What is it? Do you have it?

Answer these questions  Why is privacy important to you?  What are some things that you keep private?

Where in the Bill of Rights is Privacy guaranteed?  Think…..  Write down your guess.

And the Amendments are…  4 th : Protects our privacy from "unreasonable searches and seizures.” Also, says police must have a warrant to enter our homes  9 th : Says that just because other rights aren't listed, doesn't mean you don't have them...Privacy could be included here.

But, are there circumstances where your privacy can be violated?  Can your privacy ever be violated?  Should other people's privacy be violated?  Try to think of one example.  Write it down.  Are you stuck? Think about if you are other people in danger.

Consider this scenario…  You are sitting in Civics class. Someone has texted a bomb threat to the school. The cops have been called and they figured out that the call came from THIS classroom!!!  The Police are here and they want to search everyone's phones... They even have a way to search your deleted messages...Now it is your turn, they are ready to search YOUR phone. Is that okay?  Whether you like it or not, they are going to search your phone– this is a matter of security and safety for every child in this school.

During the search, this is what they found…someone texted about:  Cheating on the last Math Quiz...Can they use this information and let the Math teacher know?  Stealing somebody’s password they could change their Instagram profile.  Stealing a Google Chrome laptop. Can they use this information to let the school know who the culprit is?  Another person texted about how they are stealing extra gummies from the cafeteria every day... can this information be used?

The end of the story…  They found the person who made the threat and that person is in custody.  The school and students are safe.  Remember all of that other information they found?

Things to consider…  Does this violate your rights?  How does that make you feel?  Are there certain times when it is okay for your rights to be violated?  What are they and where can we draw the line? Do they now have the right to use that information?

Things changed one day, so let’s consider that day.

The United State's Government has been in pretty much the same situation.. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, The U.S. Government wanted to catch future terrorists BEFORE they were able to commit their crimes (just like in the school situation, we wanted to catch the person who made the bomb threat).

 In order to catch terrorists, the U.S. government said they needed to SUSPEND SOME RIGHTS of Americans in order to PROTECT Americans.  Thus, they argued that they needed to TAKE SOME OF OUR RIGHTS AWAY to help keep us safe.  What do you think about that?  What would John Locke say?

So they came up with the Patriot Act. Patriot Act AKA: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 Did you know that it was an acronym? What is the Patriot Act?

The Patriot Act allows police to…  Enter a suspect’s home WITHOUT A WARRANT and seize their belongings.  Gain access to a suspect’s records... phone records, medical records, financial records, library and school records, and spy on their internet usage WITHOUT A WARRANT.  Wiretap or “bug” a suspect WITHOUT A WARRANT. to do so.

 And to do all of this, all the government has to do is allege that it needs the information for an ongoing TERRORISM investigation. The government doesn't even have to provide PROOF of its allegations. Basically they just have to say "I think this could be TERRORIST related..."

Some arguments FOR the Patriot Act  It is hard to catch terrorist before terrorist attacks.  Lots of people could die from other terrorist attacks without the Patriot Act.  We should trust our government with this power.  If a terrorist knows the government can do these things, they'll be less likely to do terrorist acts.

Some arguments AGAINST the Patriot Act  The Bill of Rights is being violated.  Taking away rights destroys the very definition of what it means to be an American.  The Patriot Act leads to racial profiling and other methods of discrimination and harassment.  Profiling can create more terrorist by pushing these minorities into fighting back.

What did the public think?

But that’s not all.  In the time between 2001 and today.  Here’s what has been in the news since then.  Before we look at the incident, let’s figure out who we are dealing with.

What is the NSA?  NSA stands for the National Security Agency  Formed after WWII to protect United States information systems and to produce foreign intelligence information.

 NSA is estimated to be the largest of U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget.  The NSA is mainly tasked with global monitoring, collection, decoding, translation and analysis of information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. In case you were wondering…

The NSA has been experiencing controversy lately over accusations that they have been accessing and storing American's private information  The US NSA is accused of breaking privacy laws  Many former employees of the NSA have become "whistleblowers" which is someone who speaks up about something they think is wrong, regardless of the consequences.

