Pros And Cons Of Government Wiretapping

You greet your friend as you are talking to him on your Samsung Galaxy S7. You have the most casual conversation, but there is one thing neither you nor your friend does not know. The government is hearing every word you say. The NSA (National Security Agency) tracks every single phone call made in the country. Some find it okay; however, others find it an invasion of their privacy. I firmly believe that government phone tapping is lawful and should still exist, because it deters crime, most people are not against it, and it hinders terrorism.

Back in 2001, the Patriot Act was passed, saying that the government is allowed to track and access phone records. Those who are against government phone tapping state that the law is unconstitutional, because it violates the Fourth Amendment. According to the law.cornell.edu website, the Fourth Amendment, passed in 1791, says: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and

the persons or things to be seized.” In this case, the NSA would technically need a search warrant, but it is a major government agency. It can override the law, because it is pretty much its own search warrant. It has been proven to help security; therefore it is not “unreasonable”. When you tap a phone, you can hear all that they spoke, so if they spoke “Let’s sell drugs at the black market,” then the police would be able to track them down with their caller ID and arrest them before they could commit a crime.
Those who are against government wiretapping are a great quantity.

On debate websites like debate.org, more than half argue no, but according to a December 2015 poll, more than half of the American population found phone tapping as acceptable: 56% to be exact. Besides, other countries support wiretapping too. As a matter of fact, the United Kingdom does more wiretapping than the USA. Countries such as Canada and Australia also wiretap on their citizens as well, proving that the issue at stake is not nationwide, but global. The people in those countries are fine with it, and though the UK does more phone tapping than the NSA, the English are satisfied, believing that it greatly improves their overall security. Here, too, if more than half of our population is for it, why repeal it? Most would be

disappointed.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijacked three planes, destroying the World Trade Center, hitting the Pentagon, and crashing the last of the planes into a field in Pennsylvania. Since then, a War on Terror has been declared. As previously stated, the Patriot Act was passed, allowing the government to have “access to records and other items,” most notably our phones. Phone tapping may be an invasion of privacy, and it may override our basic rights we have as US citizens guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, but it does help our nation’s security. According to the NSA, they have thwarted 54 terrorist schemes since 9/11. “Of these 54: 12 involved cases of material support to terrorists; 50 led to arrests or detentions; 25 occurred in Europe; 11 were in Asia; 5 were in Africa; 13 had a homeland nexus.” Two of them were plots on the New York Stock Exchange and a New York subway station. Would you rather have one of your rights be taken away or see the US collapse when terrorists attack us for the twentieth time? That is the effect wiretapping has on us, and it is well worth the invasion of privacy.
Some people may never be convinced that government wiretapping is good for us, and sometimes we must sacrifice our liberties as US citizens for the greater good of our country. Also, for most of us, there is no reason why we should even worry about government wiretapping. If we have nothing bad to hide from them, why fret? Chances are, you would not care at all that the NSA knows that you said “Hi” to your friend. There may be many terrorist attacks worldwide, but the NSA phone tapping program has made ISIS/ISIL and other terrorist groups half as powerful as they would be. Just sit back and enjoy the high level of security that the US government provides us.