Friday, April 25, 2014

I Always Feel Like Somebodies Watching...

          


          Welcome back bloggers. Please don't let the title scare you. The governments so good at spying on citizens I hardly even notice. Evidently loads of bills were introduced last year in regards to privacy. Most measures included limits on data collection from license-plate readers; stronger privacy rules regarding social media accounts and limitations on personal tracking via cell phone. Many of those bills were offered prior to revelations about the extent of data collection by the National Security Agency (NSA). There is no mystery or surprise that people are wanting to act against the governments proclaimed unconstitutional practices. 
            According to an analysis from the ACLU, the NSA's  mass surveillance of American citizens has found a great expansion through the years since the 9/11 attacks.  The post claims that, recent disclosures have shown that the government is regularly tracking phone calls of almost every American citizen. If that isn't already a problem, then the fact that the government might also be spying on a vast number of Americans' international calls, text messages, emails, and social media sites, might be a bit well let's see... INTOLERABLE . 
          As stated before these theories have been speculated before, and own an accused claim under authority through the Patriot Act. The USA Patriot Act is an act, signed into law, by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Criticisms of the law acknowledge that the permission given by law enforcement officers, to search a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s consent or knowledge, is unconstitutional. Since its rise to legal standards, It has definitely faced some legal challenges and have been brought to Federal courts only to face the funk, that a number of provisions within the act itself are unconstitutional.This political obscurity of justice, somehow suggests to our very beautiful government that it is OK for them to collect a record of every single phone call made by every single American "on an ongoing daily basis."
            I'm not really sure how to feel about this, nor do I believe that US citizens will be able to do much about these speculations, if they are indeed true. Constitutionally, this program does not only exceed and infiltrate  the authority given by Congress, but it also violates the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment, and the rights of free speech and association protected by the First Amendment.  Despite these theories, we the public have yet to officially receive a full story about how the Patriot Act is being used to collect information on Americans. This is definitely something you might want to keep your eye on folks, because someone just might have their eye on you.

2 comments:

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  2. Hi Ivans! I enjoy the fact that you talk about the Patriot Act and the lack of freaking privacy Americans have nowadays. It seems to me as though that "America the Free" is turning into the 1950's nightmare of Communist Russia when they were at their peak. I agree with your views on the topic, and I wish that we as citizens of the U.S. would see the Act how it is on paper. I wish we could see what congress(wo)men, the president, and what the Supreme Court WOULD see if this Act came up to legitamate questioning. I wish the politicians would stop brushing the Act under the rug in our living room. I mean it's just ridiciuous what our government gets away with. Everyday people like you and I get critizied, judged, and dealt with (one way or another) when we believe and act like we're above the law. But our nation's leaders? No, they can pay off the public, the media, whoever to keep their mouths shut! Our nation has so much to improve on, but yet the us, the citizens, choose to ignore it because it seems impossible. I sincerely believe that we as citizens have the right to all this information, and can change our country for the better with this knowledge. I feel if we try to do something we CAN achieve it.

    On a different note, I think your post could be improved with links to some more information about the lack of privacy. For example, what privacy levels other countries have, any statistics on our privacy, FBI links to the Patriot Act, Wikipedia links, news reports, etc. Other than that I think you did a great job! I hope you enjoy your summer!

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