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Surveillance is necessary prompt and essay
Surveillance is necessary prompt and essay
Surveillance is necessary prompt and essay
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In May 2013, Edward Snowden, a consultant working for the National Security Agency, began copying documents on the agency’s domestic surveillance practices, which included spying on millions of American citizens. One program was called PRISM. Snowden supplied those secret documents to news outlets, and the following month the Guardian and the Washington Times released Snowden's published information on the NSA program that allowed real-time information collection on American citizens. A flood of information followed, and the US Government and the American people demanded to either hear more about it or have Snowden arrested.1 Legal opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel have historically supported the Executive Branch’s use of surveillance
Is the American government trustworthy? Edward Joseph Snowden (2013) released to the United States press* selected information about the surveillance of ordinary citizens by the U.S.A.’s National Security Agency (N.S.A.), and its interconnection to phone and social media companies. The motion picture Citizenfour (2014), shows the original taping of those revelations. Snowden said that some people do nothing about this tracking because they have nothing to hide. He claims that this inverts the model of responsibility. He believes that everyone should encrypt Internet messages and abandon electronic media companies that track personal information and Internet behavior (op.cit, 2014). Snowden also stressed to Lawrence Lessig (2014) the importance of the press and the first amendment (Lessig – Snowden Interview Transcript, [16:28]). These dynamics illustrate Lessig’s (2006) constrain-enable pattern of powers that keep society in check (2006, Code: Version 2.0, p. 122). Consider Lessig’s (2006) question what is “the threat to liberty?” (2006, p. 120). Terrorism is a real threat (Weber, 2013). Surveillance by social media and websites, rather than the government, has the greater negative impact on its users.
The aftereffects of the September 11, 2001 attacks led to Congress passing sweeping legislation to improve the United States’ counterterrorism efforts. An example of a policy passed was Domestic Surveillance, which is the act of the government spying on citizens. This is an important issue because many people believe that Domestic Surveillance is unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy, while others believe that the government should do whatever is possible in order to keep the citizens safe. One act of Domestic Surveillance, the tracking of our phone calls, is constitutional because it helps fight terrorism, warns us against potential threats, and gives US citizens a feeling of security.
Edward Snowden has become infamous for being the latest whistle-blower in the United States. Snowden is a former computer specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. He took sole responsibility of disclosing up to 200,000 classified documents to the public that contained information of the government spying on its citizens. The big story of what he released was centered on an NSA mass surveillance program that is keeping track of United States citizens and also some people in other countries using cell phones. The mass surveillance system works is dependent on the NSA utilizing the cell tower coverage around the United States to see exactly where a cell phone and a person are located. There is many ways the NSA can find you using this system first is with cell phone data, second is triangulating your location using multiple towers, third using Wi-Fi data, and fourth ...
In early June 2013, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former defense contractor who had access to NSA database while working for an intelligence consulting company, leaked classified documents reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) is recording phone calls of millions of Americans along with gathering private data and spying foreign Internet activity. The Washington Post later broke the news disclosed PRISM, a program can collect data on Internet users. The leaked documents publicly stated a vast objection. Many people were shocked by the scale of the programs, even elected representatives were unaware of the surveillance range. A nationwide debate over privacy rights have been sparked. Although supporters claim that the NSA only does its best to protect the United States from terrorists as well as respecting Americans' rights and privacy, many civil rights advocates feel that the government failed to be clear about the limit of the surveillance programs, threatening Americans' civil...
Adam Penenberg’s “The Surveillance Society” reminds Americans of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the instant effects the that attacks on the World Trade Center had on security in the United States. Penenberg discusses how the airports were shut down and federal officials began to plot a military response. Although those were necessary actions, they were not as long lasting as some of the other safety precautions that were taken. The Patriot Act, which makes it easier for the government to access cell phones and pagers and monitor email and web browsing, was proposed. Politicians agreed that during a war civil liberties are treated differently. From there, Penenberg explains that for years before September 11th, Americans were comfortable with cameras monitoring them doing everyday activities.
Since 1948, technology has become extensively more high-tech. Unforeseen items such as the modern day computer, video game consoles, cellular telephones, and the internet have become realities. Prior to Edward Snowden, many were unaware that the government was tracking their every click and navigation. Not to mention every call, text, posting, and email. In June 8th, 2013, Snowden publicly released information on a tool that the National Security Agency uses to collect information on its citizens (Gidda "Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline"). This information is supposedly supposed to foil the plot of future terrorists, but even high government officials doubt its actually use. Instead of using the mass collection of data, obtaining a court order or warrant would align better with the wishes of the constitution on which the country is based (Elliot "Is the NSA Really Preventing Terrorist Attacks?".) For example, in the news six muslim men have even been allegated as terrorists because of the...
