy taxes, lacked the power to regulate interstate and foreign trading, could not enforce national policies; the list goes on and on (A). Because Congress could not control taxing, this eventually led to a poor army that lacked a leader to start an effective
In the 21st century, the world as we know it suffers from psychotic, demented, treacherous and, sophisticated crimes. This world would be corrupt without a tunnel of light if it was not for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as the FBI, is a corporation that seeks fidelity, bravery and, integrity for the United States of America. The FBI researches shocking and concerning crimes the news reports about politics, war and, safety that we hear on the television about issues that are being reported to the people. These cases of transgression are missions the FBI analyzes, such as hacking information from double spies, locating terrorists, seeking pedophiles, cracking down unknown mobsters, gang leaders and serial killers, white-collar crime, public corruption, cyber-crime, counter intelligence and civil rights.
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
The Underground Railroad was large group of people who secretly worked together to help slaves escape slavery in the south. Despite the name, the Underground Railroad had nothing to do with actual railroads and was not located underground (www.freedomcenter.org). The Underground Railroad helped move hundreds of slaves to the north each year. It’s estimated that the south lost 100,000 slaves during 1810-1850 (www.pbs.org).
The Underground Railroad despite occurring centuries ago continues to be an “enduring and popular thread in the fabric of America’s national historical memory” as Bright puts it. Throughout history, thousands of slaves managed to escape the clutches of slavery by using a system meant to liberate. In Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Underground Railroad, he manages to blend slave narrative and history creating a book that goes beyond literary or historical fiction. Whitehead based his book off a question, “what if the Underground Railroad was a real railroad?” The story follows two runaway slaves, Cora and Caesar, who are pursued by the relentless slave catcher Ridgeway. Their journey on the railroad takes them to new and unfamiliar locations,
When we mention the word ‘privacy’, we mean that there is something very personal about ourselves. Something that we think others are not supposed to know, or, we do not want them to. Nevertheless, why is it so? Why are people so reluctant to let others know about them entirely? This is because either they are afraid of people doing them harm or they are scared that people may treat them differently after their secrets are known. Without privacy, the democratic system that we know would not exist. Privacy is one of the fundamental values on which our country was established. Moreover, with the internet gaining such popularity, privacy has become a thing of the past. People have come to accept that strangers can view personal information about them on social networking sites such as Facebook, and companies and the government are constantly viewing a person’s activity online for a variety of reasons. From sending email, applying for a job, or even using the telephone, Americans right to privacy is in danger. Personal and professional information is being stored, link, transferred, shared, and even sold. Various websites, the government and its agencies, and hospitals are infringing our privacy without our permission or knowledge.
The Underground Railroad was an escape network of small, independent groups of individuals bound together by the common belief that enslaving a human being was immoral. A loosely structured, informal system of people who, without regard for their own personal safety. Conducting fugitives from slavery to free states, and eventually to Canada where they could not be returned to slavery was a dangerous undertaking.
The Amish are very dedicated to their faith and believe they should live their life like their savior. They do not believe in modern conveniences such as automobiles, electricity, and any other modern technology. “The Amish are also known as the “plain people” because they tend to separate themselves from the modern world” (Rearick, 2003).
Since the founding of the United States, our outlook on the way it treats its citizens has not changed very tremendously. Apart from the abolishment of slavery, and various other corrupt practices which were fixed, well for the most part. The concept of birthrights and unalienable rights is not very farfetched, yet our government continuously attempts to impede these rights in an attempt that should not be tested. The right to privacy is a very serious concern and could be taken more heavily especially if it involves the safety of an individual or that of a nation, is no big difference, but the government should not go to the point of impeding our rights or freedoms to acquire these measures.
Privacy is one of the severe issue in today’s Modern Technology era, tied to human right around the world. Most countries have started thinking differently regarding between the people’s right and national security, and trying to leverage on new technology to detect potential national threats without hurting people’s privacy. However, there's a blurred line between privacy violation and government surveillance. (Sánchez, Levin & Del, 2012) It would be a learning process for governments to seek an optimum balance between retain integrity of privacy right and eliminate national threats in order to make the country better.
In this report I am going to talk about the rights people have to privacy and about the laws that go with privacy. Privacy is the thought that information that is confidential that is disclosed in a private place will not be available to third parties when the information would cause embarrassment or emotional distress to a person.
Government Surveillance today has changed from what it used to be. Technology has expanded through the past several decades and the government’s monitoring abilities have also expanded tremendously. Since the September 11, 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks, government surveillance has become more a part of everyday life. Government surveillance is said to help in efforts of capturing terrorists and stopping terrorist attacks before they even happen. But how much of our civil liberties are we giving up in order to maybe help capture some terrorists. The rapidly advancing technology of today and a more globalizing culture has made privacy and civil liberties come more into the forefront of our views. After about nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the government surveillance system put into place to keep the United States safe, is so massive that its effectiveness is becoming questionable.