Tuesday, November 8, 2011

FBI Accused of Using GPS to Illegally Track U.S. Citizens


I stumbled across this article while at work today and I thought it raises a lot of interesting questions about constitutional rights and the FBI's role in crime-fighting. We are all reading Puppetmaster right now but the era of suspect FBI wiretaps and illegal tracking seems to have not ended with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. As American citizens we are all entitled to basic political and social rights that protect us from unwarranted searches and to a relatively secure right to privacy. Personally I find the circumstances surrounding this particular individual to be an affront to our justice system and constitutional rights. I agree that sometimes it is necessary for the FBI to track suspected criminals, foreign and domestic, in order to protect the average American citizen. But I think in recent years it has become far too easy for the FBI to take justice into their own hands and illegally track anyone they suspect of being even remotely involved with terrorist organizations or drug cartels.

Often times, as appears to be the case with the individual interviewed for this article, the FBI follows an innocent person while subsequently trampling all over their constitutional rights to privacy, and freedom from illegal searches and seizures. I think there is a way to mainstream fast-action from the Justice Department to LEGALLY search/track suspected criminals (terrorist or otherwise) but for an investigative unit like the FBI to take matters into their own hands is simply unAmerican. The criminal underground is a high-tech fast paced world and our Justice Department/investigative units need to reflect this truth. But there needs to be a legal way to go about investigating suspected criminals without infringing upon citizen's rights. We cannot sacrifice our constitutional rights for the sake of a responsive police state that is both judge and juror.

1 comment:

TJE said...

Thanks Will. Very interesting. Directly related to one of my last questions for tomorrow's class.