Preview

The Harmful Effects Of Wiretapping In The United States

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
568 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Harmful Effects Of Wiretapping In The United States
What exactly is wire tapping? Do you think wiretapping is occurring in your everyday life? Wire tapping is the practice of connecting a listening device to a telephone line to secretly monitor a conversation. This can play a key role in helping law enforcements in the end. As President Obama states, “When I came into this office, I made two commitment that are more important than any commitment I made: number one , to keep American people safe and number two, to uphold the Constitution.”
Wiretapping can prevent many serious accidents from occurring which could save many lives .According to Leslie Ellis, “The 1,149 court-ordered wiretaps in 2001 produced 3,683 arrests, and 732 conviction-proofs enough that electronic surveillance is a valuable tool in catching the bad guys."With this valuable fact, this clearly proves how effective wiretapping can be. Many say this would be a violation of the U.S constitution, but that is incorrect. The U.S Constitution contains
…show more content…
For example, if a person gets on goggle and searches how to make a bomb, the government can react to that and see what they need a bomb for. Also, wiretapping monitors questionable people. Anybody that searches anything bad or that can harm someone else,, that person will be asked about whatever they searched. This will not affect your everyday life by any means. For example, if you search something that couldn’t harm someone elso you wouldn’t get a red

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    citizens, and the government would have too much capability to go behind our backs, unnecessarily, and spy on us. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has freely admitted that it has not launched or found any extensive cases through the Patriot Act’s privileges. (Ybarra, n.d.) The question is, though, if they can not find any cases of terrorism, smuggling, or organized crimes what are they doing? The Government is spying on us through every piece of technology that we own. They can find us within the blink of an eye through our cell phones, computers, and bluetooth devices. They can hack into any of our Facebook accounts, emails, internet search browsers. They can view a person through their phone or computer's camera without them even knowing. The government can also turn on your microphones through the same devices and listen to you and what you are doing at any moment. The National Security Agency has put its codes into Android's operating systems, hacking into three quarters of the world's smartphones. (Tyler Durden, July 9th,…

    • 3008 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    On May 7, 2015 the Federal Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the National Security Agency's collection of American phone records in bulk is illegal. Specifically, they ruled that the practice did not fall under the scope of the USA Patriot Act, which allows wire tapping of individuals to detect and prevent terrorism. What is the USA Patriot Act? The USA Patriot Act is a 10-letter acronym for uniting and strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism act of 2001. It was passed by Congress following the terrorist attacks of September 11 and signed into law by George W. Bush in 2001. Later when it was set to expire in 2011 Barack Obama renewed the law for another 4 years. The Patriot Act…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If someone told you “You are being watched every time you use digital communications, “how would you feel? The majority of people would probably feel discomfort. Sadly, you are being watched by the National Security Agency or NSA. While they allegedly keep us safe, the NSA shouldn't continue to monitor everyone’s digital communications. It gets every tax paying citizens money involved. They violate an amendment of the constitution. Likewise, there is a major loss of privacy. They simply have access to too much information. (Pathos)…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to multiple sources wiretapping is the act of getting into an individuals phone or electronic device in hopes of listening to their conversation without their consent. To begin with, the case in regards to wiretapping that I will expand on is Katz v. United States in which the Supreme Court ruled on December 18, 1967. This legal case revolved around a man named, Charles Katz, who authorities from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were suspicious of illegally making bets with gamblers in different states to gain money from the winnings. In order to avoid being exposed he decided to use the public phone booths as the primary form of communication to transmit wagering information. However, through time and surveillance federal agents…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 2001, people are quick to dismiss the idea of an internment of American citizens, suggesting that the country has come a long way from 1942. The hypothesis that the government might conduct surveillance or use illegal wiretaps to monitor groups or individuals that it suspects of domestic terrorism seemed foreign before September 11th, and now has become a way to gain more information about potential suspects. These new measures, included in the USA Patriot Act, delicately trace the line between national security and civil liberties. A brief look at how the Bush…

    • 522 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the Boston Massacre, many of the colonists were upset with the British troops staying in the colonies monitoring the colonists("The Boston Massacre."). This is very similar to the NSA and how they have been monitoring communications between the US and other foreign entities. In both situations, citizens had lost the opportunity of freedom of some sort, as the troops in the American Revolution were stationed and eventually restricted and enforced laws on the people and the NSA could be considered as breaking the fourth amendment in monitoring these communications…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Back in the beginning stages of the War on Terrorism, President Bush enacted the Patriot Act. This allowed the government to spy on citizens, monitoring their activities in order to discern whether or not someone is a terrorist. It brought about changes in law enforcement that allowed agencies to search phones, financial records, etc.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    English Paper Wiretapping

