¶ … Fourth Amendment Related to Computer Searches
The Fourth Amendment is supposed to protect individuals from undue searches and seizures. Yet how this Amendment affects the searching of electronic storage (computers, drives, etc.) is unclear, as it was composed long before the Digital Age came into being. Thus, there have been various Acts and amendments geared towards explaining how the Fourth Amendment should be applied in the case of digital property.
The Electronic Privacy Control Act (ECPA) was first made into law in 1986. It was meant to address how government agencies could use electronic devices and what they could legally tap into and/or confiscate. The ECPA consisted of the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act and the Pen Register Act. The Stored Communications Act is what set the parameters for how agencies could search stored files and data collected by service providers. But as this was 1986 and the Internet Age had not yet kicked in, this Act somewhat prematurely addressed the issues that would soon be facing government agencies surrounding the searching of personal computer files.
In 2001, the ECPA received a major amendment in the form of the U.S.A. Patriot Act and then again in 2006 when the U.S.A. Patriot Reauthorization...
" According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). A "national security letter" (NSL) is basically a written demand by the FBI or other federal law enforcement agencies for a group or organization to turn over records or data or documents, with no warrant attached to the demand. They are given out without probably cause or any justice-related back-up, and have been used extensively since the Patriot Act; they are
Those that believe that the Patriot Act represents a grave breaking of basic individual freedom ignore the fact that although governmental agencies have the right to obtain personal data about a person and to put that person under surveillance without notification, they cannot do so without the approval of a judge. The Patriot Act does not fully allow the FBI or the CIA to access personal data; it merely gives
Patriot Act Debate: Pros and Cons Pros Cons Arguments in favor of the Patriot Act The Patriot Act was passed soon after the terrorists attacks of 2001 on America. The aim of the act was to improve the counter terrorism efforts the country to help prevent future such attacks. The act allows the government and the government security agencies to use the tools that were already available in order to investigate organized crime and drug
USA Patriot Act What is the issue? The view that had been taken by the authorities is that America was a country with too much of liberty - more than was good for its security. Along with this the feeling was that federal law enforcement agencies did not have enough powers. Thus when the situation of 9/11 came up, the government had to act, the least it could do was to stop
Corruption exists within all aspects of government, and has since early civilization. While many steps have been taken to prevent such corruption in other areas of the world, the United States has recently introduced legislation that has the potential to actually increase the amount of possible corruption, particularly in reference to police officers "enforcing" the law. This paper will discuss the U.S.A. Patriot Act and its follow-up legislation, the Domestic
Through experience, the FBI has acquired insights into the fact that there are no dividing lines distinguishing foreign intelligence, terrorist and criminal activities. Foreign intelligence, terrorism, and criminal organizations and activities are interdependent and interrelated (Abele, 2005). Files belonging to the FBI are full of investigation cases where the sharing of information between criminal intelligence, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism investigations is essential to the ability of the FBI. This is
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