Personal Privacy Vs National Security

National Security Vs Personal Privacy

The United States government wiretapping citizens is not a new thing, in fact in 1940 ‘The Security Intelligence Section of U.S. Naval Communications famously intercepted communication directed to the Japanese embassy in Washington shortly before Pearl Harbor’ (Socolow). Again after September 11, the post 9/11 Patriot Act was put to use and citizen’s phone records were pulled for NSA surveillance. What I want to know is why, why do we as people wait until it’s too late to do what is best for our country?

The first thing people jump to when they hear that the government wants to screen their emails or phones is that it goes against the 4th amendment and they are absolutely right, but a lot of those people

are also for the demolishing of the 2nd amendment of people’s rights to bear arms because they think it’s outdated and shouldn’t apply now that we have a military and other government bodies to protect us. When is it okay to pick and choose? Either we have to respect the 10 amendments in full or concede that we may be wrong and maybe certain circumstances warrant change.
In today’s society people are so hooked on documenting their life and opinions that most of their information is already on social media, which everyone knows is not the securest of places. If your boss has the right to view and decided to fire you based off of the content, then the government should have more than enough right to view if they have terroristic concerns. Sometimes in life you have to choose the lesser of two evils and hope that the end result was worth it.

A prime example of what could have been prevented had the government been monitoring emails based off of key subject matter is the recent controversy of Hilary Clinton and her emails that contained information that may have alerted terrorist of vulnerabilities of the U.S. and the consulate at Benghazi. Had those emails been seen by the NSA the soldiers and Ambassador Chris Stevens may still be alive today.
Ways that we can embrace the breech of our privacy is by making the government request a search warrant if they have belief that the person is involved. Secondly you should be notified that the government has taken possession of your private email and phone records within a timely matter. Lastly the government should have to destroy or return unusable information so that no one else can accidently see your private information and use it against you in the future.
I am for anything that will keep my country safe and hopefully after seeing the examples I have given you and the suggestion to make the invasion of your privacy fairer, you will feel the same way. We as a nation need to work together if not, all of the rights we have been given will be lost and we may be more restricted by the next governing body.