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Ethical aspects of electronic surveillance
Ethics of surveillance essays
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David Bowden November 8, 2016 English 11: Mrs.Fowler Domestic Surveillance In America we take freedom and privacy for granted, we as people are unable to comprehend how safe our country actually is, especially in today's society. With that being said there is something that we must all understand, in this age of technology if people are not surveillanced it puts everybody else in our country and the country itself at risk. There are aspects of our privacy and life that we have to sacrifice in order to secure the freedom that we do have. The NSA and U.S. government needs access to our private information in order to ensure the safety of our country and citizens. The NSA and U.S. government sifting through our private information is but a small inconvenience that we must sacrifice in order to protect our own freedom and safety. Domestic Surveillance roots back to the 1910’s, where the assassination of President McKinley, created a Bureau of Investigation that would trace the efforts of the Communists attempting an uprising in America. This would be the foundings behind Domestic Surveillance in America, and would continue on after World War II where the government created the NSA and CIA, with the main purposes …show more content…
Terrorism is very real, it has just recently happened again at Ohio State University. “He urged America "to stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah," a term for Muslim people at large. "By Allah, we will not let you sleep unless you give peace to the Muslims," he wrote. "You will not celebrate or enjoy any holiday" (CNN. Cable News Network). People like this will remain a problem no matter what ulterior motive the Domestic Surveillance has, and the only way to stop it is to simply monitor the people so when we find a threat we can abolish it as fast as
How would you feel if everything you did on the internet, every text you sent, and every call you made was seen by someone? That is what the NSA is doing right now. According to Wikipedia, the National Security Agency is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.[1] They have been a controversial topic since the 1970s when it was revealed that they had been wiretapping Americans’ telephones. Their surveillance has only grown since then, even though most Americans disagree with it. [2] The NSA’s domestic surveillance is unconstitutional, ineffective, and a violation of privacy that needs to be stopped.
“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.
The aftereffects of the September 11, 2001 attacks led to Congress passing sweeping legislation to improve the United States’ counterterrorism efforts. An example of a policy passed was Domestic Surveillance, which is the act of the government spying on citizens. This is an important issue because many people believe that Domestic Surveillance is unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy, while others believe that the government should do whatever is possible in order to keep the citizens safe. One act of Domestic Surveillance, the tracking of our phone calls, is constitutional because it helps fight terrorism, warns us against potential threats, and gives US citizens a feeling of security.
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.
How much privacy do we as the American people truly have? American Privacy is not directly guaranteed in any manner under the United States Constitution; however, by the Fourth Amendment, Americans are protected from illegal search and seizure. So then isn’t it ironic that in today’s modern world, nothing we do that it is in any way connected to the internet is guaranteed to remain discreet? A Google search, an email, a text message, or even a phone call are all at risk of being intercepted, traced, geo located, documented, and stored freely by the government under the guise of “protecting” the American people. Quite simply, the Government in order to protect us and our rights, is willing to make a hypocrite of itself and act as though our right is simply a privilege, and without any form of consent from the people, keep virtual tabs on each and every one of us. In the words of Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis “The right to privacy is a person's right to be left alone by the government... the right most valued by civilized men." Privacy isn’t just Privilege, it is nonnegotiable right, and deserves to be treated as such.
Our Country was built on the idea of liberty, and the government is fully jeopardizing this liberty. One of the most important drawbacks of domestic surveillance is that is violates our human
Disclosures have shown that, until recently, the government regularly tracked the calls of hundreds of millions of Americans. Today, it continues to spy on a vast but unknown number of Americans’ international calls, text messages, web-browsing activities, and emails. It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen. Little did you know that the National Security Agency can go into your Facebook page and . And it not surprising that almost every store we go into now a day wants your home phone number and ZIP code as part of any transaction. If you’ve ever lost an iPhone, you may have used Apple’s “Find My iPhone” feature to remotely activate your phone’s GPS signal. I remember one time I was looking for a job on the internet for almost a week but couldn't find what I wanted. Then one random I started receiving random texts from this number trying if the right job for me which was sort of weird. But now I know about the NSA,which is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it's not as if we should have been surprised. We live in a world that George Orwell predicted in
“The Dangers of surveillance,” was written by Neil M. Richard. In this article, the author had made more than three warning to the general public regarding the government surveillance and the dangers that come with the surveillance. He wants to make sure that as the general public, we the people need to understand the purposes of the surveillance and how it can affect us on our daily life. His first warning was, “the government surveillance is harmful because it can chill the exercise of our civil liberties.” The second warning, “special harm that surveillance pose is it effect on the power dynamic between the watcher and the watched.” The third warning, “surveillance menaces our intellectual privacy and threaten the development of individual
Most people concerned about the privacy implications of government surveillance aren’t arguing for no[sic] surveillance and absolute privacy. They’d be fine giving up some privacy as long as appropriate controls, limitations, oversight and accountability mechanisms were in place. ”(“5 Myths about Privacy”). The fight for privacy rights is by no means a recent conflict.
