They are reading this essay right now. At least they could be. Should we be worried? Every phone, every email, every text every transaction is being collected and stored in computers by the federal government. That is why I write this essay with a bit of trepidation as well as caution. I hope it will alarm you to the fact that over the past few years the NSA (National Security Agency) has been collecting massive amounts of information including cell phone call data without the public’s knowledge. This information has just now come to the public’s attention. This past year the story began to gain traction with many mainstream news sources and not just the fringe groups who have always believed the government is out to get them. While many news sources have done a good job of examining the facts of the story and nothing more, other sources tend to show their own bias by pandering to their market rather than critically examining. In other words, telling their audience what they want to hear. None-the-less despite your bias it appears clear that the NSA is guilty of violating the 4th amendment and trampleing the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
The NSA is an US intelligence agency responsible for the production and management of signals intelligence and information assurance for the US government. The agency originated in World War I and served as a unit to decipher code communications. Since then the NSA has become one of the largest US intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget, operating under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and reporting the Director of National Intelligence. Although having this agency sounds like a reasonable idea the NSA has just been abused its authority and trampled our fourth Amendment rights by illegally and indiscriminately searching through and analyzeing our personal information without warrant or any other authorization. By way of example one of the agency’s sweeping court orders requires Verizon to give all of its phone records to the NSA on an ongoing, daily basis making it precisely the sort of open-ended writ of assistance that the Fourth Amendment was created to proscribe.
In June, 2013 the media, led by the Guardian and Washington Post began publishing a series of articles, along with full government documents, that have confirmed the NSA's illegal activities. “The reports showed - and the government later admitted - that the government is mass collecting phone metadata of all US customers under the guise of the Patriot Act.” The media reports confirm that the government is collecting and analyzing the content of communications of foreigners talking to persons inside the United States, as well as collecting much more, without a probable cause warrant. As one would expect public outrage from both parties constituents has been intense.
The fourth amendment guarantees that all U.S. citizens are free from unreasonable searches and seizures, absent a warrant issued with probable cause. Today, the Fourth Amendment means that in order for a police officer to search and arrest someone, he or she will need to get permission or a warrant to do so from a judge.
