Government Invasion of Privacy Essay

Facebook has become the largest sociable media localise with over 1 billion supple lend singleselfrs as of September 14, 2012. Of those 1 billion users on average for June 2012, 552 million were considered daily active users. (Potalinski, Oct 4, 2012) The human beings has g mavin crazy with mixer media. The baron to update ones status on anything that has an internet connection has been enhanced by means of expert advances in both(prenominal) phones and tablets. The national organization deemed it incumbent to monitor companionable sites on October 26, 2001 with the inception of the nationa count figure out. The liberties given to the government since the patriot coiffure was signed into police force has been debated over the voltage violation of an individualists surreptitiousness. This author believes the Patriot exertion does non violate individual silence rights.The individuals violate their own rights by what they endure. The Federal government monitor s for potential drop bailiwick guarantor threats through watch spoken language. The Patriot Act affords them this right. An individual has the ability to speak their mind. The Federal presidential term is nonwithstanding concerned with punts that show potential threats to national pledge. There crap been 50 showcases of threats to national security since the Patriot Acts inception in 2001 that have been halt. Jason from Austin Texas was questioned and released hours side by side(p) a seemingly disablementless personal opinion post on Facebook. Did the Federal Government overstep the liberties given by the Patriot Act to even question Jason? Let us find out what the estimate for reveals.Jason from Austin Texas simply commented on a political post one of his friends had made on Facebook regarding the former Senator Rick Santorum. Jason did not reveal his bountiful name to the newsperson Jason Brashear who writes for CivilinWars.com with his story. For the lack of con fusion from here on out, the reporter pull up stakes be noted as Brashear. The comment that got Jason in perplexity was I wish there was a magic wand to provoke Santorum disappear This post was taken directly off of the post meander on February 20, 2012. The Austin Police and two Williamson County Sherriffs deputies were alerted to the post and seek to locate Jason. After unsuccessfully finding Jason at his work, the officers called Jason and set up a meeting later that evening at Jasons home.The officers explained they were there because of a possible threat to Senator Santorum. Jason did not know that Senator Santorum had a learn planned for Austin in the next few days. The reproof was distant abundant in the future from the post for the local law enforcement to be sent to Jasons house to look into the potential threat. The officers were there to look around the house for any pictures of the Senator or evidence of anything planned against the Senator. The local authori ties deemed that Jason was not a threat and no further operation was taken against him.Jasons Facebook security settings were set up as private. The private settings mean the posts argon treated interchangeable a private e-mail amongst friends. (Brashear, Feb 25, 2012) It was the perfect storm for Jason a seemingly harmless post, the subject of the post coming to town in a short time, and the Federal Government supervise for key countersigns or phrases. The Federal Government only reacted to key lyric poem that pinged through their tracking system. The individual privacy rights of Jason were not violated due to the contents of his post and the potential national security risk to the presidential outlook former Senator Santorum.Jasons post threw up red flags through the subdivision of mother country gage social media monitor system with the use of one word. Because the post contained the word Santorum, the remaining words became relevant to any investigations that followed. Because the former Senator was a potential presidential candidate for the Republican Party his name became a red flag feature for the Department of mother country Security. Had Jason make the same post, but eliminate the use of Santorums name, it is the belief of this author that there would have been no visit from the local authorities. The use of the former Senators name on a social media site was the cause of the investigation of Jason by the authorities. It is the Federal Governments job to assess every potential threat both foreign and domestic.By Santorum attempting to become the Republican Partys candidate for President of the United States, he became a potential target for acts of terrorist act or violence against that required protection. If the monitoring of social media by the Federal Government was not in place, Jason may have been plotting an attack on former Senator Santorum and executed a plan of attack without notice. It is because of the Patriot Act and the lib erties to monitor the military man through social media sites that enabled the Federal Government to investigate Jason as a potential threat, make a decision that he was not a threat, and allow him to return to his everyday life. This has not been the case for other potential terrorists after the Patriot Act was signed into law in 2001.Since the inception of the Patriot Act in October of 2001, 50 potential terrorist plots have been averted. (Carafano, Bucci, Zuckerman, Apr 25, 2012) All 50 of the potential threats vary with how technology aid in the information being obtained by the Federal Government. Every one of the threats were directly affected by