PRISM and its Unconstitutionality

by Corey Vikser
Staff Writer

Earlier this year, there were a shocking series of leaks concerning unconstitutional programs led by the NSA that violated the rights of millions, igniting the debate of whether privacy is truly existent anymore in modern America.

The saga began on June 5 with the publication of a secret court document revealing the US government forcefully made Verizon hand over millions of phone documents relating to their customers. The following day, former NSA agent Edward Snowden floored the public with the reveal of PRISM: a surveillance program that collects all data from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Apple, Skype and YouTube.
PRISM gives the NSA direct access to all user communications, meaning any online activity a citizen has done through the previously mentioned websites is currently on a government server. The data itself is open and accessible to the NSA at anytime without court approval. This is made possible by the FISA Amendments act, which was passed in 2008. It enables all data collected accessible if there is reasonable belief the target is a foreign agent.

The government is not required to prove the target is a foreign power, all they need to state is that the collected data is part of a widespread terrorism investigation to access it. Due to this, the NSA has free reign to spy on civilians as they please, and legally. Despite the surveillance, there is no direct proof the program has ever averted any form of a terrorist attack. Last year, Russia tipped off the US about a suspicious man named Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Large amounts of data on Tsarnaev was collected but never analyzed due to the overage of information in the database. On April 15, 2013, he collaborated in the Boston Marathon Bombing. Nothing was prevented. These programs have raised many ethical questions, such as how they can be constitutional? The simple answer is: they’re not.

PRISM is an extreme violation of the 4th Amendment, which guarantees “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. ” Since the NSA acquires all of the online data, it is a direct violation of the constitution due to lack of warrant, description and probable cause.

Low-level NSA employees have been reported to have the ability to wiretap phones, view emails or even read personal Microsoft Word documents with complete ease. Encryption has become jeopardized as well as it has been revealed the NSA has worked loopholes through multiple forms to decrypt information.

If anything, these leaks reveal that privacy has become non-existent, an illusion. This is the most severe invasion of privacy, as anything done online or even a phone call by a citizen can be spied on instantly with no justification.

There is no justified reasoning for a surveillance program that has never averted a terror attack to continuously go on. PRISM is a terrifying vision into a close future where our government can illegally spy on its citizens freely with no legal consequences. Something has to be done about the NSA’s unethical actions and it’s up to the public whether to speak up and demand change.