Government Surveillance In The United States

Domestic Surveillance in the Unites States has been going on for decades without the public 's knowledge. Domestic Surveillance didn 't seem important in the eye of the American government. After the September attacks (9/11) congress started to treat Domestic Surveillance as a number one priority. After September 11th Congress passed a law to use military force for those responsible for the attacks in New York, NY. The go ahead with using military force did not give the President to use surveillance without a warrant. Congress started to pass legislation against counterterrorism efforts. The most controversial measures, including the 2001 USA Patriot Act that gave the US federal government the ability to collect and analyze private information that has identified itself with the United States of America.

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.

Over the past few years, government surveillance in the United States has become a widely debated issue with two completely different sides. The National Security Agency, a government agency known for it’s efforts in spying and surveillance, has been at the center of this issue since it’s founding in the 1950’s. The Cold War had just begun and the United States government was doing anything they could to find potential terrorists and communists. In fact, many famous people including Einstein were being spied on by the government to find citizens with potential ties to the Soviet Union. (New York Times - New Details Emerge from the Einstein Files; How the FBI Tracked His Phone Calls and His Trash) As the cold war came to an end in the early 90’s, NSA spying seemed to come to an end as well.

In this day and age it is very hard to be secretive or private about affair, whether it be business or the other sense of the word when two people come together as forbidden lovers, ask Bill Clinton. One often acquires a feeling of eeriness while alone or when the phone rings and no one is there. And that individual labels these incidents as paranoia or thinks nothing of it. But what if this isn’t coincidence? What if someone has tapped lines and to ensure it is working the phone rings. Remember that “Collect call from”, the government you received yesterday? Wake up people. Surveillance of U.S. Citizens is real. The NSA is videotaping, tapping the phone lines and watching us watching them. That

Ever since the American public was made aware of the United States government’s surveillance policies, it has been a hotly debated issue across the nation. In 2013, it was revealed that the NSA had, for some time, been collecting data on American citizens, in terms of everything from their Internet history to their phone records. When the story broke, it was a huge talking point, not only across the country, but also throughout the world. The man who introduced Americans to this idea was Edward Snowden.

Should every government--federal, State, and local--monitor the Internet activity, or should that task be left to the national government? That argument could go both ways, but personally, I believe that the federal government (namely the NSA) should watch and collect the data. One reason why this would be more beneficial is because the federal government is most likely more equipped to deal with likely terrorist threats. If the local or State governments monitored the Internet usage of the citizens and happened to find a threat, they would call in an agency from the federal government anyway. It would be much less time-consuming if those extra steps were eliminated completely and all Internet monitoring was left to the NSA. Additionally, if the NSA was left to monitor the Internet activity of all citizens, the agency would have to hire more people, leading to a decline in the unemployment

Its purpose, as most Americans understand, is to stop any potential terrorist attacks in domestic America. However, people’s fear of terrorism has been exploited by the American leaders to allow them to eavesdrop on every innocent America. It is shockingly similar to that in 1984, except the massive surveillance in America today is larger and more dangerous because it’s on the internet - “where virtually everything is done”. The internet, where every human interaction is made and the most private data is created and stored, has become the very tool for American government to spy on its own citizens. In just thirty days at the beginning of this massive surveillance in 2013, the National Security Agency (NSA) had collected data on more than 97 billion emails and 127 billion phone calls around the

Trying to avoid a totalitarian, propaganda-based regime like Orwell wrote about, policy-makers still have to find a way to monitor technology and protect national security. The answer is not simple, but the key is finding the right point in the gray area that lies between complete and no privacy. American citizens have a right to privacy. They have the right to do what they choose without the government monitoring their every move. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “That government is best which governs least.”

The primary goal of the government since its founding has been to ensure the safety of citizens. It has developed an array of methods, procedures, and systems to achieve that goal. Throughout the years there has been some form of criticism regarding its methods. The most recent cause for public disapproval and concern stems from government surveillance brought to the light by former contractor of the National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden. Snowden has brought attention to the surveillance being performed by the government that involves the United States. Surveillance could significantly deteriorate relations with other countries and destroy the trust that is held between the citizens and government leading to the collapse in stability and possibly the country itself. The potential for surveillance being used as a tool for the protection of citizens can prove to be monumental, but is vastly outweighed by the negative repercussions it could inflict if misused.

"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?

Government surveillance is frowned upon by many Americans but it is used to keep its citizens safe. Citizens believe this method of protection is used to spy on the innocent citizens of America for the government’s personal use. There is no evidence that the government has misused authority to track its citizens but it is still not accepted. Americans feel the fourth Amendment rights are being violated but the NSA says this is not true. The data from the cell phone towers are collected in a bulk, they constantly express the fact that the NSA does not want every citizens data ("How the NSA Is Tracking People Right Now." The Washington Post. WP Company, n.d. Web). A problem to this solution would be for the government to publicly televise the

"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 internet is an amazing technological advancement that opened the door to a connected society. Since the early days of the internet, people have built ways to safeguard their possessions with various security systems from thieves. Once people are in the cyberspace securing personal items or information gets a little trickier. It is common knowledge to assume government agencies have the means and possible authority to search the internet in its entirety, but should people grow mad over this blatant invasion of privacy? Consider this; what if accepting the government’s access to all information in cyberspace will help them easily catch terrorists, thieves, cyber bullies, and other nuisances? In the public space that is the internet, privacy

"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.

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.