As Congress considers renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Americans are right to be concerned their privacy rights could be compromised, says former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.
"You should be worried about it," Dershowitz said Monday on Fox News Channel's "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "Some civil libertarians say it's very simple: You should have a warrant for everything. Some on the other side say you shouldn't have a warrant for anything. This is complex."
The problem comes when Americans get caught up in the government's surveillance of foreigners. No warrant is required to obtain anything said by a citizen of another country, but problems arise when they are communicating with American citizens.
Carlson expressed worry that information of a domestic crime could be swept up during a probe, and the information turned over for prosecution, even though it was originally obtained without a warrant.
"There are some potential solutions to it," Dershowitz said. "One: You pick up the conversations, and if you find incriminating evidence against Americans, you go then later and get a post facto warrant that at least justifies and shows that there is now probable cause for continuing to surveil the American. Otherwise, you really have to make a decision: Is it better to err on the side of losing some terrorists or picking up some Americans? That's a very complicated and difficult question."
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