Privacy reform far from transparent

In June of 2013, National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed The United States’ surveillance programs such as PRISM, as well as the interception of “metadata” (data about data). The PRISM program collects stored Internet communications based on demands made to Internet companies such as Google Inc. and Apple Inc. under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms.

Snowden's "sole motive" for leaking the documents was, in his words, "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."

Regardless of public opinion of Snowden, all of us must face the fact that The United States’ government has been actively spying on us without probable cause. This has caused public outrage and protests. The planning of the protests has been primarily digital, on social media outlets and online communities such as Tumblr and Reddit.

The movement “Restore The Fourth” was born, self-defined as a “grassroots, non-partisan, non-violent movement that seeks to organize and assemble nationwide protests”. The group is working to restore the rights of the fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...”

On January 17th President Obama delivered a speech addressing reforms to the National Security Agency Programs at the Justice Department in Washington. The President claimed that, “Throughout American history, intelligence has helped secure our country and our freedoms.” And that, “We benefited from both our Constitution and our traditions of limited government.”

However, the affects of PRISM, and the concern of the diminishing power of the fourth amendment raise some questions as to where the benefits lie for United States citizens. Where exactly are these traditions of limited government? 3 to 12 exabytes (1 exabyte equals 1 billion gigabytes) of unreasonably seized and stored data by the NSA does not sound very limited.

President Obama stated, “Our intelligence agencies will continue to gather information… We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective”.

However, Judge Richard J. Leon, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that, "Because the Government can use daily metadata collection to engage in 'repetitive surreptitious surveillance of a citizen's private goings on,' the 'program [violates] the Fourth Amendment each time a government official monitors it.'” 12