Government Surveillance: Protection or Invasion of Privacy?

This post may be too political for some, but I am interested to see what over people have to say.  With this week’s topic being about privacy, I thought I’d talk about a controversial issue that has been going on for years:  Government Surveillance.

This really all started after 9/11, when the Bush administration signed the Patriot Act into law.  This allowed the National Security Agency (NSA) to gather and collect data on U.S. citizens without their consent and without a warrant.  In 2005 and 2006, for example, a report show that the NSA was working with major telecommunications carriers, like AT&T, to carry out surveillance on its customers.  The report also confirmed that the government was/is mass collecting metadata from US citizens’ phones under the guise of the Patriot Act, as well as “collecting and analyzing the content of communications of foreigners talking to persons inside the United States, as well as collecting much more, without a probable cause warrant.” Many people have tried to even go to court over this, claiming that this violates their fourth amendment right.  Many also believe that the increase in surveillance is a sign that “Big Brother” is now becoming more of a reality, alluding to George Orwell’s 1984 (Great book by the way).   On the other hand, while many people criticize the government surveillance for a violation of their rights, others argue that the government is trying to protect them from foreign threats.  I have heard all to often “You have nothing to fear if you don’t have anything to hid” by proponents of government surveillance as well.

I personally believe that it is wrong for a government to spy on its own people as we should all have a right to privacy.  But I am curious to see where other people stand on this issue.  Is NSA spying unconstitutional?  Why or why not?  If you agree that NSA spying is wrong, what are other alternatives could we use that doesn’t infringe on our privacy?