the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is unification and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Interrupt and interrupt Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001. (Public Law 107-56, Oct 26, 2001) The Patriot Act deemed it necessary to monitor the changing technological world. It covers everything from national to international threat, banking to social media, and terrorist to unspoiled citizen. Through the years the Federal Government has created a buzz word database that generates a red flag when seen or heard.The Department of motherland Security released a copy of their Analysts Desktop Binder in 2011 which houses 337 words or phrases that argon considered buzz words. The words or phrases that are contained in the Analysts Desktop Binder are considered a baseline or the beginning. This means that at a minimum the 337 words or phrases listed are monitored on a daily basis. Words or phrases are added to and removed from the list on a daily basis. The list is modified based on current events happening. Current events change what may become a target for acts of violence and terrorism. These words are monitored through the Department of Homeland Securitys national Operations Center. The Department of Homeland Securitys website (http//www.dhs.gov/about-office-operations-coordination-and-pl anning) describes the National Operations Center.Through the National Operations Center, the Office provides real-time situational awareness and monitoring of the homeland, coordinates incidents and response activities, and, in conjunction with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, issues advisories and bulletins concerning threats to homeland security, as well as specific protective measures. The NOC which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year coordinates information sharing to help deter, detect, and restrain terrorist acts and to manage domestic incidents. Information on domestic incident charge is shared with Emergency Operations Centers at all levels through the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN). The NOC is the monitoring center for the Department of Homeland Security.They are the responsible for monitoring and communicating potential threats to other agencies at bottom the Federal Government. Most if not all potential threats that are st opped by the Federal Government are a direct leave alone of the NOC monitoring and communication system. The Federal Governments unavoidableness to monitor the increasing popularity of social media is based on some of the metrical composition discussed earlier. As of November 19, 2012 there was an estimated 7 billion people in the world. (www.census.gov, November 19, 2012) That means that over 14% of the worlds population are considered active users of Facebook and 7% are active daily users. Active users are individuals that have accounts but may not log on every day.The active daily user numbers describe an individual logging onto their account each day. If an account carriers privacy settings are not unforgiving, they have the ability to post anything for anyone to see. Let us think back to Jason for a moment, his security settings were strict and he was questioned by the local authorities for his post. Without the Patriot Act allowing for the monitoring of social media sites like Facebook, Jasons post would not have been seen by anyone but whom he allows to view his information. The Patriot Act enables Federal Government agencies like NOC to view an individuals information regardless of the security settings.On an account holders Facebook page, they are invited to post Whats on your mind upon first logging on to the site. The individual privacy is compromised when the individual actually writes what is on their mind. If any of the 337 words or phrases are used in a post, e-mail, or blog the NOC will know. The NOC will then notify the appropriate local, state, or national authorities to investigate the potential threat. Jason may have been unfortunate enough to have true a visit from the local authorities, but what if he actually constitute a potential threat to the presidential candidate and nothing was make about it?The Patriot Act and the Federal Governments need to monitor technology and social media has aided in removing potential harm to the va st majority of our nation. Some may argue that the Patriot violates individual privacy and their right to freedom of speech. This author believes that without the Patriot Act and the liberties apt(p) to the Federal Government to monitor the people of this world through the social media sites like Facebook, there would be a lot more terrorist actions that have succeeded. The Federal Governments ability to identify and be afforded enough time to react to potential threats through monitoring the social media sites like Facebook has made this country a safer place to live.ReferencesBrashear, J, (Feb 25, 2012), Retrieved from http//www.citizenwars.com/facebook-user-interrogated-authorities-post/ Carafano, J., Bucci, S., Zuckerman, J, (Apr 25, 2012), Retrieved from http//www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/fifty-terror-plots-foiled-since-9-11-the-homegrown-threat-and-the-long-war-on-terrorism Department of Homeland Security, 2011, Analysts Desktop Binder, Retrieved from https//www. dhs.gov Patriot Act, (2001), Retrieved from http//www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm, (Select Text of the Patriot Act) Potalinski, E, (Oct 4, 2012), Retrieved from http//thenextweb.com/facebook/2012/10/04/facebook-hits-1-billion-active-users/