How You Got Screwed by Allen Marshall

Author:Allen Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510725935
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2018-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

One spot of good news: The government isn’t forcing us to house soldiers. Of course, with an annual budget of nearly $600 billion,205 housing at least shouldn’t be a problem.

Amendment IV

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 searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Few Amendments have been violated as thoroughly and consistently as the Fourth Amendment. In essence, this law protects our right to privacy, saying that it cannot be violated unless there is probable cause—some kind of evidence—that a crime has been committed, and even then, warrants that are issued to pursue additional evidence must be narrowly constructed and consistent with the allegation.

And yet, thanks to an intrusive spy network, recent legislation like the terrorist-hunting Patriot Act, and ever-increasing levels of sophistication in technology, we see that the government is vacuuming up as much data on each of us as they can. Edward Snowden revealed the scope of the NSA’s efforts to collect data on all of our phone calls and emails,206 just months after Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress, saying that no such efforts were taking place.207 (And no, he has not been indicted or punished for lying under oath.) We know that the FISA court, a secret court that decides on warrants requested by spy agencies, is a rubber-stamp outfit, rejecting just 0.03 percent of such requests as of 2013.208 We even have spy planes as a constant presence circling over cities like Baltimore, recording everything that happens below through an array of cameras with cutting edge lenses and scopes.209 It’s hard to imagine what else the government could do to further intrude on the rights highlighted by this Amendment.

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