Are you aware of your Third Amendment rights? You know, the one that says: “No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner?”
It seems strange, but the government may be violating that right at this very moment.
Since we have no current declaration of war on another country, we are technically a nation at peace. Moreover, the “war” we are actually fighting is becoming more of a game of cat and mouse between the terrorists and United States Predator drones.
As we know by now, our spy agencies, including the NSA and the CIA, use information from emails and cellphone calls to track down these terrorists. They cast an indiscriminate net to collect data from all Americans.
Many support this, including a majority of Congress. However, what we stand to lose is the very bedrock of our constitution: The Third Amendment.
Although none of us have soldiers physically staying in our homes against our will, the NSA maintains a virtual presence through its capabilities to collect data from our devices and even track our movements.
They are not soldiers, but they are a government entity that can potentially exploit its presence in our homes to wage war against a foreign enemy.
They are not collecting evidence solely to prosecute citizens in federal courts, so there is no reason to be spying on us all of the time, everywhere we go.
It is a violation of a basic contract that the founding fathers made with the people of the United States. They promised not to encroach upon our private property with the military, but they still do it.
Sure, it’s a virtual encroachment, and since none of us participate in terrorist activities — I hope — we don’t have to worry about the government eavesdropping on our lives.
Or do we?
In August, the NSA acknowledged that some of its employees had spied on love interests using the vast data mining systems that are meant to hunt down terrorists. The practice was common enough to garner its own label of LOVEINT.
If that’s not scary, I don’t know what is.
At what point do we give up our right to be free of government interference in the name of war?
While using the amendment to argue against data mining probably won’t get you through the door of a federal courtroom, we can at least use the essence of the amendment to discern that our government’s current spy policies violate the founding fathers’ vision for our country.
It was clearly written to prevent the government from encroaching upon peoples’ property without permission or cause. Search and seizure is permitted by eminent domain in the Fourth Amendment.
But the third amendment guarantees our safety if the government acknowledges that we are the owners of the property. So, they should not be able to enter our homes and cars indiscriminately via the spy-web that is currently in place.
This is admittedly an abstract interpretation on an amendment that many claim lost relevance by the end of the 18th century. But, we have been abstractly interpreting amendments for just as long.
If we can apply the First Amendment to corporations, can’t we apply the Third to spy agencies?
Since the NSA and CIA are virtually part of the military, they should abide by the same rules as the Army and Navy.
It’s time that we took a long look at the way our government resides in our homes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But for now, think twice before taking a call from Baghdad.
Eli Haddow is a 20-year-old English and history junior from New Orleans.