Essay on Internet Privacy - Carnivore, and the Power Of FBI Surveillance

The debate between where to draw the line between allowing government surveillance and keeping society’s members privacy will never be completely clear. It is important to keep a part of an individual’s life private and once the Untied States voted the Patriot Act in privacy went from limited to microscopic. Widening the scope of government surveillance slowly but surely pushes privacy out of the

"The Internet Is a Surveillance State" is an article written by Bruce Schneier and first appeared on cnn.com in March of 2013. In this article, Schneier attempts to validate the idea that big companies and the government utilize the internet to accumulate information on the general public. Schneier provides the reader with hard evidence and supporting details throughout the article to confirm his claim. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the claim, along with the evidence and supporting details, Schneier offers in his article. Furthermore, this essay will determine if Bruce Schneier was able to make an effective argument based on the information he presents to the readers.

In today’s world, Privacy and Security comes hand in hand with internet. Technology allows us free speech and freedom of information over the internet, by imposing strict laws and policies regulating the privacy and security of our information. According to Richard Clarke, free expression over the internet and its privacy are two sides of the same coin (Privacy and security(n.d.)). Writing blogs, uploading posts, comments or pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, networking or sharing links on Linkedin are all considered as our free expression and its security is our right. Individual right to

In “Privacy under Attack,” the authors discuss some potential ways of how our privacy could be in danger or stolen by companies or accessible by administration and corporations. According to the authors, some ways that our privacy could be in danger are first through video records and picture taken by traffic cameras and surveillance cameras for us. Second through illegal “wiretaps” by the government that could hear our conversations. Third, our privacy and personal data could be “monitored by corporations through the role of club cards, raffles, or refunds that outside companies’ collection of data about us can then be sold without noticing, given consumers the optional to search for the box on any frame to indicate they don’t want their personal

Imagine that every search, post, ping, or tweet was tracked by a big corporation or even the government. This is a scary though but in reality, the search history of the American people is a high commodity for big business and the government alike. The purpose of this essay will be to examine the article titled “The Internet is a Surveillance State” by Bruce Schneier. This essay will examine Schneier’s credibility towards the source, the importance of when the article was written, and the ideals Schneier had towards the topic of internet surveillance.

Surveillance and the right to privacy have far reaching consequences and implications. In fact, both involve even more topics such as encryption, hacking, and leaks of sensitive information. Sure it is easy to conclude from the sources included in this piece that surveillance does diminish personal privacy to a certain extent, but it’s better to deduce that more people should understand and be aware of how serious of an issue this really is. There are people who seek to promote and diminish surveillance and consumer’s control of their own information and that contributes to the complexity of this growing problem. The research done so far only touches the surface of why it is important for people to learn about protecting themselves from unwanted spying, yet it still needs to expand into explaining more in depth the goals of the government agencies that encourage surveillance programs. As of now, after reviewing all these sources, I think it is important to stress that this issue is not simple. Moreover, is it worth it for an individual to sacrifice personal liberties such as privacy for "safety" through increased surveillance? Consumer privacy should not be sacrificed to ensure public safety since this would undermine the personal liberties of millions of

Lately, in the United States, the controversial topic of privacy has been rekindled by several occurrences, including the recent NSA surveillance scandal. When government actions are questioned, the

Dingwen Zhang English 3 12 August 2016 NSA Surveillance NSA Surveillance: Is safety worth losing freedom? Recently there is debate about if it is okay for the United States government to spy on citizens using NSA and FBI. This became common knowledge when Edward Snowden leaked millions of documents that show the government is spying on the public. The United States government should not keep the NSA surveillance going because it hurts the public more than it keeps the public safe.

