Page 4 - TIPJar Winter 2018

house’ in time of peace without the consent of
the owner, is another. … The Fourth Amendment
explicitly affirms the ‘right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures.’ The Fifth Amendment, in its Self-
Incrimination Clause, enables the citizen to
create a zone of privacy which government may
not force him to surrender to his detriment.”

Many court cases today address the privacy
interests between private parties, involving issues
like hacking personal data, identity theft and use
of personal information for targeted marketing.
In contrast, the U.S. and California constitutions
were drafted to protect citizens from all levels of
government intrusions into their daily lives. Whether
it’s federal, state or local agencies, or even school
districts, government usurpation of individual
freedoms has always been perceived as a threat.
With the innovation of new technologies, that
perception has only grown.

On the heels of the terrorist attacks on 9/11,
Congress passed the “Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required
to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act” or the
“Patriot Act.” It was unprecedented in its overhaul
of the nation’s surveillance laws and vastly expanded
the government’s authority to spy on American
citizens, while simultaneously reducing the checks
and balances on those powers. Following passage
of the Patriot Act, U.S. intelligence agencies were
allowed to collect the phone records and other
electronic communications of millions of Americans
and to store them at the NSA’s Utah Data Center.
In light of 9/11, most Americans were willing to
concede some privacy interests to foster greater
national security.

Several key provisions in the Patriot Act that allowed
expansive surveillance expired on May 31, 2015,
only to be revived and circumscribed two days later
as part of the “Uniting and Strengthening America
by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline
Over Monitoring Act” or the “Freedom Act.” That
law now requires federal agencies to purge data
regarding Americans’ telephone calls after 90 days,
but allows them to retain other electronic data—like
emails and social media postings—indefinitely.

The Patriot Act and the Freedom Act triggered new
debate over balancing privacy and national security.
This is not just a federal issue. Local agencies are

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