The article “A Surveillance Society” By William E, Thompson States that surveillance is a major part of today’s society and most people throughout their day wouldn’t even notice if they were being watched. Cameras can be found on almost every street corner and in every gas station or convenient store. In The terrorist attacks of 9/11 played a major role in starting this technology trend, the United States government and Law enforcement started using cameras that they had set up to more or less spy on the US population. The US government then revised and expanded the Patriot Act in 2006, which in a nut shell meant, they were allowed to spy on anyone they wanted to through there daily routines. But it doesn’t stop there, large corporations and
There’s a reason why boys use incognito mode on web browsers – they don’t want people to know what they were doing. The NSA also doesn’t have a warrant or even a reason to gather information on Americans who are not suspected of certain crimes. It’s one thing if all of our files were put somewhere and nobody looked at them until a person had committed a crime or they’re keeping watch on a former criminal, but that’s not what’s happening. Somehow, however, “secret court orders allow (the) NSA to sweep up Americans’ phone records” (Franceshi-Bicchierai) and other things like our email or web history. Many Americans are appalled by this, especially since Edwards Snowden released this information, and are just surprised by how this gets around our fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights. People always say its for your own protection, but if it is that way than why aren’t we allowed to carry guns and protect ourselves like our ancestors did when this country started. Fearing who, what, and why the NSA is targeting seems a lot less stressful than knowing everybody in this country is after
Programs such as Prism are made to monitor everything a person may use to keep personal information. “The PowerPoint slide about Prism says it can collect “email, chat (video, voice), videos, photos, stored data VoIP [internet phone calls], file transfers, video conferencing, notifications of target activity - logins etc, online social networking details†and another category called “special requestsâ€,†(Arthur). Americans are skeptical of the government’s current methods of monitoring the internet. Citizens within the United States question the government they live under, many disagree with the government’s collection of information on private citizens. Some believe that the degree to which the government collects information is unnecessary. According to a writer for the New York Times, “In the wake of the exposure of two classified surveillance operations, most Americans expressed disapproval about the United States government’s collecting phone records of “ordinary†Americans,†(Gonchar). The people of the United States disagree with the government. In poles that have been taken, majority of Americans disapprove of the methods of information collection. There are and have been
In today’s society, the subject of government surveillance is one of the nation’s most controversial topic. Since Snowden’s leakage of confidential National Security Agency (NSA) information, the United States citizens have confirmation the government is “spying” on them through phone, internet, and public communications. Government officials have spoken to the people, saying it is for safety measures; to protect citizens from potential terrorism and catastrophes like the bombing attack of 9/11. However, I have come to believe that the surveillance at the magnitude the NSA is going to is not safe nor ethic.
Privacy is a right granted to all American citizens in the Fourth Amendment which states “people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and lives against unreasonable search and seizures”. Although our founding fathers could have never predicted the technological advancements we have achieved today, it would be logical to assume that a person's internet and phone data would be considered their effects. This would then make actions such as secretive government surveillance illegal because the surveillance is done so without probable cause and would be considered unreasonable search or seizure. Therefore, access to a citizen’s private information should only be provided using probable cause with the knowledge and consent of those who are being investigated.
In conclusion, the modern use of surveillance assists public safety, but not as much as they are an invasion of privacy. Americans should be aware of their civil liberties and protect them. There should not be a fine line between public safety and an invasion of privacy. NSA programs are illegal and overbroad. Do not let the U.S. constitution be un-followed. Remember wherever you are, “Big Brother is watching you.”