NSA spying

Hello,Happy Halloween, hope you are able to go out and have a good time tonight!Regarding the contention that the NSA should be allowed to spy on us, I will attempt herein to demonstrate that this is in direct contradiction to the Constitution of the United States and afront to the liberty of the United States Citizens.The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution:The Text:"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."[1]In fact it can be argued that the Fifth Amendment is also applicable in this regard where it states:"nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;"[1]The liberty of a United States Citizen is protected by Constitutional Law to be enforced by the governing powers, and overseen by United States Congress and interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Therefore, the unlawful search/survelliance of United States citizens by the United States government is a criminal action contrary to established liberty we enjoy per the Constitution.The Protect America Act of 2007:This amendment to the Foriegn Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978[2], to "provide additional procedures for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence information and for other purposes."[3] These additional procedures includes the following.[3]1. The Bill required notification of warrantless surveillance to the FISA court within 72 hours of the any authorization.2. The bill allowed domestic wiretapping to take place of American's communicating with foreigners who are targets of U.S. terrorism investigations, so long as it is "reasonably believed" that the person communicating to the American is indeed a foreigner.3. Data monitoring of Americans communicating with foreigners was allowed but with not as strong of regulations concerning the character of the foriegner, but simply deemed within the general interest of U.S. National Security.4. The Attorney General would have to report to congress semi-annually to report on cooperation and non-cooperation with the directives issued within this law.Therefore, regarding the limitations of this act, it is illegal and thus should have been reported by the Attorney to the United States Congress as a non-cooperation for the NSA practicing in warrantless surveillance of American people who were not communicating with foriegn agents. It should be noted that within the Patriot Act of 2001[4], the authortiy to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses was also included. This however, still does not apply to the actions of the NSA, and itself is questionable along with the FISA in regards to it's Constituionality.Now in response to some of the points you made.Rebuttal #1You said:"In my opinion the only people that are against NSA spying on our phone calls are the ones that have something to hide."Except in order to obtain the information they would "need" they have to do mass surveillance[5] through the program PRISM of the NSA. This would include the uintentional mining of data regarding the records of ALL USA citizens, thus violating the Fourth Amendment. Your opinion, it appears does not align with the facts.Rebuttal #2You said:"NSA has not done anything to a person that wasn't guilty."Actually, per the information I linked above they have esentially spied on every single American, even if it was unintentional. This point of yours is also not substatiated by any facts or sources other than being in the context of your "opinion."Rebuttal #3You said:"Them spying on our calls will only help us from, future terroristic acts."The rights outlined within the Constitution do not only promote the values of life, but also liberty and because these laws infringe upon the civil liberty of ALL American people it should not be the method by which we combat terrorism. The ends do not justify the means, when they're blatantly illegal.Rebuttal #4You said:"NSA has prevented many cyber attacks against USA from hackers MANY THAT ARE FROM AROUND THE WORLD!"Foreign surveillance is one thing, and so is having warrantless surveillance of American citizens collaborting with those suspected of terrorist activity. However, data mining and having surveillance of all American people is NOT justifiable. The Constitution isn't just a suggestion, it is the LAW and in order to withdraw the rights of any person within America it must be via due process according to the Law, not because of some sort of utilitarian ethical justification. Also, please note that my opponent does not provide any documentation or proof of the NSA having direct success because of these illegal measures.Rebuttal #5You said:"Hmm the other countries are mad at USA because we were spying on them and their phone calls? Its only to help us and to see if they are doing acts against the USA so they can be aware of them."I find it intersting that you believe their frustration isn't justified. 35 world leaders were directly monitored[6] the document cited by the guardian news article contains an encouragement for senior white house officials to share their rolodexes of phone numbers of other foriegn leader's contact information to assist the NSA in spying on them. We also hacked in China's mobile phone networks in order to read their text messages.[7] Instead of looking for enemies, it seems all we did was make them with our rampant clandestine activity.Final Rebuttal and Conclusion:You said:"I AM pretty sure they are spying on the USA equally."This is the last of a long string of unsupported assertions within your argument, providing no evidence whatsoever beyond your opinion that other countries are spying on America just as much and that further justifes our spying on them. Tell me this, what other country has an organization with the size and funding of the NSA to pull of this mass surveillance operation of the world?Since my opponent has failed to provide any evidence outside of his opinion to support his arguments, they should be dismissed outright on the basis of the Laws regarding surveillance proceedures and most importantly the Constitution of the United States in it's Fourth and Fifth Amendments which protect the U.S. citizens from these kinds of abuses of power.In wars there are causualties, and in the war on terror this has been a reality, but those solidiers laid down their lives to protect the freedom we here enjoy. We should not dishonor their sacrifice, by undermining the rights of the American people.Kind Regards,TrueScotsman[1] http://www.archives.gov...;[2] http://en.wikipedia.org...;[3] http://www.gpo.gov...[4] http://en.wikipedia.org...[5] http://www.theguardian.com...[6] http://www.theguardian.com...[7] http://www.forbes.com...