I am writing to protest the NSA’s broad programs of domestic
surveillance, and ask for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of
privacy.
I supported Mr. Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections through
campaign contributions, social media and writings on the Internet. I now feel betrayed by Mr. Obama on the issue
of privacy and domestic surveillance.
The right to privacy is a fundamental American freedom,
recognized by multiple Supreme Court decisions. The right to privacy has been recognized as
implicit in the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the
Constitution. Nevertheless, these are
not sufficient, and we need a new Amendment, specifically defining and
protecting the right of privacy against intrusion by government and business.
Funding for the NSA data center in Utah was obtained through
misleading testimony to Congress. Authority for domestic surveillance was given
by secret decisions by a secret court. Democracy cannot function when the
actions of the government are taken in secret.
Secret surveillance, the secret court, and misleading testimony to Congress
give credence to those who say we cannot trust the government.
Our constitution was carefully constructed in order to
provide checks on the powers of government and protection of individual
freedoms. The Fourth Amendment is a particular embodiment of that restraint on
government. A 1989 Supreme Court ruling made a narrow exception to the Fourth
Amendment, and allowed wire-tapping on a case-by-case basis where a known
security threat existed. The expansion of that ruling to perform comprehensive surveillance
across the nation on the correspondence, reading and conversations of the
citizenry is an outrage.
I believe that these powers of surveillance will be
abused by future administrations, in ways small and large. History does not
speak well of human nature, given the opportunity to use secret powers to
perpetuate power. The NSA, with the permission of this administration, has
built and institutionalized the apparatus for political repression in the
United States. Like the surveillance
itself, the criteria to track or prosecute violators must also be secret, and
the decision to prosecute is likewise secret, and beyond appeal. At best, it resembles Vladimir Putin’s
“managed democracy”. At worst, it resembles the Stalinist terrors
of the 1930’s.
I no longer feel free. I cannot look at webpages or write an e-mail
without thinking about how it might be misconstrued by a computer program or
some government hack. Under the current
policies of NSA surveillance, I no longer live in a free country.
Shame.
