| The Right
to Privacy Since 9/11
The
right to privacy is protected by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
The Fourth Amendment limits the government’s search and seizure
powers to “prevent arbitrary and oppressive interference by
enforcement officials with the privacy and personal security of
individuals.” It protects our “right to be left alone,”
a right which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis termed “the
most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized
men.”
In the wake of September 11, many longstanding prohibitions on
government surveillance powers were revoked—with little public
discussion or debate. Congress and the courts have made some efforts
to check new proposals to further expand the administration’s
surveillance powers and its access to the personal data of U.S.
citizens and others. In other instances, they have allowed further
overreaching and secrecy by the executive branch.
For background, read
Chapter 2: “The Right to Privacy” in “Imbalance
of Powers: How Changes to U.S. Law & Policy Since 9/11 Erode
Human Rights and Civil Liberties”
Total
Information Awareness - Background
Access
to Library and Business Records
Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Spying
by Local Police
Terrorist
Identification Database
LCHR Letter to Representatives Hyde
and Lantos in Support of Global Internet Freedom Act (2/28/02)
LCHR
Recommendations on the Right to Privacy |
