Government Surveillance Vs. The Right To Privacy Under The Anti-terrorism Situation

This dissertation is aimed at exploring the relationship between government surveillance and the right to privacy in the context of international anti-terrorism. The purpose is to adjust and equilibrate this relationship from the regulation of government surveillance. Thus, the principal issue this dissertation addresses is to making clear the extent that legislation (e.g. the U.S. Constitution) restricts (or should restrict) government from gaining access to the private information of its citizens.At the beginning of this essay, the concepts of surveillance and surveillance society are given and the history of government surveillance is retrospect. As an effective tool, government surveillance plays a fatal role on maintain social control, recognize and monitor threats, and prevent/investigate criminal activity. On the other hand, many people expressed concern about government surveillance on the aspect of totalitarianism, psychological and social effects, and the right to privacy.At the second part of this essay, terrorism and the global anti-terrorism strategy are illustrated. Especially after September 11th, the UN and many governments review and enact some laws, such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, and implement many kinds of surveillance programs, such as the NSA warrantless surveillance and the PRISM program. Government surveillance is necessary and exigent, as a useful tool to recognize and monitor threats, and prevent/investigate criminal activity, under the global anti-terrorism strategy.At the third part of this essay, the concepts of privacy and the right to privacy are introduced. Many treaties are enacted within the framework of UN, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Lots of governments enact some laws to protect the right to privacy as well.At the last part of this essay, it is pointed out that with the rapid development of technologies, the enactment of laws such as the CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), and the implement of government surveillance programs operation, the conflict between government surveillance and the right to privacy is unprecedented. It is very necessary to find out some principles to coordinate the relationship between government surveillance and the right to privacy, as well as some regulations to restrict government surveillance. At the end of this part, some suggestions concerning about coordination mechanism and regulation measures are proposed, hoping to have a positive effect in restricting government from gaining access to the private information of its citizens and protecting the right to privacy.