National Security Agency Ethical Essay

It has now been three years since whistleblower, Edward Snowden, copied and released a large amount of classified information being withheld by the National Security Agency. Its domestic and foreign spying caused uproar in the public, private and government sectors due to the unethical practices that the NSA was found to be conducting.

The American populace was particularly upset when they found out that the NSA had the capability and was actively recording a significant amount of their digital information or “metadata” like phone, SMS records, and purchases being made. The people felt like the NSA was undermining the privacy of the citizens and ultimately the freedom of the nation.

The private sector was disturbed by the information released

“The NSA had super unethical practices, but the need for surveillance is higher than it has ever been,” O’Donnell said. “I feel like now, more than ever, it’s difficult to identify who our enemies are, people from groups like ISIS are in America so anything that could help identify and prevents threats from materializing would be welcome in my opinion.” Emma Crowley, a 55-year-old United States citizen, had a more negative outlook on government surveillance. She said, “It’s obvious what the NSA was doing was illegal. It was a completely unethical invasion of the American people’s privacy and government surveillance on it’s own citizens is unnecessary. The US has such an extravagant and large military budget so there must be better ways to ensure the safety of the US without assuming the worst of its own citizens.” People want security for the American citizens. They want to avoid terrorist attacks and other crimes that occur in our own nation. The difference in opinion comes when people are asked whether they are willing to sacrifice their own privacy to help ensure that security of the