Culture clashes: Freedom, privacy, and government surveillance issues arising in relation to national security and internet use

This chapter reviews fundamental U.S. constitutional law in relation to privacy; the various United States federal privacy laws in relation to government surveillance of online communications by private citizens; cases related to these issues, recent amendments and proposed amendments to U.S. law; comparisons to law in other countries. It concludes that this particular area of law, at least in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia, and Canada, which continues to be hotly debated, has no resolution in sight, and the difficult problem of balancing national security and privacy while maintaining constitutional protections in democracies is still a problem in search of a solution.