Government Tapping into Technology Devices for Surveillance

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Government Tapping into Technology Devices for Surveillance

Introduction

1. Attention Getting Device: Should government tapping into technology and personal devices for surveillance be considered a breach of privacy. Are our personal and private information really private? How easy is it for the government to obtain your digital footprints? Most importantly, is what the government doing really lawful?
2. Establish Credibility: The government isn’t allowed to wiretap American citizens without a signed warrant; However, there are loopholes the government can take to obtain digital footprints, such as text messages and emails. They are able to do this by going to companies such as Facebook, Google, Verizon, etc. with a court order that doesn’t require proof of crime.

• Relevance of Topic to Audience:In theory, the government can access our information just because. As mentioned before, they can get around you by going directly to your service provider with a court order. So, my question to you all is “How safe do you really think our personal information is?”

1. Thesis:The government has overextended its use of authority and has the ability to breach all of our privacy.

1. Preview: There are three broad topics that I will talk about as for why there needs to be an amendment and restriction on this unlawful practice. These topics are:
2. The broad overview of how they are able to do it.
3. Laws that allow them to do so.
4. The reasons or benefits of why I believe this is unlawful, as well as the affects it plays on all of us.

Transition: Now that you know what the agenda is, lets dive right into the broad overview of what goes on in order to receive your information.

Body:

1. There are multiple ways in which the government can access your information.
2. One way to obtain your information is to wiretap you with a warrant from a judge.
3. A loophole around this would be to directly go to your service provider with a court order.
   1. This is detrimental because they don’t need proof of crime in order to obtain the data.
4. The loophole basically allows the government to tap into your devices at any given moment, for any given reason.

Transition: Now that I discussed the broad overview of how they are able to do it, let’s discuss the laws that allows them to do so.

1. There are laws in play that allow the government to obtain your information.
2. Smith v. Maryland, 1979
   1. According to this Supreme Court Case, “The Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure doesn’t apply to a list of phone numbers.” (ProPublica).
3. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), 1986
   1. This law states that services providers must provide real-time data when provided a court order, as well as historical data with a subpoena. (ProPublica).
4. The Patriot Act, 2001
   1. Allows the government power to increase data tapping in these four areas: Record Searches, Secret Searches, Intelligence Searches, and “Trap and Trance Searches” (ACLU).

Transition: After discussing the laws that enforce government tapping, lets discuss why I believe it should be illegal, and why it directly affects our daily lives.

• Technically speaking, nothing we do is really considered “private”.

1. The policies in place allow the government to access your devices for surveillance without providing burden of proof.
2. Service companies are required by law to provide your information over to the authorities under a subpoena or court order, even without your consent.
3. Laws and regulations must be put in place in order to actually obtain privacy in our lives.
4. Nothing we do is technically private; If there is a digital footprint, the trail can be traced directly to you.

Transition: In conclusion, implementing a restriction and limitation on government access to information is essential to

Conclusion:

1. Restate Purpose and Review Main Points: Without a restriction on government access to our data, we will continue to live our lives under surveillance. As stated in my discussion, there are loopholes that can be taken in order to obtain our digital data. Even without consent or burden of proof, our information can still be accessed.
2. Close with Impact: This is a very sensitive and scary topic to think about. I want you all to take a moment and reflect on the word “privacy”. Take time and think about what it actually means to have privacy. With that being said, take what you just learned today and apply it to your new definition of privacy. Scary, right?