INVITATION TO CYBERSECURITY 266 of a person’s rights in cyberspace have significant real-world impact. As we saw in the previous section, cybersecurity workers have a social responsibility to do good, and this includes respecting the rights of all persons at all times. 10.2.1 United States Constitution “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” - The United States Declaration of Independence Cybersecurity is about protecting the rights of individuals and organizations in cyberspace. In order to do this effectively, ethical hackers must understand the basis for rights, what freedoms are protected by these rights, and in what circumstances they apply. The United States Constitution is the document that enumerates and guarantees the rights of United States citizens. Written in 1787, the United States Constitution begins with a famous preamble: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The Constitution defines the purpose and structure of the United States government and the fundamental rights of United States citizens. It consists of seven articles. The first three outline the three branches of government: Article I:The Legislative Branch—responsible for creating the laws; Article II: The Presidency—responsible for enforcing the laws; and Article III: The Judiciary—responsible for interpreting the laws. The branches are carefully defined with special interdependencies to prevent the abuse of power. This is known as checks and balances. The Constitution codifies the ideals found in the Declaration of Independence, written on July 4, 1776, when the colonists declared themselves free from the “tyranny” of the King of Great Britain. The United States government was established to protect the rights of its citizens, and to do so it enforces a type of social contract. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights (see Table 10.3). Many of these rights are in direct response to the abuses the colonists suffered under the King of Great Britain. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”
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