Privacy Vs National Security

The NSA or the National Security Agency carries out most of the domestic surveillance in the United States. Before the 9/11 attacks the NSA needed approval from a court, but after the attacks, they were given free reign to copy any data that possibly linked to terrorist activities. This led to many arguments over whether this collection of data was unconstitutional or not. The extent of this surveillance shocked many people; many civil rights advocates thought that this surveillance breached United States citizens’ rights. Because of the threat of domestic surveillance in the United States it should be decreased drastically but not entirely stopped.

Civil liberties are rights guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution that the government cannot interfere with, however, in the name of national security, they do. The government sometimes finds it necessary for Americans to give up some of their basic rights to keep the nation protected, but many people find this unnecessary. A law-abiding citizen’s extremely personal information should not be essential to finding terroristic threats within this society. Under no circumstances should an American citizen’s civil liberties be violated in a time of war or crisis, because those are assured rights that are most valuable to their freedom during national conflicts.

NSA Surveillance "I can 't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they 're secretly building" (Edward Snowden). The NSA began monitoring and collecting sensitive and personal information from Americans such as their emails, phone calls, photos and other private material. Massive surveillance began in 2001 after the terrorist attack in New York and since then there has been a big peak in government watching. It 's unnecessary for the NSA to monitor American’s private conversations as well as other sensitive data because people should be able to have a sense of privacy in personal communication with others. Government watching is something that the government shouldn’t do because although there are bad people in this world it is irrelevant for them to watch everyone because not everyone is bad and many people disfavors this decision.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows U.S. intelligence agencies to acquire foreign intelligence information by monitoring foreign persons in the USA and abroad. This act ensures that intelligence agencies can respond in time to terminate a security threat. The most important part of this act, the Section 702 forbids deliberate monitoring of US citizens and their communication.

Have you ever wondered why the Patriot Act played a big part in history or why it is so important to us? Well the government has compromised our civil liberties through the use of the Patriot Act. They also abused our privacy which wasn’t fair for us. The history of the Patriot Act, the abuse of our rights, and the way everything ended made the Americans feel like they couldn’t trust their government because they felt like they were always being watched.

In this paper, I argue against Government Surveillance. Although a society full of cameras could help solve some crimes, it is also true that the Constitution, through the fourth amendment, protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Despite the fact that this is not a guarantee against all searches and seizures, only those that are deemed unreasonable under the law should be monitored. In addition, increasing political surveillance with the excuse of protection against war or enemies only fuels the fact that innocent people’s lives are being monitored. Finally, the information collected by the mass internet surveillance programs could be used for other harmful purposes since hackers could gain access to the databases and sell the information to other companies or terrorist groups.

Why did a government surveillance official lie to America? In March 2015, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper declared the National Security Agency (NSA) does not “collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans” (Engler). Then Edward Snowden revealed that truthfully, plenty of data was being collected and surveyed by the government through the bulk collection of private phone information. James Clapper later stated he “misunderstood the question” (Engler). Not only does this spark rage, but also reveals that the government has been using its resources to data mine at the ignorance of citizens, where a computer algorithm tries to find potential threats in hopes of stopping terrorism. Additionally,

According to the text “Our value is founded on a unique and deep understanding of risks, vulnerabilities, mitigations, and threats. Domestic Surveillance plays a vital role in our national security by using advanced data mining systems to "connect the dots" to identify suspicious patterns” (NSA). One of the slogans of the NSA is, “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. However, if you have nothing to hide there is no argumentation as to why the NSA taps into any form of communication or access to the internet. Therefore, this withdraws the power of the people and puts it directly back into the government and, simultaneously belittles citizen’s

The 4th amendment “prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets out requirements for search warrants based on probable cause as determined by a neutral judge or magistrate.” In current times, the news has covered the National Security Agency’s data tracking and wire taps through the Patriot Act, a clear violation of this amendment. Therefore, this makes the 4th Amendment the most relevant of the original 10 amendments. To understand why such importance has been put on the 4th amendment in today’s world, it must first be understood where we as Americans have

The FISA and the USA Patriot Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the United and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA Patriot Act) are two actions taken to aid in the efforts against terrorism in the United States. FISA was enacted in 1978 and the U.S. Patriot Act was enacted in 2001 (McAdams III, no date). Both Acts have been and will continue to be critical instruments to combat terrorism. However, the media has exploited these Acts in terms of civil liberties and has demoralized the truth behind them.

The Fourth Amendment also provides citizens with privacy. One way it does this by not having the NSA listen to citizens’ phone calls. (4.4)This allows people the privacy of having their own private conversations; it gives them their right of privacy. Similarly, the NSA does not read citizen’s emails. (4.4) Again, this allows people the privacy of having their own private conversations. To further support this, information that is collected is used to protect the Nation from "threats.” (2.1)Since this information is used to protect the Nation from “threats,” not to intrude on everyday citizen’s privacy, it is not an invasion of their right to privacy. Correspondingly, part of protecting citizen’s privacy is requiring a probable cause for

With the advancement of surveillance technology, many citizens feel that their privacy rights have been violated due to homeland security and the threat of terrorism. Throughout history our government has implemented domestic and international surveillance as a way to safeguard our society from other countries. Now the question that seems to arise within our society is if the government is infringing on our civil liberties? Or is this indeed protecting our nation from imminent danger?

More was Lost than Lives The day of the September 11 attacks was a terrible day that will be forever remembered. The attacks however did not only cost Americans their lives at the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and on those planes; the attacks also took Americans’ freedoms. Following the attacks the unconstitutional Patriot act was passed, the inconvenient and ineffective Transportation and Security Agency was formed, and the NSA’s mass surveillance program was increased. While all of these actions were done in order to protect Americans from terrorism they have only succeeded in denying Americans the very rights afforded to them in the United States Constitution.

The Internet is used worldwide and supplies all the information we could ever want to access, but behind the glittering front the Internet presents, there are troubles and conflicts. Today the Internet is used, but not all the users are aware of how controlling the Internet is over them. The Internet consumes time out of millions of lives everyday because the wonders of technology so easily

" Our generation is one known for the internet. Many of us have never known a world without the internet. A good thing about that is that we stay informed on subjects from all around. A bad thing is cyber-bullying and negativity. But no matter what negative or positive place we withhold on the internet, one thing that stays the same is government control.