Is your last name a plausible cause for the government to invade your privacy?

For example... we all know what happened on 9/11 from then on if a random guy who is a normal american and is not associated with any kind of terrorist act and his criminal records are clean. But his last name is middle eastern. Just because of his last name and no other reason, does that give the government the right to invade his privacy( tap into phones, check emails, etc.)?

Is your last name a plausible cause for the government to invade your privacy?
Your last name has absolutely nothing to do with the government looking into to you. If you are a law abiding citizen that does not consistently wire money into flagged bank accounts overseas you'll be fine, so relax and email away.
Reply:Well personally my last names Taylor so people like me are safe. For the ones who aren't so lucky to have plain jane names like me, there is nothing really they can do. My opinion is that no matter the threat we can not invade and or circumvent the basic laws and principles of the country. If we do, we are no better than the ones we are trying to fight. These wire taps are adding to the problem, not helping. My answer is no, they won't tap your phones because of your name but, seeing that their willing to tap phones in the first place, who the hell knows what their going to do.
Reply:No. People have a right to privacy, and usually they want some privacy; even if they are not up to anything bad, most people have a legitimate wish not to have strangers spying on their correspondence and intimate conversations. I feel that a warrant, based on reasonable suspicion, should always be required.





Edited to add that I agree with others that I don't think the US government spies on people because of name alone, though I can't say whether they typically have reasons that I would consider adequate.
Reply:No it doesn't give them the right to all of that stuff.





But our government doesn't conduct searches based on last names.





They are conducted on what a person has searched through online, family ties in other nations, and political and religious ideologies.
Reply:Last name alone? no. Of course not. And they aren't doing that.





If there is someone overseas who is very suspicious, they will monitor all calls to that person, including your call to that person.
Reply:No but if they are going to do it to one guy because of his last name, they should do it to everybody with any last name. Even something as basic as Johnson.
Reply:Actually, no last name needed... They were doing this even to troops in Iraq.
Reply:And you know this as a fact.
Reply:My last name is a slang '30s term for a gun. Should I be afwaid?