What is becoming of our privacy? In the name of law enforcement and national security, the simple right to conduct our private affairs outside the prying eyes of the government is diminishing by the day. The Transportation Security Administration increasingly gives us the choice between an invasive X-ray image or even more invasive pat-downs before we board a plane. Government demands for user data from Google are up nearly 60 percent in just two-and-a-half years.
Cellphone carriers reportedly received 1.3 million requests for information from law enforcement in 2011 alone. The Obama administration has argued in court that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a person’s cellphone’s GPS information. Recently, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced an amendment to a bill that would have provided 22 different government agencies with warrantless access to individuals’ email accounts. And last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has been giving “breathtaking” access to other government databases, ranging from flight records to casino-employee lists and even Veterans Affairs health records.
