Balancing Surveillance and Privacy: The Fourth Amendment's Role

The Fourth Amendments
“They may identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism, if these folks — if the intelligence community then actually wants to listen to a phone call, they’ve got to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation.”(Obama’s remarks) President Obama said this in an interview regarding the NSA’s work on surveillance to protect the country while also following the Fourth amendment’s Guidelines. The fourth amendment can be beneficial to the government by allowing them to legally conduct search and seizures. The Fourth Amendment also allows law enforcement to access suspect’s phones and any electronic devices. It also allows law enforcement to access all suspects’ files. Even though, The Fourth Amendment can help Law Enforcement it can also invade privacy. Although some believe the Fourth Amendment promotes invasion of privacy, it is beneficial to the government because it helps protect citizens from illegal search and seizures, allows the IRS to access foreigners, and in some cases American’s emails/phones, and helps law enforcement access suspects’ files.

The fourth amendment is beneficial because it protects citizens from illegal search and seizures.

Search and seizures are illegal and unreasonable without a search warrant, however one is not needed for abandoned property. The Fourth amendment helps so anything within the property cannot be seized without a warrant. A warrant is needed for a search but it can help find crucial evidence toward a crime. Evidence of a suspected crime must be good enough for a court to grant a search warrant to law enforcement for a search and seizure to be legal. If evidence of suspicion isn’t adequate enough a court will not grant a search warrant, that being the fourth amendment protecting the privacy of innocent people. As the fourth amendment protects the privacy of people it also helps law enforcement access phones to find

evidence.
The fourth amendment allows the NSA to conduct searches of phone records to find evidence of a crime. The NSA has recently went to Apple to try and access suspects phone records, although it requires a court order. Some of the most common requests for phone files are clues for robberies, kidnappings, and suicidal prevention. George Bush created the U.S. patriot act which allowed the government to better access telephone and communications. The NSA was also conducting wiretaps and surveillance. The increased usage of computers, phones and other electronics have led to excessive crime electronically that can be discovered by the NSA following the U.S. patriot act. Law enforcement also can get access to hard drives and emails. Although, the fourth amendment helps protect citizens from unreasonable and illegal search and seizures, it helps law enforcement access electronic devices to find evidence it also helps law enforcement access suspects files to find evidence.
The Fourth Amendment is beneficial because it helps law enforcement access suspect’s files. Law enforcement with the help of the fourth amendment are able to access files of suspected drug dealers, whereas drug dealers tend to use more electricity than normal people (zwerdling). The DEA must be granted a warrant to search suspected drug dealers or drug grower’s files or electric bill payment records. The U.S. patriot act allows surveillance of electronics and, law enforcement has access to all files and records. The NSA was given a warrant to access phone records of individuals that were believed to be involved it terrorist activity. The NSA using the patriot act is able to access anything such as email, telephonic communications, medical, financial, and library records. Even though the Fourth amendment can help by finding evidence it can also in some eyes be invading privacy.
The fourth amendment can be beneficial but, it can also to some U.S. citizens be invasion of privacy. The fourth amendment 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,” some U.S. citizens believe that Law Enforcement, the Government and the NSA are violating the required guidelines of the Fourth Amendment. The NSA is conducted a mass U.S. surveillance not to believe specific individuals may be engaging in terrorist activity, but instead to believe all of us may be engaging in such activity. The government mass surveillance proves that U.S. citizens are considered suspects at all times. With the Patriot Act the NSA has access to everything on a cellphone including pictures, messages, calls, and voicemails, even people who haven’t ever committed a crime are still being subject to the NSA’s mass surveillance project. Unreasonable search and seizures of electronic devices have been occurring where the government comes to property and searches phones hard drives and computers to find evidence. A basic search warrant unfairly allows law enforcement to search stored voicemails emails, or any records. Even though the fourth amendment can help law enforcement but it can also invade privacy of American citizens.
The Fourth Amendment helps law enforcement and the government in many way to find evidence of a crime, to terminate some crimes and acts of terrorism. However, some citizens think that the government being able to access all files, phone records, and conduct search and seizures is illegal and unconstitutional. In brief, the Fourth amendment can be very beneficial to some and very invading to others.