The National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952 for collecting, processing, and protecting information for the United State government. In 2013 Edward Snowden, an employee of an NSA contractor, flew to Hong Kong and meet with journalist to start the process of revealing information about the organizations collection of metadata on US citizens. The metadata included phone calls, txt messages, and thing that people entered into search engines. The documentary Citizen Four captures Snowden’s days in Hong Kong and his conversations with the journalist involved. It is actual footage that Snowden recorded that was edited and used to produce a quality presentation of the events as they unfolded. The most popular thing to write about after watching Citizen Four would have to be the governments infringement upon privacy. In choosing to write about this a person would enter an ongoing debate about privacy, and would have to paint Edward Snowden as either a friend or a foe. Ultimately the persons writing would do nothing, but contribute to the noise. I will quickly contribute my two cents to the noise and then move on to something from the movie that I think creates more fruitful academic discussion. …show more content…
I agreed, but was never contacted, however other individuals that my friend listed were contacted. It seems strange to me that NSA would need to verify my friend’s residency if they have metadata collected on him that would verify all the information that they need. At the same time, it is strange that my name was given and I was never contacted. My friend has since started his co-op and claims that there are laws in place that keeps the NSA from spying on Americans. My personal believe is that metadata is being collected, but not actively viewed by the
The wiretapping program is used to collect data that is transmitted on a network and allows the government to eavesdrop without a warrant. The use of this program is easy for the NSA to snoop and allows the government to eavesdrop without having to present a warrant. President George W. Bush had addressed this program as a crucial part to the National Security Agency, yet this announcement led to the wild growth of the NSA’s power. The NSA took advantage of the program and used it to spy on the conversations between foreign nationals, U.S. citizens, and international communications. However, curious of the program and questioning President Bush’s speech, a group from the U.S. senate decided to look into the situation.
Though the NSA has economically benefited the United States by helping the prevention of attacks by the terrorist, giving fund towards the government and use of programs, and also the prevention of others hacking and taking over the system, it is believed that it is best if the NSA just does not continue any further. With the continuation of the NSA it can cost more taxes to be removed and invading our privacy which is against our rights in the constitution which states, “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. ” We can solve the problem of the NSA invasion by shutting down their programs causing them to not invade our privacy and use money which could be used for many other
According to the BBC, it has become known that the NSA was responsible in the massive surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans through the PRISM progra,, not just those who have suspected links to terrorism. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo routinely provided a back door for the NSA to tap into their servers and track online communications (Document 1). This article was released about two years after the leaks when the debates over the future of the PATRIOT Act started to intensify. The National Security Agency strong armed these firms into giving up clients’ private data. No one stood in their way because the NSA had the full backing of the blinded Congress.
Since September 11th, fear connected with national security threats has shifted to fear of the federal government. The U.S.A. Patriot Act certainly caused much anxiety amongst society. Signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, this act increased law enforcement’s surveillance and investigative powers, “The purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes.” Clearly, federal agents have abused their power, as personal information, telephone calls, and Internet searches were and are being recorded and saved. A recent news article, posted in The Guardian, fully elucidates the intrusive government spying of American citizens, “the watchlist tracks ‘known’ and ‘suspected’ terrorists and includes both foreigners and Americans.
Moreover, President George W. Bush created the Patriot Act which expanded the government’s surveillance powers of phone messages and emails. As a result, many Americans were troubled by the unlimited wiretaps and the collection of phone records. Overall, these federal organizations brought a sense of security and increased the power of the
Although there can be benefits to this act, the biggest argument from citizens is that it invades their privacy. This program can collect data from cell phones and other electronic devices unknowingly even if the owner of the information is not under suspicion for anything against the law. This goes against the part of the amendment where it states that a person is protected from unreasonable search and seizures because they are taking information without consent. With attention to these situations, it goes to show how although the Constitution is the United States governing law, it is not always followed correctly as it should
Before federal agents take surveillance and seize phone calls or records from a person they must first have a good reason or evidence to do so. This follows the idea of probable cause listed above. Next, before agents can seize anything they must issue a warrant and have it approved. This way they can’t just see anybody’s information that they want to. Here is a quote from a heritage.org writer on the Patriot Act’s constitutionality.
4. Abuse of the Patriot Act— Several provisions of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of 2005 and, despite opposition from across the political spectrum and more than 400 community and state resolutions expressing concern about the Patriot Act, Congress reauthorized the law without reforming its most flawed provisions to bring these extraordinary powers back in line with the Constitution. Since then, the Justice Department 's Inspector General found that the FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of national security letters, a majority against U.S. persons, and many without any connection to terrorism at
The fourth amendment allows the NSA to conduct searches of phone records to find evidence of a crime. The NSA has recently went to Apple to try and access suspects phone records, although it requires a court order. Some of the most common requests for phone files are clues for robberies, kidnappings, and suicidal prevention. George Bush created the U.S. patriot act which allowed the government to better access telephone and communications. The NSA was also conducting wiretaps and surveillance.
Once information enters the online data bases, it is impossible to erase. The data can be used in court to draw incorrect conclusions and put someone in prison for good. The U.S. government does keep tabs on its citizens. John Simpson, a privacy project director says, “I don’t really want to live in a total surveillance state where big brother knows everything I do and has all that information at its fingertips.” Edward Snowden released this information out of concern because he thought it was dangerous.
Moving forward, one of the highlighted key factors of the Patriot Act is the enhancing of the United State’s government surveillance. With the government access to such great personal information with the help of the Patriot Act, it makes citizens look guilty. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, (2017) between 2003 and 2006 (which is only 3 years), the FBI published 192,499 National Security Letters, in which led to 1 terrorist-related conviction, in which could have happened without the help of the US Patriot Act. Also between the TWO years from 2003 to 2005, the FBI made 53 reported criminal references to prosecutors as a result of 143,074 national security letters, in which 0 of all NSLs were about terrorism.
During this time, he noticed the depth of the NSA’s constant surveillance. During his time working for Booz Allen, Mr. Snowden started to make copies of classified documents and files, all of which he found disturbing and invasive. These documents were full of the information behind the NSA’s national surveillance, and the amount of files he had extracted was outstanding. He told his supervisor he was taking a leave of absence for medicinal reasons, and took the smuggled information with him. Snowden scheduled to meet with journalists from The Guardian after traveling to China.
Surveillance 1984, by George Orwell, is a magnificent dystopian novel about a society with a totalitarian government. Winston, the protagonist in 1984, is a confused resident in the city of Oceania. He is constantly questioning the government in a society where an opinion is not allowed. Surveillance is a method that the government uses to monitor all citizens and keep them under control. The government uses surveillance through telescreens, the Thought Police, and people who seem friendly, but are not.
The main issue in the Snowden controversy is the conflicting rights of private individuals and the US government with regard to the use of telecommunications and the internet. There are ethical issues surrounding this controversy and the most applicable ethical approach for this case is “Ethics by Rights Approach”. As a background, the reason why US government had declared Edward Snowden a traitor is his involvement in the leaking of about 1.7 million confidential US documents, 15,000 Australian intelligence files and 58,000 British intelligence files from the National Security Agency (or NSA) to the public. These confidential information were acquired by the NSA through the PRISM program by collaborating with big internet companies such
Have you ever felt that someone is watching everything you do when you are using your digital device? The National Security Agency is an organization where they get to see every single thing you do on social media. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a political book where George Orwell expresses his thoughts on today’s society. George Orwell wrote his novel in nineteen forty-nine and politically predicted how society would be decades in the future. Orwell was accurate in making these predictions, which were effective because the novel’s predictions were right.