Individual Privacy versus National Security

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The attacks on American soil that solemn day of September 11, 2001, ignited a quarrel that the grade of singular privacy, need not be given away in the hunt of grander security. The security measures in place were planned to protect our democracy and its liberties yet, they are merely eroding the very existence with the start of a socialistic paradigm. Benjamin Franklin (1759), warned more than two centuries ago: “they that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Implementing security measures comes at a cost both economically and socially. Government bureaucrats can and will utilize information for personal political objectives. The Supreme Court is the final arbitrator of what the ‘law is”, causing a lack of circulated rule. The actual leaders with political purposes jeopardize our individual privacy rights, liberties, and freedoms. The word “privacy” did not grow up with us throughout history, as it was already a cultural concept by our founding fathers. This term was later solidified in the nineteenth century, when the term “privacy” became a legal lexicon as Louis Brandeis (1890), former Supreme Court justice, wrote in a law review article, that, “privacy was the right to be let alone.” As previously mentioned in the introduction, the Supreme Court is the final authority on all issues between Privacy and Security. We started with the concept of our fore fathers that privacy was an agreed upon concept that became written into our legal vernacular. It is being proven that government access to individual information can intimidate the privacy that is at the very center of the association between the government and the population. The moral in... ... middle of paper ... ... life. Much has changed in our governments view on what is considered to be violations of our individual rights. The argument is not about the ideal of privacy or the ideal of security, it is about the improper use of data collected by the government that is misrepresented and improperly utilized in violation of our very own Civil Rights and Liberties. This is allowed through silver tongued legal representation sponsored by the government for the government to exercise the ability to use loopholes in the legal system. The very Supreme Court in which we entrust to make the legal and moral decisions on privacy versus security is a judge nominated by the same political system (government) that has enacted such distrust. Our forefathers warned us in their speech and tried to save us in their laws. We have failed them by our actions and with our greed.

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