Edward Snowden became a household name this year. His face and story have featured on an innumerable amount of the worlds most well known and reputable media outlets making this issue difficult to ignore. He appeared in the public eye by leaking classified information about major top secret United States, Israeli and British government mass surveillance programs to the media. This matter is surrounded by vast controversy as he has inspired activists to take a step out of anonymity and voice their opinion publicly causing a number of protests and international debates. Others are less grateful, naming him a traitor and cry for this man to pay for his crimes against the US. This essay shall explore the issues of this debate and ultimately conclude with my opinion hopefully having persuaded the reader.
O'NEIL, D. E. (2014, April 20). White House Begins New Effort to Defend Surveillance Program . Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23cnd-wiretap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
James Stacey Taylor's article, "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance" begins reviewing the concept of "Big Brother" as it was originally presented in George Orwell's 1984. The Big Brother started off as a fictional character in 1984-- a dictator of Oceania within a totalitarian state. Set within a society in which everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens, the people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Wikipedia) . Taylor goes on to explain some examples of recent surveillance technology and how it is applied in lives today. An interesting note and comparison between today’s technology and that of the telescreens in 1984, is that people could be sure that they could not be watched by Big Brother’s telescreens by going out of the cities into the country, where they only had to take care that their conversations were not monitored by hidden microphones (Taylor 227). He contrasts the two, highlighting the fact that “Such an escape is not impossible, for spy satellites can be used to monitor people wherever they go” (277). From there, Taylor perpetuates the framework for his position on the Big Brother notion. Taylor argues that, "rather than opposing such an expansion of surveillance technology, its use should be encouraged -- and not only in the public realm" (227). Taylor’s argument presented in a more formal construction is as follows:
HONG KONG - Edward Snowden, a United States computer programmer that is contracted to the Central Intelligence Agency usalitzed his high security level to reveal highly classified government secrets to the American people. Thanks to Snowden, the American people are learning how much access the government has to their private conversations. Through several media outlets, Snowden leaked that the CIA is gathering millions and millions of private telephone conversations of the citizens they serve, and had broken numerous privacy laws every year. The United States government manipulated the vulnerable state of their citizens after September 11, 2001 and passed the Patriot Act. Cleverly named, quickly passed, and all done in the name of national security and the betterment of American livelihood. President Bush signed away every American citizen right to personal privacy. While the government advertised that it would limit
Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.
Recently the U.S. government has been criticized for intruding on people’s privacy. Our government has especially been invading our privacy after the USA PATRIOT Act was passed in 2001. It’s interesting that they are allowed to know what we are doing however they don’t have to disclose to us what they are doing. The organization Wikileaks have been releasing classified government information and videos since 2006 when it first started. Recently Devlin Barrett a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal wrote an article “CIA Aided Program To Spy on U.S. Phones” which was published by The Wall Street Journal on March 11th,2015. In it he explains the roles that the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice department played in creating a
Video cameras are being deployed around the nation to help with crime solving, but some people are concerned about their privacy. Having cameras to monitor public areas have shown to be useful in situations such as identifying the bombers of the Boston marathon in early 2013. There have also been issues with these cameras however, as people are concerned they are too invasive of their privacy and have been misused by police officers in the past. Some people want to find a balance in using cameras in public so that they can continue to help with crime solving while making sure they are not too invasive and are properly used.
However, government agencies, especially in America, continue to lobby for increased surveillance capabilities, particularly as technologies change and move in the direction of social media. Communications surveillance has extended to Internet and digital communications. law enforcement agencies, like the NSA, have required internet providers and telecommunications companies to monitor users’ traffic. Many of these activities are performed under ambiguous legal basis and remain unknown to the general public, although the media’s recent preoccupation with these surveillance and privacy issues is a setting a trending agenda.
Most recently, Edward Snowden who is a former CIA employee and NSA contactor released over 200,000 documents to the press. These documents contained information about the mass NSA surveillance program in the US as well as US surveillance on other countries. Snowden is considered a fugitive by the American government and is living in Russia under temporary asylum. (NSA Releases Some Files On Electronic Surveillance, NPR, 2013)