The sharing of information may well be the most advanced activity of the twenty-first century occurring across ages and backgrounds with relative ease. Nevertheless, the use of information that is aired through the internet raises several genuine concerns regarding nature, intent, source, and destination as well as the consequences of the content. This is particularly true when the information has to do with people 's identities and other activities that may touch on critical aspects of national security and unauthorized business. As such, there is a mix of reactions among individuals regarding the extent of privacy they would like regarding information that they share or retrieve on the internet. While some may have genuine concerns such as protecting their identity, others are on malicious tracks to cover their person and conduct unwarranted business on the web. The mix of concerns led to the rise of the Dark Web on darknets. A darknet is an overlay network that utilizes the public Internet but requires authorization or special software to access mainly to protect the user’s identity and location from network surveillance and traffic analysis (Sui, Caverlee & Rudesill 2003). Such trends on the internet raise the question; is the Dark Web an important and necessary tool to offset pervasive online surveillance in contemporary society or is the moral panic surrounding the Dark Web in global news media justified? The aim of this research is to answer the raised question

Government surveillance in the past was not a big threat due to the limitations on technology; however, in the current day, it has become an immense power for the government. Taylor, author of a book on Electronic Surveillance supports, "A generation ago, when records were tucked away on paper in manila folders, there was some assurance that such information wouldn 't be spread everywhere. Now, however, our life stories are available at the push of a button" (Taylor 111). With more and more Americans logging into social media cites and using text-messaging devices, the more providers of metadata the government has. In her journal “The Virtuous Spy: Privacy as an Ethical Limit”, Anita L. Allen, an expert on privacy law, writes, “Contemporary technologies of data collection make secret, privacy invading surveillance easy and nearly irresistible. For every technology of confidential personal communication…there are one or more counter-technologies of eavesdropping” (Allen 1). Being in the middle of the Digital Age, we have to be much more careful of the kinds of information we put in our digital devices.

There is a large quantity of writings documenting the reaction of individuals’ concerns over the NSA revelations. However, there are far less writings on the notion of privacy on a corporate scale. To begin examining such a theory of privacy, it makes sense to analyze the views Americans as a group have about privacy. Fortunately, in 2015, Mary Madden and Lee Rainie performed a series of polls and surveys to analyze America’s perception of privacy. In this study, more than 90% of adults said they cared if their

The 21st century has brought with it a great number of technological advancements all designed to make our lives much easier, faster, and more enjoyable. but these advancements have come at a cost. the loss of privacy associated with these new devices, is a great price people are having to pay. Many people are not aware of the severity invasive government surveillance has gotten to. According to heidi boghosian, “domestic surveillance” has been around almost as long “as the nation itself”. When did government spying on Americans become excessive and invasive of American’s privacy?

In present day society the concept of surveillance has become a frequently discussed topic as it has evolved into a catastrophic jumble. Numerous criminals have been convicted of charges where the court has used surveillance information to prove that the subject is guilty. While there have been some positives from the use of surveillance, there must be a limit or America may become overwhelmed by the severe amounts of surveillance. For our safety and security it is ideal to allow government officials access to surveillance programs within regulations. For example, unless the person is wholly suspicious for a criminal act there should be no reason for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to gather personal data. Also, the surveillance must be utterly legal and the FBI may never attack the convict ergo feeling completely powerless. Lastly, the information gathered from the surveillance must effectively prove the person guilty of their charges. Without the few of these regulations in America’s court system may become insane and constantly charge us of criminal actions without the knowledge of personal data being sucked out of us.

Government surveillance has not contributed to a decrease of percentage in crimes, but has created a controversial topic instead. Online surveillance has been an invasion of privacy, because everything the users access is seen without their consent. Due to the fact the stored data is not used, government surveillance in the united states has not been very impactful. Crimes and terrorist attacks were not stopped, and the mass storage of personal data within the last year has violated privacy laws 2,776 times (Government Surveillance 722). Surveillance online is not only unsuccessful in America, but in UK, and Canada as well. Out of every 1000 security cameras, only one camera is actually used to catch a criminal (Government Surveillance 722). However, there are several solutions that can be made to allow the usage of government surveillance without the violating the rights of Americans. Some of the solutions have already taken action, and will give users more freedom online.

Reflecting on the current state of privacy, it’s an accurate assertion to say that most nations no longer have absolute anonymity from the government. If something is done in public, it can always be traced back to an individual. Of course, the domain of public is no longer limited the mall or the bar, but rather simply online on one’s device, through the Internet. And throughout recent history, consumers have traded their anonymity for benefits that services like Google offer. In the status quo, privacy is growing more remote day by day, and there is no established baseline to limit the extent of information the government can collect on an individual. Since there are also conflicting viewpoints on government surveillance, it’s important that