The most notable of these NSA whistleblowers is Edward Snowden. The main problem that Snowden and several Americans have with the actions of the NSA is that they have access to a lot of American’s private information.

Give me details…  Snowden was concerned that the NSA was abusing it's powers and released classified information that was published The Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers.  Since 2006, the government has been using one of many programs to access customer data of companies like... Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Skype, YouTube, Yahoo, Apple… Gaining access to individual’s personal s, photos, documents, videos, audio, etc.  This is being stored as meta data and many people are concerned about how this information will/could be used in the future.

How did the NSA become Big Brother? First, let’s define “big brother” Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel He is the dictator leader of a place called Oceania, a totalitarian state where the ruling Party wields total power. In the society that Orwell describes, every citizen is under constant surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the slogan "Big Brother is watching you": surveillancetelescreens So when we call the NSA “big brother” we are referring to this cultural reference. Watch this video 

Similar to the Patriot Act…  Many people agree with the government surveillance of American citizens if it is keeping them safe...However, many people also feel that their rights are being trampled and this is a dangerous route to head down.

Arguments FOR NSA Surveillance From NY Times UpFront article "Watching You”  "You can't have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy." says President Obama  He called this a "modest encroachments on privacy."  These programs are authorized by Congress and reviewed by Federal Courts which means that our government officials were aware of the collection of data.  This gathered information has helped prevent about 50 attacks according to NSA director  If you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care?  Pew Poll found the 53% of Americans are okay with this increased surveillance.

Arguments AGAINST NSA Surveillance From NY Times UpFront article "Watching You”  This violates the 4th amendment (unreasonable searches and seizures) because police don't have search warrants.  NSA's job is foreign intelligence, not domestic intelligence.  This is another part of in increasing trend to limit people's rights in the name of safety (like the Patriot Act).  Some fear the U.S. becoming a "surveillance state“  If we allow this now, how and when do we draw a line... will it be too late?

Look at these next few cartoons with a critical eye. Political Cartoons often use five main elements to convey a certain point of view… Look for some of these elements in the Cartoons we are about to look at.  1-Symbolism- using an object to stand for an idea (example- democrat= donkey)  2-Captions and Labels- used to clarify what is being depicted and to provide emphasis  3-Analogy- a comparison between two unlike things that share some  4-Irony- the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be or the way things are expected to be  5-Exaggeration- overstating or magnifying a problem or a physical feature or habit

1-Symbolism: using an object to stand for an idea 2-Captions and Labels: used to clarify what is being depicted and to provide emphasis 3-Analogy: a comparison between two unlike things that share some 4-Irony: the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be or the way things are expected to be 5-Exaggeration: overstating or magnifying a problem or a physical feature or habit Which elements are used?

1-Symbolism: using an object to stand for an idea 2-Captions and Labels: used to clarify what is being depicted and to provide emphasis 3-Analogy: a comparison between two unlike things that share some 4-Irony: the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be or the way things are expected to be 5-Exaggeration: overstating or magnifying a problem or a physical feature or habit Which elements are used?

1-Symbolism: using an object to stand for an idea 2-Captions and Labels: used to clarify what is being depicted and to provide emphasis 3-Analogy: a comparison between two unlike things that share some 4-Irony: the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be or the way things are expected to be 5-Exaggeration: overstating or magnifying a problem or a physical feature or habit Which elements are used?

1-Symbolism: using an object to stand for an idea 2-Captions and Labels: used to clarify what is being depicted and to provide emphasis 3-Analogy: a comparison between two unlike things that share some 4-Irony: the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be or the way things are expected to be 5-Exaggeration: overstating or magnifying a problem or a physical feature or habit

Mission Impossible? Your task, you shall complete it.  Create a political cartoon.  Pick a topic: 1) The Patriot Act or 2) NSA Surveillance Programs  Express your feelings about it – FOR or AGAINST it  Think about the elements provided and make sure your cartoon clearly articulates YOUR view on the issue!