National Security Agency: The Justification Of Privacy

“A Surveillance Society,” written by William E. Thompson and Joseph V. Hickey makes you conscious to the fact that in the society we live in today, you and your personal information are almost always being recorded, analyzed, and stored. Most people are aware of cameras in public places, but cease to see that they are being monitored in places such as banking accounts and health records. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act was passed to give the government permission to go increase their accessibility to citizens private records. There is many citizens that were compliant with exchanging privacy for the extra protection against terrorist and criminals. There is an abundance of citizens that are against the act as well, because

In today’s world, privacy is a massive topic of debate and worry specifically with the ease of access that the world wide web delivers in addition to the security that can be breached whether it be through a personal computer or mobile device. Topics of security and privacy range from trusting an e-commerce site with your credit card information, text messages and phone calls being secure, thieves stealing credit information, Facebook messages being shared, and if those worries are not enough what about our “Big Brother” the Government? The Government has become notorious for intruding on personal privacy, particularly with the recent foreign and domestic threats that the United States faces and has faced since the tragic events of September

The horrific September 11th event, along with others, has changed the way people think about their privacy. The fear is so great that we are willing to trade off our privacy, in essence our freedom, for the sake of security. People argue that if they do not have anything to hide then why worry if the government is spying on us. Nonetheless, it is not about not having anything to hide. Simply, it is about

The personal rights that lead to a good life are important but the most important right is the right to privacy. People have been talking for years about the right of privacy. The use of computers made access to Americans personal data very easy. The government knowledge about people’s privacy and personal information can be a benefit to Americans but it also can lead to a serious damage. From the bright side, knowing these information makes it easier to pass social security checks, making medical

Privacy is defined by Dictionary.com as “freedom from damaging publicity, public scrutiny, secret surveillance, or unauthorized disclosure of one’s personal data or information”. This is something that most people value extremely highly. From everyday civilians to government officials, everybody wants some level of privacy. Many say surveillance technology denies them the right to privacy that they are given at birth as American citizens. However, there should be a small amount of wiggle room when it comes to this technology, in order to protect the country and its people. In “Visible Man: Ethics in a World without Secrets”, Peter Singer gives us an insight into privacy in the government. He discusses the

A broken, gloomy country was left to grieve for the lives of loved ones that were lost the day after the 9/11 attacks. Time was needed to cope. However, what the people really wanted was assurance. They wanted to feel safe in their homes and not worry about more attacks like this happening in the future. The government also wanted to give people the security that they craved. However, the way they chose to pursue the situation angered many citizens. The National Security Agency reformed privacy laws that some believe were not well-examined by Congress because they wanted them in affect as soon as possible. These reforms are included in what is called the Patriot Act (Department of Justice).

Today the United States government is invading people’s privacy due to the fear of reoccurring terrorist attacks. For example, the September 11, 2011 terrorist attack and the Boston terrorist attack. However, according to

Would you give up your privacy for a little bit of security? The two go hand in hand. Our advancing technology provides our government with the tools to fulfill its top priority—national security. But where is the line drawn between security and privacy? Privacy is not only a value to many Americans—it is a right protected under the Fourth Amendment. But to what extent? The technology meant to protect us seems to be invading the little privacy we have left, having diminished greatly over the years. It has been said, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Since 9/11, security in our daily lives has been a concern for many Americans and the government has since made efforts to secure the nation. The measures taken to protect our nation through the

The misuse of our personal information collected by private and public institutions has made privacy, or the lack of it, a major societal concern today. One of the biggest reasons privacy has become such an issue is the enactment of the “Patriot Act”, signed into law in reaction to the attacks on 9/11/2001. This act broadened the ability for the US government to collect surveillance on people in order to protect against terrorism inside the US. Critiques say it violates our civil liberties and undermines our democracy. One example of this is the collection and storage of phone data by the government under the Patriot Act. Is this an invasion of privacy? In order to keep society safe, a certain amount of private information has to be known by Law Enforcement. In order to collect taxes and for society to function, the government also needs some information. Collecting basic information isn’t an invasion of privacy, but the collection phone data is too intrusive. Can the public trust the government to not miss-use or lose the information they have on them?

