Is Government Surveillance a Violation of the Fourth Amendment

1253 Words3 Pages

The government is always watching to ensure safety of their country, including everything and everyone in it. Camera surveillance has become an accepted and almost expected addition to modern safety and crime prevention (“Where” para 1). Many people willingly give authorization to companies like Google and Facebook to make billions selling their personal preferences, interests, and data. Canada participates with the United States and other countries in monitoring national and even global communications (“Where” para 2). Many question the usefulness of this kind of surveillance (Hier, Let, and Walby 1).However, surveillance, used non-discriminatorily, is, arguably, the key technology to preventing terrorist plots (Eijkman 1). Government surveillance is a rising global controversy; and, although minimal coverage could possibly result in safer communities, too much surveillance will result in the violation of citizen’s privacy.
Undeniably, there is reasoning behind a watchful government. After 9/11, anti-terrorism acts were in high gear and legislators passed the Patriot Act, which increased the amount of surveillance powers that the government held (Savage para 1). It makes sense; a country shaken by terrorism would live fearfully without the comfort of the government eavesdropping on other possibly dangerous plots; the same goes for countries that are often affected by terrorism. The surveillance can deny criminals access to communication and prevent terrorist plots (Eijkman 139), This explains why after 9/11, Americans were practically begging for more surveillance (Savage para 1). Now that America is in a state of recovery and relaxation, there is absolute uproar over the NSA and other government surveillance agencies.
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...The Washington Post (2013). Web. 12 February 2014. .apo.21558cdc-cf99-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497>.
Web. 19 February 2014. .
Zuckerman, Mortimer B. "Let's Use All the Tools." US News & World Report 140.20 (2006). Web. 12 February 2014. .

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