Argumentative Essay: State Surveillance

1463 Words3 Pages

Since the ( infamous ) September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the rising trend of radicalism as well as the “ lone wolf terrorist ” in recent times have brought the dangers of terrorism ever closer to the hearts of our homes and cities. The war on terrorism has changed the stakes in ( fundamental ) ways. No longer are countries fighting against threats ( oceans / miles ) away, instead, the war has come into our homes and onto our streets. In response, both the general public and states have continued to urge as well as seek for a solution that would improve their ability to discover and pre-empt such plots. One of the more controversial suggestions has been that of state surveillance, which would allow states to monitor for suspicious activities, and better identify as well as carry out more accurate investigations on such people-of-interest, allowing them to forestall potential attacks before they can occur. However, just as the efficiency and effectiveness of surveillance technologies has been on the rise, so has the invasiveness of such measures as they creep closer and closer into our private lives, and increasingly prevalent Internet usage has allowed governments to prove …show more content…

State surveillance grants the government ( immense ) power over its people due to the ( immense / large ) amount of information regarding the ( various ) aspects of the peoples’ lives that can be easily gathered and collated. It provides an easy alternative towards ( achieving ) greater control and power, and the innate human greed to further their own vested self-interests may lead to such a misuse of power occuring. An example of such a country which abuses their power is North Korea, where ruling parties are given the privilege to monitor their opponents, instilling fear in them in order to maintain the party’s entrenched power in their respective

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