The Pros And Cons Of NSA Privacy

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.

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.

The Patriot Act (the full name is the USA Patriot Act, or "Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001") was signed on October 26 by the former U.S. President George W. Bush in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11. The main purposes are to improve the level of domestic security and to strengthen the powers of law-enforcement agencies in terms of identifying and eliminating terrorists. The US government and its supporters believe that it is one of the most useful tools to investigate and arrest terrorists within and outside the borders of the country. However, critics argue about Acts “overpower” which treats the civilians in non-democratic way and

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.

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.

To begin with, the NSA invades the privacy of American citizens through the use of surveillance. According to the text “People in most cities are probably captured on cameras daily, if not multiple times a day," Harper said. "As these cameras network together, and they as they are better capable at recognizing individual faces, people will realize just how they are being watched" (Moriarty). Innocent people are being recorded when they have no reason to be surveilled.

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.

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,

The U.S. government is invading the privacy of its’ citizens through the use of mobile devices such as phones and laptops. This use of privacy invasion is similar to the technology used in George Orwell’s novel 1984. What makes today relate to 1984 is how the government tracks us through location, voice, and messaging. George Orwell’s 1984 has a totalitarian government that can track its’ citizens through location with the use of telescreens. In the novel, telescreens can track your location in a room through a telescreen, which is demonstrated by Winston´s thought ¨so long as you remained within the field of vision … you could be seen¨ (Orwell, page 3).

Do you ever feel like someone’s watching you? We may not see it, but government surveillance has skyrocketed throughout the years. Anything that we do with our electronic devices can be monitored by the government. Our privacy can be intruded on and we don’t even have a clue. Once our information is in the government’s hands, it can be spread widely and kept for years, and the rules about access and use can be changed entirely in secret without the public ever knowing.

The recent revelations about the NSA surveillance programme have cause concern and outrage by citizens and politicians across the world. What has been missing, though, is any extended discussion of why the government wants the surveillance and on what basis is it authorised. For many commentators surveillance is wrong and it cannot be justified. Some commentators have argued that surveillance is intrinsic to the nature of government and its ability to deliver the public good.[1] Few, though have looked at the surveillance within a wider context to understand how it developed. A notable exception is the work by Steven Aftergood.

In the united states today the government has so much power than what people may think. They have control over innocent citizens. The kind of power the government has over us has gotten to a limit where now they know where we are at and all of our private information safe on our cell phones. George Orwell’s novel 1984 gives a great example of how the government controls the people. In the novel they tell us about the government from Oceania, and how they control every single second of the citizens’ lives.

On September 11, 2001 the world came to a stand still as a terroristic attack targeting our country killed 2,977 people. As fear ran high in every American house hold, the government quickly acted and on October 26 President George W. Bush passed the USA PATRIOT Act. The full title, "Uniting and Strenghtening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act", suggest how the government quickly acted in response to the new threat that we were experianceing. Although some may argue that it violates our civil liberties, the Patriot Act serves as an asset to help protect U.S. citizens by stopping terrorist attacks, giving the law enforcement tools to make investigations easier, and increases national security.

The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective. The Patriot Act has been used effectively because it has extensive supervision, is completely constitutional, and has helped to protect

September 11, 2001 is known as a remarkable day of history in the Untied States. Not long after the after mass of the terrorism, the USA Patriot Act was brought. The USA Patriot Act is a ten-letter acronym for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act. (n.d.). The attacks of the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on September 11th resulted in the legislative response of the Patriot Act. The USA Patriot Act signed into law by both congress and George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, exactly a month and fifteen days after the terrorist attack. Solemnly, the Patriot Act was altered to strengthen U.S.measure to deter and punish terrorist acts against the United States.