Of Spies and Freedom

Okay … I’m sure that you’ve read the stories about the President being raked over the media regarding his authorization of wire taps without a warrant. Oh the shock, oh the horror … oh the humanity.

First off, well, I’ve personally believed for ages that the government was doing this anyway, and there is at least one news article claiming that Clinton used the power of the White House in a similar manor (Clinton Used NSA for Economic Espionage). I have no doubt that you can likely find similar uses during the Senior Bush administration, Regan, Carter, and on down the line … especially during the cold war era.

Should we be horrified by this? Should we be outraged? They’re invading our privacy!

Ah … But where is this right to privacy? Where is it guaranteed? I will admit that I’m not a Constitutional Scholar or a Lawyer so I may be over looking something, but the closest I can come is the 4th amendment to the Constitution which reads:

“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.” (4th Amendment to the Constitution, 1791)

However … a phone tap is not technically a search OR a seizure … nothing has been taken and it would be a broad definition of ‘search’ that would include monitoring phone conversations.

Now, certainly I believe that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in many things … but talking on a phone is iffy … emails are very iffy … cell phones, oh we’re so far into the realm of ‘iffy’ that it isn’t even funny. Communication in such ways is transmitting a private conversation through public lanes. If I’m having a conversation in a restaurant I accept the fact that what I say can (and likely will be) overheard by someone else … chances are pretty good that anyone who overhears it isn’t going to pay it any attention, but say the right phrase and trust me, they’ll pay attention.

Certainly there are differences between a spoken conversation in a restaurant and a conversation with anther person over the phone, but the fact of the matter is you’re transmitting your voice over a wire that you don’t own or control … through routing stations, switches, etc. … it’s possible to be overheard even if someone isn’t trying to.

It would be, of course, illegal for me to go and tap into someone else’s phone lines and listen to or record their conversations … but this is (aside from simply being rude) partially due to the fact that I would have to in some way alter something that didn’t belong to me it in the first place. The phone company itself would probably be considered in breach of contract in that the people involved pay for the phone service (besides any phone company that got a reputation for doing that would find itself without any customers in fairly short order).

The government (and law enforcement more generally) has a responsibility to protect the citizenry. Sometimes this is going to mean doing unpleasant things in order to protect the greater good. This would not be the first time that law enforcement had tapped a line without a warrant to gather enough evidence to get a warrant.

If evidence is deemed, by the judge, to have been obtained without proper legal authorizations then the judge can prevent the evidence from being used during the trial. This is part of the checks and balances built into our entire governmental system. Will some innocent people get their lines tapped … but then again there are times that innocent people get arrested for murders, robberies, etc.

The question has to be judged on a case-by-case basis … and in the case of an incorrect tap being placed and nothing is ever done with information, then is it really an issue?

‘You have the freedom to seek happiness, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom from oppression. None of these can exist without the fifth freedom … the freedom to protect all other freedoms by any means necessary.’ [Opening to Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – note I will have to get the exact quote and edit this later]

The world is not black and white … not all enemies confront us openly … there are times when extreme measures must be used in order to protect the freedoms of many.

As citizens we must make certain that the proper checks and balances are in place to insure that the power … any power … that we give to that government is not abused … at the same time, however, we must make sure that we don’t tie their hands to the point that they are unable to protect us ….