The privacy rights of United States citizens are in no way explicitly guaranteed by the country’s Constitution. However, certain clauses in the document reflect the founding fathers’ “concern” for citizens’ and their right to privacy (Linder). In the United States, the privacy of beliefs, home, person and possessions, and personal information by the first, second, fifth, and other amendments. The constitution, though, is far from the only law that affects the day to day lives of ordinary civilians, and perhaps non citizens as well (Kedmey). As new technologies and devices are created and new laws are written, more people are watched, more communications are collected, more movements tracked, and more data is collected, examined, and used. An average United States citizen can be added to watch lists, have phone data, internet history, location data, travel data, and personal information collected by many different corporate and government agencies. Data and metadata are shared between these groups, sold even, and in some cases used to prevent crime. In today’s highly connected, fast paced society, very few people are not being tracked in some fashion, leading to terabytes of data collected. Privacy concerns arise from not only this data collection but the methods and legality of it all. Terrorism, drones, healthcare, private information regarding lifestyles, from same sex marriages to the legalization of marijuana are all influential topics of the times, but the concern of privacy factors into all of these widely debated issues and more. The right of a private life, although only implied in the Constitution, is of grave concern and importance to many in the country, and around the globe.
There are many major laws that affect the day to day life of a U.S. citizens, from health care laws such as HIPPA, student privacy laws, wiretap and investigatory laws, to defense laws such as the National Defense Authorization Act and the Patriot Act, and finally to the ‘law of the land’, the Constitution. Many corporations play a role in privacy through their terms of service and the data they collect from applications, devices, and the user. These business and government agencies take advantage of billions of dollars in defense industry spending, their own new technologies, devices and methods to practically spy on their target or customer. This has become more apparent after leaks from government officials and journalists such as Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, among other whistleblowers (Nakashima). Edward Snowden, the most well known figure of those three, leaked the United States’ National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs to the public. Even though the leaks are well known, the true extent of the eavesdropping is unknown, with new leaks coming out every few months. What is even less well known is how long the N.S.A. has ran these domestic surveillance programs. Congressional investigations uncovered warrantless interception of telegrams and other communications during World War Two through the 70s (Lee). We now know the N.S.A. has grown their number of interception programs, especially with the advent and spread of the internet, cell phones, and computers. Their reach is truly global with, “virtually no foreign government off-limits for the National Security Agency, which has been authorized to intercept information “concerning” all but four countries, according to top-secret documents,” wrote Ellen Nakashima, of the Washington Post.
All of the N.S.A.’s powers (that we know about) were granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts and congress. Lawmakers and other government officials insist privacy is a concern, and that “in short, there must be a particular intelligence need, policy approval and legal authorization,” for all investigations, said Vanne Vines, an N.S.A. Spokeswoman. Other than the Foreign Intelligence Courts and congressional committees, there is little oversight, and almost unlimited access to citizen's data to certain government officials. There have been many lawsuits targeting these programs (E.F.F.). Many unions, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as private citizens, and companies have sued, spoken out against, and highlighted these collection actions by the government, resulting in some of the N.S.A.’s powers stripped, and certain laws rewritten. Major cases such as Jewel v. N.S.A., Wilner vs. N.S.A., A.C.L.U v. Clapper, among many others have been taken up by Federal Courts, yet have been declined to be heard by the Supreme Court (C.C.R.). The security departments of the government have fought these cases, lost some, but overall have gained powers as fast as technology has advanced. From the 1970s with phone data collection, to today’s wide variety of bugging, intercepting, and investigating abilities, new laws have been created to allow domestic and foreign spying. There are many reasons these laws and programs have been used, such as terrorism, wars, corporate and industry espionage. Certain events, such as the September 11th attacks, have forced congress to pass laws such as the Patriot Act in 2001. All of those factors have influenced state and federal legislation, court decisions, and criminal trials. There are differences though between state and federal laws regarding every aspect of this issue. A good example of a fight between states and the federal government would be Texas’ attempt to pass state bill HB 3916 in May of 2015, which would cut off electricity and water to the Texas Cryptologic Center in San Antonio Texas (Wilonsky) This is just the tip of the iceberg, with a massive fight looming for privacy rights in the country, and globally. Not only is the United States spying on people around the world, in many ways, other countries and corporations are doing the same.
Therefore, the fight for privacy will not be just an American issue, but a global issue because many countries have similar surveillance organizations, such as Britain’s G.C.H.Q, China’s corporations, or even North Korea’s “army of hackers” (Tamblyn) who all take part in information collection every day. As more people buy new devices and communicate more, laws will be adapted and new laws written to govern and watch over and ‘protect’ society. In the future, there will be many more privacy issues and legal fights that stem from advances in technology and events that some say will require a sacrifice of privacy in the pursuit for security. A balance between security and privacy should be found, especially when everyone who owns a phone, uses the internet, goes out in public, and travels are impacted by mass surveillance. If anything could change how the information is collected, or if it should be at all, will be voters and the officials they elect in the coming generation.
Works Cited
Kedmey, Dan. "Report: NSA Authorized to Spy on 193 Countries." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Lee, Timothy. "In the 1970s, Congress Investigated Intelligence Abuses. Time to Do It Again?" Washington Post. The Washington Post, 27 June 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Linder, Doug. "The Right of Privacy: Is It Protected by the Constitution?" The Right of Privacy: Is It Protected by the Constitution? University of Missouri, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Nakashima, Ellen, and Barton Gellman. "Court Gave NSA Broad Leeway in Surveillance, Documents Show." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Jun. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Tamblyn, Thomas. "North Korea Could 'Destroy A City' Using The Internet."The Huffington Post UK. The Huffington Post, 29 May 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
"Timeline of NSA Domestic Spying." Electronic Frontier Foundation, n.d. Web.
"Wilner v. National Security Agency (NSA)." Center for Constitutional Rights. C.C.R., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Wilonsky, Robert. "State Rep. Stickland Wants to Pull the Plug on the National Security Agency Texas. Literally." Trail Blazers Blog. Dallas Morning News, 13 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.