Internet Surveillance Argument Analysis

E“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”. A famous quote by none other than Benjamin Franklin, and although he did not live to see it, his words would be part of almost every argument considering internet surveillance. This ongoing debate is so big because so many different people from all aspects of society use the internet, so everyone is affected by the outcome of the debate. There is no easy solution when it comes to the balance between security and freedom, but in the end the right thing to do is to allow people to not be monitored when surfing the internet as it is a violation of the 1st amendment and also very expensive and impractical. The internet is a

They describe that when Snowden revealed the extent of the NSA and GCHQ, there was both an outcry and a sense of envy to the power and resources the NSA had at surveillance. This is where a major flaw comes into play with the pro-surveillance argument. They base their argument off the idea that governments must watch everyone, as anyone could be a horrible terrorist. The Power of Critical Thinking calls that method of thinking a “composition fallacy”, and it really hurts their argument (Vaughn 170). The idea is that one cannot create a logical argument by basing what is true of the parts must be true of the whole, in this case the idea that a small minority of bad people can be watched legally, therefore all people can be watched legally because of the actions of a few. That is not the only fallacy used in that argument as a hasty generalization in which “The drawing of a conclusion about a target group based on an inadequate sample size” (Vaughn 191). It would be like hating all Muslims for the actions of ISIS, or seeing all blacks as thugs because of a small minority. It is nothing short of stereotyping, but in this case seeing all people as horrible people online because a few people really are horrible people

We can connect with anyone, do just about anything, and overall make our lives easier at the click of a mouse. Some people will and have use that freedom to do horrible things, but they are nothing but a small minority and government should not punish the entire population based on the actions of a few. The benefits far outweigh the cons of internet freedom, and with surveillance there is always the horrible risk that the government abuses its power of surveillance. The internet should and must remain a bastion of free expression for all people, and not become a place of Orwellian big brother style surveillance.

Works Cited

BBC. Edward Snowden: Leaks that exposed US spy programme. 17 Janurary 2014. Web. 12 April 2016.

Galliongton, Daniel. The Case for Internet Survalience. 18 september 2013. Web. 12 April 2016. .

Jewel Vs NSA. 2008. Web. 12 April 2016.

Kelion, Leo. Q&A: NSA's Prism internet surveillance scheme. 25 June 2013. Web. 12 April 2016. techdirt. 11 May 2015. Web. 12 April 2016.

Vaughn, Lewis. The Power of Critical Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Wong, Cynthia. Internet at a Crossroads. 2013. Web. 12 April