People's Freedom And Privacy: The Fourth Amendment Of The American Constitution

1502 Words4 Pages

Throughout the history, the American government preserved the privacy rights of the people 's privacy by the fourth amendment of the constitution. However, after 9/11 everything has changed. National Security Agency started national surveillance on possibly every internet connection.

According to Schneier (2015), US government has started spying on American citizens since the 60 's; however, their targets were antiwar activists, civil rights leaders and members of nonviolent dissident political groups. Furthermore, starting from the last decade NSA focused mainly in American Muslims in it 's goal to fight Alqaeda overseas. Also, Schneier (2015) indicated, that instead of focusing only one one citizens category, NSA decided to gather information …show more content…

The main purpose of the 4th amendment was to safeguard people 's freedom and privacy; it 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”(U.S. Const. amend. IV). Since the independence, US government tried to ensure the best for it 's people by legislating the laws that serve the citizens in the first place. One of the rights that the US constitution upholds is the right of freedom of speech. The US always had a free press and free media; this includes journalists and normal people. The fourth amendment of the US constitution stated literally that by law people are allowed to express themselves freely without the fear of being arrested. However, the 4th amendment is not a pretext to criminalize, especially in the web. The 4th amendment is not securing peoples rights only, but also it govern them; a part of the amendment is that people can be searched and seized only by an issues warrants. Petrashek(2010) emphasize that “Ordinarily, a search is reasonable only if police obtain a warrant prior to intruding upon the individual 's

More about People's Freedom And Privacy: The Fourth Amendment Of The American Constitution

Open Document