    • 2159 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Thesis: Wiretapping enables both parties and government agencies to monitor the communications of targeted people to determine if they are doing something wrong. The Government should not have the luxury of imposing on the privacy of Americans without a reasonable doubt as to when they should get a warrant to be able to do so. The Government should not wiretap because it is an abuse of power, distrust, and ethical dilemma, the violation of the Fourth Amendment which involves the collecting and storing information about people who are not criminals to be penalized.…

    • 2159 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Take a second to think about that fleeting feeling of being watched. Every second of every minute of every day spent on technology is being recorded and scrutinized, so why is it that the feeling so fleeting? The National Security Agency, or NSA, had such a promising name, but they ultimately slandered and disgraced it with their horrendous violations of privacy. Action must be taken in an effort to abolish the unforgivable acts of domestic surveillance performed every single day by the NSA.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Constitution limits the authority of federal courts to decide actual cases or controversies. That has come to mean that a federal; court can decide only a legal dispute that has real- world meaning to parties” (Denniston par. 26). The court decides whether or not that one’s case is valid or invalid on the matter of obtaining and assessing in the nature of electronic eavesdropping. Detaining the case in the first places is outrageous and obscured, because it maintains to go against a written Constitution that was placed in power by the Founding Fathers to supply America with clearly underlined rules and regulations to certain matter, and the fact that these matters are being take under consideration and sought out to be implicated only alls back on the eyes of the officials who wish to proceed further. With presidents coming into play only drowns the idea into oblivion. Reaching the capacity of perfection or a society built on perfection isn’t realistic or ideal in this instance. Maintaining structure on the other is apprehensible, and thus is well advised. Prompting society with allegations of corruption or granting approval to provoke this law is an awakening that is not perceived to end in bliss.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Fourth Amendment does not allow searches of personal items unless a warrant is used, but by tracking information on people it could help detect terrorism threats sooner. For example, President Obama claims that the data-collection programs “help prevent terrorism (Transcript: Obamas Remarks 4.3).” Even though people do not need a warrant to use these programs, people examine the phone numbers and length of calls, and by doing this it could ultimately protect the country from terrorism threats. Also, the U.S. Patriotism Act enables law enforcement agencies to search through “email and telephone communications, medical, financial, and library records (Legal Information Institute 1.1).” Furthermore, whenever the intelligence gathering community…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is it acceptable for the government to search if it has no reason to suspect a person has done something wrong? Today’s application of the Fourth Amendment would surprise those who drafted it and not just because they could not imagine technologies like the Internet and drones. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, policing consisted of citizen patrols or a loose collection of sheriffs and constables, who lacked the tools to maintain order as the police do today. That said, to determine if the right to privacy is a threat to our national security, I reviewed the Fourth Amendment, the government’s use of surveillance, and arguments for as well as against its use.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The government is not spending enough time and resource in surveillance, which is resulting in the threats and decrease of national security. Surveillance is the act of observing, or monitoring a person. Monitoring a person can include the use of cameras, wiretaps, GPS tracking, and internet surveillance. Events such as the Oklahoma City bombing, and the attack on 9/11 lead to a law former President Bush passed. "On October 26th, 2001, Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act." (Podesta) Government surveillance is an essential part of everyday life because not only does it keep the country under control, but ensures safety for Americans.…

    • 1858 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people around the world use social media sites. However, many do not realize that governments are able to use surveillance programs to spy on them. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, surveillance is the close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal and it can be defined as processes of information collection and processing. Surveillance on social media has its positives and negatives and people should know how to use it responsibly, critically and effectively. Surveillance programs endanger the privacy of each Internet user. The reason that surveillance is accepted is because it can help governments find terrorists and can help solve crimes. However, it is a concern for multiple people that there is no law or regulation on how governments are able to use the programs. Moreover, the surveillance programs are sold off the shelf to governments so…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Developed “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes” the USA Patriot Act, bears the formal name ‘‘Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot Act, 2001, p. 1). Heretofore referred to as the “Patriot Act” the USA Patriot Act was signed into law within 6 weeks from initial draft to final approval supporting the enforcement of laws for the ultimate protection of the United States and her citizens by granting access to persons and information with liberal criminal and civil procedure exceptions. The Patriot Act immediately granted broad-based interrogation, surveillance and isolation abilities to law enforcement when investigating “crimes against terror” (US Government, 2011)…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays