Privacy and the Government: Monitoring the Populace

There can be no discussion about monitoring the populace without a discussion of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is my orders of magnitude the most influential piece of government legislation that has violated privacy, civil liberties, and rights. I argue that these violations were only possible because of the development of technology that was previously unavailable.



Sneak and Peek- Sec 213
Put your mind at ease, the government can't search your property or possession without a warrant. They just don't have to tell you they've done. It's called "delayed notice." Though delayed notice isn't anything new to government and law enforcement there's a twist added by the Patriot Act. Sneak and Peak warrants are now infinitely easier to get even for minor infractions, available in every jurisdiction, and have no limit on how long notification can be delayed. Nearly a decade after the Patriot Act was passed statistics over how Sneak and Peek Warrants are used has come out, keep in mind the Patriot Act was passed to stop terrorists. "Of 21 criminal offense categories for which warrants were issued or extended, terrorism ranked 19th, exceeding only conspiracy and bribery." The question arises, if terrorists weren't the ones being searched, who were? Sixty two percent of the warrants issued were directed at those suspected of drug trafficking.

Foreign Intelligence Wiretaps and Searches- Sec 218
This section is a bit harder to figure out as there is no released information. The Patriot Act basically says one can wiretap if someone is suspected of being an agent of a foreign power and who's significant purpose, not main or ONLY purpose, being here is to gather information. How an agent of foreign power is defined or how their purpose is discovered is left to conjecture as there are no procedures outlined.

Roving Wiretaps- Sec 206
One warrant covers it all. The government no longer needs to be specific over what they want to run a wiretap or surveillance on. One warrant will do it, with a warrant granted to tap a house phone someone's cellphone, PC, and all other forms of communication can be monitored as well.

Summary
These are the portions of the Patriot Act that never expire or have been extended by the current administration. There were more invasive provisions over access to records such as one's library books. Officially these practices have been put to rest. However, data dealing with these violations of a citizens rights are rare and far between. It's too "sensitive" or "classified" to be released. Though we can look to other stories to show how the fed operates, for instance monitoring the populace's credit cards in real time, without a warrant. Fifteen years ago such an act would be unimaginable. The technology to conduct such massive surveillance only existed in science fiction. With the advent of better technology our government is abusing it to keep an eye on everything.