Argumentative Essay: Should The Government Monitoring The Internet?

Over the years, there has always been a lot of controversy surrounding the topic of whether or not the government should be able to monitor our activity on the internet. This especially become a huge debate more recently simply because of the many terrorist attacks and dangerous events that we’ve encountered. Many believe that if the government was given more insight to what the people of this country looked at on the internet, then they would be able to prevent many horrible things from happening. On the other hand, however, others feel that this is a violation of personal privacy and therefore should not be allowed. The government already monitors our internet usage but they are thinking of increasing what they monitory which has lead to many differing opinions among the people of the United States of America.

The United States is not surveillance society, but the government’s ability to collect data and “spy” on its people has reached an all time high in the digital age. Americans must continue to discuss and debate the government’s ability and limits in monitoring its citizens in the modern day. ()

In the year of 2017, it is hard to find any person whose life does not revolve around their electronic devices. The Internet has changed the way people function, and become a crucial resource in schools, workplaces, and homes all over the world. There are people who feel they could not survive a day without it, and, of course, there are people who are wary of its dangers. Children are taught from a young age to tread carefully when using the Internet, and teenagers can recite lectures they have received from their parents time and time again: “Don’t talk to strangers,” “Be careful what you download,” and most importantly, “Never share your personal information online.” What most of these parents do not know, however, is that you do not have to share your personal information for it to be collected. Not only is your information collected without your consent—it can legally be used against you. Many statutes involving Internet surveillance were rudimentary and non-invasive at their creation, but on October 26th, 2001, everything changed. The Patriot Act was signed into law, just forty-five days after the horrifying terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. The USA PATRIOT Act, more commonly known as the Patriot Act, was not a single piece of legislature, but a package of amendments to preexisting laws. The most notable changes in the Patriot Act are the amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1968 (ECPA),

Government surveillance is beneficial in moderation, but can quite easily become excessive. A well-known example of this is the controversy regarding the NSA monitoring U.S. citizens discreetly on American soil. This unwarranted watch crosses the fine line between monitoring criminal suspects for security, and blatant overreach of authority in spying common citizens. The personal infringement of information has been commonly associated with the NSA’s PRISM, but their MUSCULAR program is much more disconcerting. According to Harry Bruinius in “Why Tech Giants Are Now Uniting Against U.S. Surveillance”:

The Internet powers our country. Not only do hundreds of millions of Americans use it daily, our government and states use it to do important national and international business. Our government already utilizes it to monitor the activity of its people. This monitoring has especially risen after events such as the Boston Bombing and the attacks of 9/11. The main reason that the government does this is to keep us safe. If the government puts more slack on this matter, then it will give a chance for terrorists to complete their objective. The normal person does not know how many terrorist attacks may have been stopped in the past years due to this surveillance, and how many lives it may have saved. Therefore, we cannot let our government halt

"Most people in America use the internet, and when they use it they should expect to be free to search and post what they want; that is except unless they're intentionally posting or viewing something that is against the law. It's been a theory for some time that the government can view the American peoples' internet searches and browsing history, but are they and should they be doing it at all? Like in the earlier stages of our country, we will and most likely continue to have conflict with our government about certain issues, but the internet and things concerning it seems to be one of the major issues right now.

“Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded,” said former NSA information technology contractor, Edward Snowden, as quoted in an article by CNN political reporter, Jeremy Diamond. Despite his low position in the National Security Agency, Snowden caught the world’s eye in 2013 when he leaked documents revealing the NSA and FISC’s plans for mass domestic surveillance in the United States. His decision to reveal classified documents sent the nation into widespread outrage. The NSA had access to not only metadata (records of activity), but also content containing personal information that Americans rightfully assumed was protected by laws such as the Stored Communications Act (SCA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act

" The founding fathers created the government to unite, and protect The United States. The government must also be able to protect citizens basic rights. These rights are written as amendments to our constitution. Our government has a duty to protect United States citizens, and with new technology this need for protection has extended to the internet. Federal, state, and local governments have a duty to protect their people, and to do this minimal forms of internet monitoring are needed.

“If you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't worry. This domestic surveillance is also directed towards non-US citizens. They have also already stopped 54 terrorist plots because of this surveillance, therefore, the benefits outway bad”-Unknown What does the NSA even do? The NSA domestic surveillance collects, processes, and stores U.S. citizen data for the good of the nation.

"Americans are unique due to our technological advancement, which means we set the precedent of how this new technology is to be controlled. The internet is an invention that raises new questions everyday. One controversial issue is wether or not the government_Ñés interference online is necessary. On one hand, the internet is a place where people speak up and speak out, even if it is against the government. Should the government be able to spy on this? If we let them take control of the internet, is that the same thing as limiting our freedom of speech? On the other hand, the internet is the prime location for criminal activity that goes far beyond simple teasing. Do we need government interference in order to protect us from criminals who hide behind the keyboard? Would monitoring the internet actually help prevent criminal activity such as terrorist attacks?

"The extent that the government-federal, state and local have to monitor internet content would be a simple overview to make sure that everyone is alright and there is no alarming content that could be used to hurt others. Only an overview would be necessary to make sure that there are no obvious threats to anyone and if there are any suspected threats to anyone, there should always be a probable cause before any form of the government gets deeply involved into someones internet content because after all everyone should be entitled to privacy unless there is a specific reason that their privacy should be breached then the United States government should be allowed to view their content without restriction to keep people safe. The National Security Agency which is a national security agency that has intelligence over the country that is in the department of defense in the US and is directed by the Director of National

The government has been monitoring and regulating an every day’s persons website history and what we buy and look at on the Internet. With the Internet growing rapidly and the amount of users on the Internet increasing, the easier it is for the government to find out peoples’ interests. Many people argue whether or not we should have vigorous rules and regulations when it comes to the Internet. One of the main concerns people have when it comes to their Internet is their privacy. There are many people who want to do harm using the tools that the Internet provides us with. The Internet should be regulated but not as harsh as some

Without this governmental monitoring comes censorship. Schools already face the backlash of this as seen in the article by Melinda Anderson on The Atlantic. Students lose some of their rights as they enter school decided by the case TLO vs New Jersey, and so the school has the right to censor their internet usage. The school’s ability to block certain websites and various tools are based on the idea that they have to “block material that is obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors”. But this definition gets construed, websites that were just supporting an opposing view as the school officials such as LGBT support groups get censored. An internet without government interference and monitoring is an un-american internet, censored and

Today, society is affected by the many advances in technology. These advances affect almost every person in the world. One of the prevalent advances in technology was the invention and mass use of the Internet. Today more than ever, people around the world use the Internet to support their personal and business tasks on a daily basis. The Internet is a portal into vast amounts of information concerning almost every aspect of life including education, business, politics, entertainment, social networking, and world security. (idebate.com) Although the Internet has become a key resource in developing the world, the mass use of Internet has highlighted a major problem, privacy and the protection of individual, corporate, and even government

"Nowadays, there are many dangers online; Cyberbullying, group organizations (for corrupt causes), and even videos showing methods that can cause harm are a few examples. I believe the US government, of any kind, should have the authority to monitor the internet; but only for the protection of the people as monitoring internet content, or personal emails/searches does violate the 1st and 4th amendment. They should be able to monitor certain words or searches, such as ISIS, BOMBS, ATTACKS, TERRORISM, and VIOLENT HATE CRIMES, etc. It would be done in order to protect the nation from a potential violent outbreak or even hate crimes.