September 11th, 2001, one of the most memorable terrorist acts was put into action on the Twin Towers in Manhattan of New York. 2,996 lives were lost and over 6,000 people were injured. April 15, 2013, two explosions went off on the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring and maiming hundreds. Before 9/11, government surveillance was not a main priority for the people, and still is a controversial issue due to the idea that’s it's invading a citizen's right to privacy. Government surveillance includes the NSA and the PRISM program. These programs are the basis of government surveillance and heightening these can help the future safety of American citizens. The heightening of government surveillance in the …show more content…
The NSA is the official U.S cryptologic organization, it exists to protect national communications and to seek private foreign communications. The NSA was put into place after the heartbreaking 9/11 attacks, to give the better idea that government surveillance would help prevent any future attacks. This program has done a lot to help us and prevented many fatal attacks that could have been put into action. As former president Obama said in NSA reform speech on January 17, "Today, new capabilities allow intelligence agencies to track who a terrorist is in contact with and follow the trail of his travel or his funding. New laws allow information to be collected and shared more quickly and effectively between federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. Relationships with foreign intelligence services have expanded and our capacity to repel cyber-attacks have been strengthened. And taken together, these efforts have prevented multiple attacks and saved innocent lives -- not just here in the United States, but around
The National Security Agency or NSA for short is a United States federal government intelligence organization that is used for global monitoring and collecting data. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush implemented the NSA’s domestic spying program to conduct a range of surveillance activities inside the United States. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this program as it allows the NSA to tap into the public’s phone calls, cameras, internet searches, text messages, and many other mediums to seek out individuals that may be potential threats to the security of the general public. Many individuals say that the tactics used by the NSA are unconstitutional as they invade people’s privacy. This is primarily
September 11, 2001 is known as the worst terrorist attack in United States history. On a clear Tuesday morning, there were four planes that were hijacked and flown into multiple buildings by a terrorist group named al Qaeda. This group, led by Osama bin Laden, killed nearly 3,000 people. Out of those 3,000 people more than 400 police and 343 firefighters were killed along with 10,000 people who were treated for severe injuries. Many lives were taken, and to this day, people still suffer from the attack. September 11th is the most influential event of the early twenty-first century because it made an increase in patriotism, it caused a rise in security throughout the nation, and it had a tremendous effect of thousands of lives.
The NSA is a U.S. intelligence agency responsible for providing the government with information on inner and foreign affairs, particularly for the prevention of terrorism and crime. The NSA maintains several database networks in which they receive private information on American citizens. The agency has access to phone calls, emails, photos, recordings, and backgrounds of practically all people residing in the United States. Started in 1952 by President Harry Truman, the NSA is tasked with the global monitoring and surveillance of targeted individuals in American territory. As part of the growing practice of mass surveillance in the United States, the agency collects and stores all phone records of all American citizens. People argue that this collected information is very intrusive, and the NSA may find something personal that someone may not have wanted anyone to know. While this intrusion's main purpose is to avoid events of terrorism, recent information leaks by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, show that the agency may actually be infringing upon the rights of the American citizen. Whether people like it or not, it seems that the NSA will continue to spy on the people of the United States in an attempt to avert acts of terrorism. Although there are many pros and cons to this surveillance of American citizens, the agency is ultimately just doing its job to protect the lives of the people. Unless a person is actually planning on committing a major crime, there is no real reason for citizens to worry about the NSA and it's invasion of our privacy. The agency is not out to look for embarrassing information about its citizens, rather, only searches for and analyzes information which may lead to the identification of a targe...
Since the terrorist attacks at Sept. 11, 2001, the surveillance issue often has turned away the table in the debate of individual privacy or counterterrorism. By passing the Patriot Act, Congress gave President Bush an immense law enforcement authority to boost U.S's counterterrorism, and the President used his enlarged powers to forward specific programs in order to reduce the threat of terrorism and defend the country’s safety.
The NSA helps to supply the military with weapons and supplies. The NSA also helps protect citizens by providing high tech security. Some of which are approving standards, techniques, systems, and equipment related to the security of National Security Systems (NSA.gov). In addition, the NSA also provides “end-to-end insights into malicious cyber activity, the activities of hostile foreign powers, and cyber best practices” (NSA.gov). Another thing the NSA does is partner with other departments, countries, and companies to help reach goals and provide a good outcome in any circumstance (NSA.gov). Terrorism and cyber threats are big problems towards the United States as well. When the NSA hears or reports any terrorism threats they communicate with national leaders, military, law enforcement and policymakers to discuss solutions. There always is a group of National Security Act workers monitoring surveillance twenty- four seven(NSA.gov).This always ensures extra protection and is always
The critical issue that needs to be addressed in the argument for or against the use of public surveillance system in the USA is which one takes precedence, viz, whether safety of the public and property at large or the invasion of the rights of the individuals who are subjected to some sort of interference in their privacy. In other words, does a citizen have an unfettered right to privacy even when it comes to issues relating to the enforcement of law in prevention of terrorist attacks, crime and restoring security and peace of the citizens at large? I propose to argue in this paper in favor of the need for public surveillance system by advancing the reasons for its imperative and take the view that it does not amount to prima facie violation of individuals' rights and in contravention to the rights guaranteed under the constitution...
