Overview
Part I:
This week, we will confront our first case. Like a fact pattern, a case method is used by several graduate and law schools to provide students insight into the decision-making process of different leaders.
Consider the following fictitious case.
After a series of terrorist attacks against American interests abroad, a terrorist organization based in the Middle East warns that it plans to conduct an attack in public places in the United States. In the past, the group has used several social media sites to spread its propaganda. The United States government has developed a secret program to monitor the group that collects all posts and activity generated on social media without obtaining an individual warrant to collect such information. The government has produced this monitoring program with the assistance of the owners of the social media websites.
A disgruntled former employee of one of the social media companies named James Varney decides to disclose the government's program and the participation of his former company in the government's collection program. After Varney's disclosures, several civil libertarian groups allege that the government program violates the privacy of social media users, a majority of whom have no ties to international terrorism. In response to Varney's disclosures, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary commences a meeting to explore the program.
If your last name begins with the letters from A to E, please assume that you are a government official charged with defending the government's collection policy during the Senate testimony.
If your last name begins with the letters from F to L, please assume that you are a leading attorney from a civil libertarian group that opposes the government's collection policy and that the Senate Committee has called you to provide the Committee with your concerns.
If your last name begins with the letters from M to S, please assume that you represent the owners of one of the social media platforms that have cooperated with the government and have come under public pressure after the disclosure of their cooperation with the government.
If your last name begins with the letters ranging from T-Z, please assume that you are an ordinary citizen who possesses concerns about the government's program. You may feel free to use your creativity in framing your arguments. i am in this group
Before posting your ideas in the discussions, please submit your one or two-page position paper on the program via the assignment.
Please focus your arguments on the legal issues raised by the case and please try to incorporate the weekly readings into your post. Also, in your responses to the posts of other students, please direct your responses and questions to those students who represent a different decision-maker. For example, if you represent a government official, please direct your comments and questions to students who represent the social media companies, civil libertarian groups, or private citizens.
Please only submit your position paper via the assignment portal and remember to review the position paper rubric before submitting your position paper via the Assignment portal.
Part II:
What lessons should we have learned from 9/11? Have we taken adequate steps to ensure that a 9/11 type attack cannot happen again? Part III:
Will it ever be possible to accurately predict terrorist attacks, whether in the United States or elsewhere? Why or why not?