Civil Liberties (Part 1)
Instructions: Please follow the instructions below.
Please read the following:
Chapter 13, pp. 403-442
"NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily," The Guardian, June 5, 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order
Glenn Greenwald, "Obama's NSA 'reforms' are little more than a PR attempt to mollify the public" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/17/obama-nsa-reforms-bulk-surveillance-remains
After reading the corresponding Week 9 Module in Etudes (which is essential to completing this homework), please respond succinctly to the following questions (and include the question in your response)
What is "selective incorporation" (review pp. 405 - 410 of the textbook if needed)? Are your civil liberties as an American citizen (or, if you are not an American citizen, as an American resident) weakened or strengthened by "selective incorporation"? How so?
What is the difference between "enumerated rights" and "implied rights"? ("Implied rights" are discussed on p. 435 of the textbook at the bottom of the page, and continuing on through p. 439; "enumerated rights" are discussed on pp. 411 - 435 of the textbook.) Please give 2 examples of an "enumerated right," and 2 examples of an "implied right."
The 4th Amendment protects "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches as seizures" without a warrant, to be issued upon a showing of "probable cuase." It has been reported over the past several months years that the National Security Administration is collecting the "metadata" on Americans' cell phone usage, including the "'originating and terminating number', the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and 'comprehensive communication routing information'." (This quote is from "NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily," http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order, which is part of the reading for this Module.) Do you believe that the collection of cell phone "metadata" is in conflict with the protections offered by the 4th Amendment? Why or why not?
How does Glenn Greenwald (author of one of the module articles) view the issue of the government's domestic surveillance?