Could they be tracking me? No, it’s not possible. There is no way they are tracking me. Wait, are they? They are, aren’t they? They definitely are.

The National Security Agency (NSA) have been tracking personal cell phones for more than a while. Beginning in 2010, they launched a secret pilot project that tracked the locations of cell phones all around the world. The NSA has admitted to tracking cell phone locations, and one would believe that they would stop. But, no, they haven’t. Instead of stopping, the project has only expanded. They are no longer tracking cell phone locations, according to James R. Clapper, who is the Director of National Security. But now, they are monitoring your private phone calls.

They kept it secret for a long time, but nothing can be kept secret forever. An anonymous NSA official revealed that Presdient Barack Obama was aware of the phone call monitoring. The official stated that he received an NSA breif in 2010, telling him of the NSA’s plans to monitor cell phone calls. This is unexpected news, because the President was reportedly kept in the dark about the operation until the news came out.

The only reason that the monitoring is even happening in the first place is because the NSA claims that they are using the tracking ability to help stop terrorist activity around the world; which makes sense, but terrorists, for the most part, are smart people. One would think that if it was known that the NSA is tracking cell phone calls, that terrorists would be smart enough to stop using cell phones and communicate in a different way. If this were to happen, then the tracking of cell phone calls would serve no defendable purpose.

Monitoring the phone calls of Americans is unconstitutional against the fourth amendment, which, according to the Consitution, it states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Which basically means, unless there is probable cause, it is illegal to investigate your private affairs. But here lies the problem, the NSA isn’t only monitoring American calls.

In a single undisclosed month, the NSA tracked 361 million calls in Germany, 70 million calls in France, 61 million calls in Spain, and 1.8 million calls in the Netherlands. While tracking foreign calls, they also tracked the calls of some 35 world leaders, including the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. Spying on citizens and leaders of other countries could lead to some sort of huge international incident, couldn’t it? “Because we are only spying on our allies. It shouldn’t spark any horrible incident unless the NSA doesn’t heed their requests to stop,” explains sophomore Richard Archer. Another student that wished to remain anonymous stated that this could lead to “World War 3”.

Well, NSA, I guess whether or not World War 3 happens now depends on whether you stop tracking foreign calls. Will they? Probably not. So, if this anonymous student turns out to be correct, we should prepare for World War 3.