“As the foregoing has made clear, personal information is an extension of the person. To have access to that information is to have access to the person in a particularly intimate way,” (McFarland). When the government takes a person’s private information to use for insensitive matters, they dehumanize the human, and strip a human of their rights to individuality and expression, going against the American way. When the government has the ability to spy on our lives they obtain greater advantage above us regular people. If we are not careful, and accept the government’s hold upon us as a norm, we will never be able to define ourselves as freedom thinkers, and humans with liberty and full rights to

Privacy is what allows people to feel secure in their surroundings. With privacy, one is allowed to withhold or distribute the information they want by choice, but the ability to have that choice is being violated in today’s society. Benjamin Franklin once said, “He who sacrifices freedom or liberty will eventually have neither.” And that’s the unfortunate truth that is and has occurred in recent years. Privacy, especially in such a fast paced moving world, is extremely vital yet is extremely violated, as recently discovered the NSA has been spying on U.S. citizens for quite a while now; based on the Fourth Amendment, the risk of leaked and distorted individual information, as well as vulnerability to lack of anonymity.

America has long been hailed as “The Land of Opportunity”. The nation has drawn refugees and immigrants from all over for more than two hundred years. However, as our country has expanded and the population diversified, we are facing more issues than ever before. From Women’s rights to voting rights and issues regarding National Security, the government and the people are rarely in agreement. One issue that has been heavily debated is the people’s right to privacy. This issue in particular brings forth a whole host of questions. Is privacy actually a “right” as defined in the constitution? Or can the government pervade its people’s private lives as it so pleases? Should the government have easy access to everything about you, such to

The most important job of government is to “secure the general welfare” of its citizens. Security is a common good that is promised to all Americans, and it must outweigh any personal concerns about privacy. The right to privacy lie behind the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, which bans unreasonable “search and seizure”. When the government collects and shares information about its citizens, it is conducting an electronic version of such banned searches. Surveillance is the secret watching of suspects’ private activities. In the past this usually involved following people, or going through their trash. These days it is mostly electronic, with the police and intelligence agencies listening into private phone conversations or reading emails

Privacy is, and should continue to be, a fundamental dimension of living in a free, democratic society. Laws protect “government, credit, communications, education, bank, cable, video, motor vehicle, health, telecommunications, children’s and financial information; generally carve out exceptions for disclosure of personal information; and authorize the use of warrants, subpoenas, and court orders to obtain the information.” (Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists: A Framework for Program Assessment, 2008) This is where a lot of people feel as though they have their privacy violated. Most Americans are law-abiding citizens who do not commit illegal acts against the country, they want to go about their lives, minding their own business and not having to worry about outside interference. The fine line between privacy and National Security may not be so fine in everyone’s mind. While it is the job of government agencies to ensure the overall safety of the country and those living in it, the citizens that obey the law and do not do anything illegal often wonder why they are subject to any kind of search, when they can clearly point out, through documentation, that they have never done anything wrong.

There have been concerns about privacy of American citizens for many years but, ever since telecommunications advances mainly through computers, there has been a major concern in society. One contributing factor that affects privacy is the governmental legislations. The classic example of this situation was the implementation of the Patriot Act of 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Computer technology was already a part of society during the implementation of this law and were available to consumers. Note that this was back in 2001, so computers were not sophisticated as they are today. One of the purposes of this legislation was to monitor the communication traffic via telephone and Internet lines which allowed federal agencies to collect such data if there were suspicious activities dealing foreign and domestic terrorism (Olsen). The issue of privacy invasion came into play within this legislation when the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) stepped in. Their claim was that this legislation or precisely, the attorney general at time, John Ashcroft, wanted to expand the methods of data mining to further extract data usage from the consumer users that would lead this type of surveillance techniques to go out of boundaries when it came