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National security vs. individual privacy
Essay on The Surveillance Society
National security vs. individual privacy
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"We live in an age of technology, and with that an age void of privacy. We put our information out onto various social medias, chat with people we meet online, and share pictures and locations on the daily. In recent years especially, there has been a surge in the belief that the government monitors our internet use. Internet surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data, seen in the USA on a national level. The fourth amendment of the Constitution clearly states we all have , “the right … to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated … , (1) “ and this statement is put into question when you consider the fact that your search history may …show more content…
In an interview with the New York Times, the N.S.A chief stated that government surveillance has caught many plots against the states, including money being sent to extremist groups and a plan to bomb the New York Stock exchange (2). These events, as well as several other undisclosed situations, were able to be caught due to the watchful eye of the government. As war efforts have grown, so too have technological advancements in the field of intelligence work. Hackers are now able to see exactly what we are typing as we type it, or exactly what we have been searching over long periods of time. Many people, especially on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter believe this information is used against us, even if we are no threat to national security. The fact is however, there are only two concrete types of surveillance used by the government, including a logging system of all domestic phone calls and a collection of emails containing certain contents (2). According to a poll posted in the New York Times, 56 percent of participants said they believed it was acceptable for the government to keep track of our telephone data, due to national security
“There are about 3 billion phone calls made within the USA every day” (Romano). Now picture you’re calling your friend on the phone. Sometimes we can take small privilege like this for granted. Now imagine that the government is listening to every single phone conversation that we make. Why wouldn’t this scare you? I know it terrifies me. Wiretaps are a problem that concerns every single person in the country. But it isn’t just wiretaps; with a program called Prism the NSA has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple, and other US internet giants (Glenn). Everything we search for on Google, every message sent or received on Facebook, every item purchased on Apple is all seen by the NSA. The government is overusing their power to spy on its citizens and it needs to stop.
Abstract: This paper provides an analysis of the privacy issues associated with governmental Internet surveillance, with a focus on the recently disclosed FBI tool known as Carnivore. It concludes that, while some system of surveillance is necessary, more mechanisms to prevent abuse of privacy must exist.
Edward Snowden is America’s most recent controversial figure. People can’t decide if he is their hero or traitor. Nevertheless, his leaks on the U.S. government surveillance program, PRISM, demand an explanation. Many American citizens have been enraged by the thought of the government tracing their telecommunication systems. According to factbrowser.com 54% of internet users would rather have more online privacy, even at the risk of security (Facts Tagged with Privacy). They say it is an infringement on their privacy rights of the constitution. However, some of them don’t mind; they believe it will help thwart the acts of terrorists. Both sides make a good point, but the inevitable future is one where the government is adapting as technology is changing. In order for us to continue living in the new digital decade, we must accept the government’s ability to surveil us.
According to John W. Whitehead, “The fact that the government can now, at any time, access entire phone conversations, e-mail exchanges, and other communications from months or years past should frighten every American.” (Whitehead). The NSA
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
Current advancements in technology has given the government more tools for surveillance and thus leads to growing concerns for privacy. The two main categories of surveillance technologies are the ones that allow the government to gather information where previously unavailable or harder to obtain, and the ones that allow the government to process public information more quickly and efficiently (Simmons, 2007). The first category includes technologies like eavesdropping devices and hidden cameras. These are clear offenders of privacy because they are capable of gathering information while being largely unnoticed. The second category would include technologies that are used in a public space, like cameras in a public park. While these devices
The role of the Federal Government is to provide a safe environment for its citizens by any means necessary, continue the integrity of the culture by abiding by the constitution, and generate a continuous flow of revenue to maintain a fully functional society. In today’s society, surveillance is easy to accomplish due to the technologies available to the citizens, such as camera phones, cameras on laptops, the internet, land line phones or even swiping your bank card. All of these forms of technology are used for personal benefit, however, are the means in which the government uses to monitor its citizens. The National Security Agency (NSA) is the main producer of domestic surveillance and is the largest U.S. intelligence organization that appears under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. The NSA is responsible for not only domestic but global monitoring, collection, decoding, translation and analyzing information and data that may target the United States soil.
The Brennan Center for Justice fact sheet states that, "Since 2006, the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans from some of the largest telecommunications providers in the United States. The NSA has been collecting records of who called whom, when, and for how long." (1) The fourth amendment clearly states that the government must have probable cause or individualized suspicion before
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
Everyday citizens of the United States are unknowingly being stalked. The government consistently wiretaps into our electronic devices to get information on numerous things. Citizens should not have to give up aspects of personal privacy for the greater good of society. In fact, the most disturbing thing about it all is that we will never know when it is happening. This is similar to the privacy violations explored in 1984 because George Orwell is clearly exposing the wrongdoings of the government. The privacy of Americans is being violated by the government acquiring all of our messages and calls, recording through our microphone, and turning our cameras on without our consent.
There has always been surveillance of the general public conducted by the United States government, the usual justifications being upholding the security of the nation , weeding out those who intend to bring harm to the nation, and more. But the methods for acquiring such information on citizens of the united states were not very sophisticated many years ago so the impact of government surveillance was not as great. As a result of many technological advancements today the methods for acquiring personal information - phone metadata, internet history and more - have become much simpler and sophisticated. Many times, the information acquired from different individuals is done so without their consent or knowledge. The current surveillance of people
Nate Willis 2A Current Event #4 In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Paris last November, many high ranking officials of intelligence agencies across the globe are pondering the question of increasing domestic surveillance. On the sixteenth, C.I.A. director John Brennan stated that “leaks about intelligence programs had made it harder to identify the members of the Islamic State.” (Shane, 2015). The issue of increased domestic surveillance in the United States is a controversial one because of Eric Snowden’s leaking of information about the N.S.A.’s mass phone and internet surveillance network.
However, government agencies, especially in America, continue to lobby for increased surveillance capabilities, particularly as technologies change and move in the direction of social media. Communications surveillance has extended to Internet and digital communications. law enforcement agencies, like the NSA, have required internet providers and telecommunications companies to monitor users’ traffic. Many of these activities are performed under ambiguous legal basis and remain unknown to the general public, although the media’s recent preoccupation with these surveillance and privacy issues is a setting a trending agenda.
Surveillance consists of the monitoring of a person, place or object to acquire certain information or to change/ regulate the behaviour of a person. Surveillance can be concealed or obvious, and can be conducted by a variety of people, agencies or organisations for differing reasons. For example, surveillance can be conducted by law enforcement agencies to prevent or investigate crime, by media organisations to obtain commercially valuable information, or by individuals to monitor the activities of family members. The practice of surveillance is antithetical to privacy because the goal of surveillance is to ‘pierce the privacy shield’. While surveillance is said to be ‘at least as old as recorded history’, developments in surveillance technology and the increased availability of this technology pose significant risks to privacy.
A major reason the U.S. needs to increase restrictions on the type and amount of data collected on individuals from the internet is due to the fact that the United States government can track communications and browsing histories of private citizens without warrant or cause. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, ...