Amendments: Civil Rights

The federal government has recently been invading the privacy of its citizens, with some of the most absurd arguments I've ever seen for why they can do this. They claim that e-mails stored on a server by Google don't belong to me any more. They claim that meta-data on my phone calls aren't private. Such positions are ridiculous on the face of them. It's apparent that our privacy extends only as far as we demand it to extend. We must make it clear that our information is ours, not subject to an overreaching government.

1) The right of individuals to be secure in their person, things, and effects, as well as the right of individuals to be secure against unwarranted search and seizure, shall extend to items and information held for that individual by a third party. These rights shall also extend to communication by that individual with whatever party, and information that such communication took place.

Prosecutors and judges have also tried to roll back our fifth amendment rights, punishing (presumed, remember, this is America) innocent people for refusing to decrypt their files. We have a right against self-incrimination, and we need to make it clear that it applies in all cases.

2) The right of a person to not be compelled to give self-incriminating testimony shall include the right to refuse to assist the state in accessing private possessions or information.

Police of late have been in the habit of attaching GPS tracking units to cars without a warrant. As in, a police officer will walk into your driveway, attach a tracker to your car, and keep a record of your movements. Without a warrant! There is no difference between this and breaking into your house to perform a search without a warrant. A court recently ruled this unconstitutional, but courts sometimes change their minds. This practice needs to be ended permanently.

3) Any modification of a person's private possessions without warrant shall be interpreted as a violation of that person's right to security in said possessions, and shall be a criminal act, punishable by law.

Some jurisdictions have tried to make it illegal to record the police. Such laws have been ruled unconstitutional, and rightly so. Still, I believe this should be expressly codified as a right in the Constitution, to ensure that such laws are not passed again.

4) All public actions taken by any law enforcement officer are subject to recording by the public. Such recordings shall be treated as the private property of the owner. Willful destruction of such records by anyone not their rightful owner shall be treated the same as destruction of any other private property.

The fact that this article exists at all is an embarrassment to our country. Torture should not be a subject of debate. It should be illegal, in all cases, by all persons, everywhere. Those who engage in it, authorize it, or allow it to occur under their watch, should be punished.

5) No person shall be tortured, either as punishment or to elicit testimony, or for any other reason. Torture or conspiracy to commit torture by any person in the United States, or in the service thereof, shall be a criminal act, punishable by law.


It is also an embarrassment that people are sent to prison for failure to pay a debt. Debtors' prison is one of the most absurd concepts ever to be imagined: you don't have money, so we're going to keep you from making any more money, and take over paying for your living expenses! (Sheer brilliance, I tell you!) It's immoral, and it's bad policy.

6) No person shall, in any case, be imprisoned for failure to pay a debt.