On September 11, 2001, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the United State’s Pentagon led to a chain of events that made Americans question their safety and security. Soon after, as an attempt to prevent future terrorist attacks Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, the act was signed off by President George W. Bush. According to the Congressional Research Service, the act grants federal agents and law enforcement “greater powers to trace and intercept terrorists’ communications both for law enforcement and foreign
The NSA or the National Security Agency, is “the largest intelligence agency in the US, which is responsible for collecting and analyzing communications and signals intelligence, plus cybersecurity” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par. 1-2). Since its inception, “the very existence of the National Security Agency was not revealed more than two decades after its establishment in 1952” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par. 1). and since “its structure and activities remain largely unknown. Hence its wry nickname: No Such Agency” ( MacAskill, Borger, and Greenwald par.1). “Once President Harry Truman established the NSA, its purpose was to collect data and information across the country and internationally. The task originally gi...
It is illegal to make privacy of one's life. Surveillance is a commonplace occurrence in the society today. It exists in every corner of a nation from the corner of streets to discussion topics in movies, lecture halls, theater arenas and books. The privacy word is mentioned many times till its losing taste of its meaning. Surveillance is the exercise of keeping a close watch on something, somebody or set of activities (Richards 56). Many people say that Surveillance is unscrupulous. Nonetheless, we mainly do not distinguish the reason. People only have vague intuition the fact, and this accounts the reason the courts of justice do not protect it or the victim of circumstance of such. We recognize we don’t like it, and by the virtue that it contains something too with privacy, but past that, the revelations can be ambiguous (Boghosian 67). We have been to stay in this state of operation substantially because of the threat of constant Surveillance has been consigned to the realms of scientific studies and fictional activities and moreover to unsuccessful authoritarian states. Nevertheless, these warnings are no longer fictions due to
The only counter measures taken so far that have been revealed is that the 300 Internet addresses were shut down in May 2010. The very recent public notification of this cyber-attack will continue to unfold and new implemented strategies to prevent a reoccurance remain to be seen. As a patriot of this great nation, what has been presented is of extreme, if not grave, concern. The challenges of cyberculture to our nation’s security have been revealed. To what extent our security has been breached is a matter of speculation but be informed that these breaches must be met with complete counter-active success - failure to do so is not an option. .
Surveillance is the monitoring of behaviour. In addition, surveillance system is the process of monitoring the behaviour of people, objects or processes within systems for conformity to expected or desired norms in trusted systems for security control (Cohen and Medioni, 1999). Video surveillance systems have existed 25 years ago whereby it started with 100% analogue system and gradually becoming digital system. The closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera is the most popular video surveillance because of its reliability and low price. The camera does not broadcast images but it records them, so that user can always check to see what occurred while they were away. It is widely used at public spaces and residences for security purposes.
In the wake of September 11, many things happened very quickly. Along with the beginning of a '"'war'"' against terrorism, an act was passed to help prevent future terrorism in the USA. The name of this is the USA Patriot Act. The act legalizes many surveillance techniques that were once prohibited. The act has been passed without debate, and the new privileges given to our government have not been thoroughly examined. The law enforcers of our country are now capable of monitoring the citizens in ways most people are not aware of. Some of the surveillance laws are self-terminating after four years, but many of the more important laws are permanent. What will these new surveillance laws be used for after the war on terrorism is over? Lee Tien, the Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney, suggests that the new rights can be used to put America into a '"'police state'"'. There is a need for checks and balances in the USA Patriot Act to protect the American citizens.
Domestic Surveillance Citizens feeling protected in their own nation is a crucial factor for the development and advancement of that nation. The United States’ government has been able to provide this service for a small tax and for the most part it is money well spent. Due to events leading up to the terrifying attacks on September 11, 2001 and following these attacks, the Unites States’ government has begun enacting certain laws and regulations that ensure the safety of its citizens. From the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 to the most recent National Security Agency scandal, the government has attempted and for the most part succeeded in keeping domestic safety under control. Making sure that the balance between obtaining enough intelligence to protect the safety of the nation and the preservation of basic human rights is not extremely skewed, Congress has set forth requisites in FISA which aim to balance the conflicting goals of privacy and security; but the timeline preceding this act has been anything but honorable for the United States government.
Throughout many years in the United States, there has been controversy over whether or not government surveillance and other technology is a violation of human rights. Ever since the publication of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, there has been an increase in debates on the subject. The novel itself exemplifies what a surveillance-based society is like, providing the reader with a point of view of what could happen to their own society. Discussion over the usage of information that the government has gathered has become one of the foremost topics being analyzed to this day. The information that is being viewed by surveillance would otherwise be private, or information that people would not want to be leaked out. Therefore, surveillance executed by the government and companies has become an infringement to the right of privacy, and United States citizens should take actions upon it before the world reflects the Orwellian vision of the future.
Drawing on the work of Foucault, discuss the claim that ‘we live in a surveillance society’.