Big Brother: The Invasion Of Privacy

"Big Brother is becoming more and more intrusive in our private lives and until something is done to scale it back or eliminate it, it's only going to get worse," says David Bakke, Money Crashers tech expert (Schwartz). In this case, big brother means the government and its role in privacy. The government’s spying has increased substantially over the past few years and it is not slowing down. As many more undesirable acts happen in our world today, the government is trying to snuff out these criminals by invading our privacy. But, is what they’re doing going too far? Privacy is something we should all have and the government should not be able to infringe upon it. From peeking through our webcams, listening to phone calls, and even tracking

For example, David Bakke explains, "It was recently reported that the FBI can access your webcam in a remote fashion – they can turn it on if they want, as well." The NSA has access to a program called GUMFISH which allows them to take photos and record conversations using the camera and microphone on the webcam (Schwartz). This is intruding our privacy because the NSA can monitor innocent users and listen to personal information without even needing a warrant. According to an article on The Intercept Mikko Hypponnen, an expert in malware, says that the NSA is hacking into computers using automated systems to oversee what we do on our devices (Gallagher). This includes hijacking webcams and more to view what you are doing. Even if you are completely innocent the government still has permission to invade our privacy. Although you may not have done anything bad, you are still being

In fact, Edward Snowden, an ex-NSA employee, has leaked a new NSA program called X-Keyscore. “NSA employees can, with just a few clicks, obtain everything from phone numbers to email addresses. The agency also can see e-mail content, full internet activity, browser history, and an IP address,” (Reisinger). Using your IP address, the government can track your approximate or even exact location to see where you are at all times. Notably, the NSA can also see what you are doing on the internet which will also affect how often you are tracked or spied on. As told on a report by CNN, “The government is also upgrading its ability to process and store the enormous amount of data it is acquiring. During the summer when Snowden's disclosures were sending shock waves around the world, U.S. taxpayers paid for a brand new $1.2 billion data farm that will serve as the NSA's external hard drive, designed specifically to improve ‘data acquisition, storage and processing effort’," (Oppenheim). In other words, the NSA is saving all of the information that they find. As a result, many brands and internet service providers are losing trust from their consumers. The CNN article, “Big Brother spying is reaching scary levels,” has pointed out that 58% of people do not trust their internet companies to keep this information private (Oppenheim). Ultimately, the spying done by the NSA has achieved a