Persuasive Essay On Cyber Privacy

On June 6, 2013, The Guardian published a story about the National Security Agency's (NSA) secret Internet surveillance program, PRISM (Greenwald and MacAskill 2013). The story was based on documents leaked by one of the most successful whistle-blowers in American history, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The documents that Snowden has released up to this time have shown the NSA to be heavily engaged in the collection of personal Internet activity, bulk collection of telephone "metadata," and other forms of surveillance that have brought U.S. intelligence practices into question.

The integrity of one’s communications and privacy of online activities is the largest casualty of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance over digital lives. Years since September 11, 2009, the NSA’s mass surveillance has greatly expanded due to the heightened concern that new technology can be used by terrorists to plan and execute a terrorist attack. In today’s age of technology, there are easier ways of accessing information and communication as well as new ways of hacking and gathering personal information. The new surveillance programs and regulations are enabled by the Patriot Act and post 9/11 paranoia, but it has been over fourteen years since the incident. After whistleblower, Edward Snowden, it was revealed that the government’s mass surveillance went beyond what many considered acceptable. It can be predicted that unless the U.S Government reins in NSA mass surveillance, the

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.

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.

Another Important milestone in the new privacy paradigm was the revelation of the NSA’s surveillance program, PRISM. On June 5th, 2013, Edward Snowden leaked documents that revealed the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. The documents revealed that the NSA was tracking information from nine major Internet companies, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple. PRISM could collect about 600 million communications a day and store them for up to 30 days. Through the use of various methods, the NSA was able to intercept communications in real time (“Edward Snowden Leaks” 2014). With the implementation of PRISM, the United States government was able to covertly monitor information. The program was used to collect information from the Internet, but it was also used to obtain information from allies. One of the major issues with this program was the ability to monitor citizens without them ever becoming aware of the intrusion. PRISM was a drastic shift from the policies implemented in the eighties. Certain companies were cooperating with the NSA, many willingly handed over records. While these programs were implemented over a decade ago they have shaped the way the government views privacy. New policies are implemented which extend the government’s ability to gain access to information. This increase in power is problematic to the Internet user because it has restricted the rights of people. Internet privacy has been limited under the new paradigm in order

For my project I will be focusing on internet privacy laws and as to why they should not be weakened, instead strengthened. This day and age basically everyone has internet and cellphones that are used to actively track you. Consequently, companies such as Google use various algorithms that can detect if an advertisement you looked at online swayed your decision in buying the object, in store! Moreover, the FCC is also currently trying to weaken internet privacy laws greatly, and the vast majority of the public doesn’t seem to truly care. One common saying that is often thrown around is, “If you’ve got nothing to hide, then why hide it?” It’s not that simple, if the people were more informed on that matter, they would most likely care; but I’m not here to convince the people, I’m here to convince the current FCC chairperson why internet privacy matters.

The National Security Agency of the United States has created a confidential surveillance program named PRISM, operating as the world’s largest “Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management”. This program is designed to gather and process “foreign intelligence” that travels through the United States, by extracting data from some of the world’s largest tech companies and its users. The United States describes itself as the “Worlds telecommunications backbone”, which was explicitly listed in the leaked PowerPoint presentation of PRISM’s operation. By going undercover and secretively accessing file transfers, e-mails, videos, call logs and numerous other types of data, the United States government is enabling a watch dog on its citizens and creating the largest terrorist regime. These PowerPoint slides behold some very disturbing information in how U.S citizens are being deprived of privacy, leading to loss of agency. