Reply to peer AR: Class,
This is a hard topic since I understand both points of view and do believe to an extent that U.S. government should have the right infringe on personal liberties in the interest of national security. However, I do believe that the U.S. government should not have the right to infringe on personal liberties if their is not probable cause to do. Edward Snowden really exposed this issue by providing evidence that the “NSA was secretly building a vast database of U.S. telephone records – the who, the how, the when, and the where of millions of mobile calls” (Satter, 2020). Even the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that warrantless telephone dragnet that collected millions of telephone records violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
I do believe that there are times when government should be allowed to spy and that’s if an American citizen is openly communicating with a terrorist organization or making threats. It’s like I said earlier in this discussion, that probable cause or reasonable suspicion should be established.
References
Satter, R. (2020, September 2). U.S. court: Mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nsa-spying/u-s-court-mass-surveillance-program-exposed-by-snowden-was-illegal-idUSKBN25T3CK
Reply to peer LD: The unfortunate reality is that the U.S. government already infringes upon our personal liberties and rights. However, it is my fundamental belief that this infringement upon the U.S. citizens is morally wrong. For example, the fourth amendment to our Constitution states that, “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, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be search, and the persons or things being seized” (U.S. Capitol Historical Society, 2022). This is just one example of our many inherent rights as United States citizens. This is quite literally the law of the land, and I do not believe that the government should be allowed/able to infringe upon it. Another right that is often talked about being infringed upon is the second amendment, the right to bear arms. The has been a hot topic as of late, given the many acts of terror and school shootings we have seen in recent years. While there are many proponents of revoking firearms privileges, this action is fundamentally wrong, as is all other infringement of our rights.
References
The United States Constitution: Annotated. (2022). United States Capitol Historical Society. https://capitolhistory.org/us-capitol-history-for-teachers/united-states-constitution-annotated/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce14HMYZuqTjzEGGx24Q-XH719NL-6HP6DESfcap4yTX-sxU7MwAf-G0aAmmaEALw_wcB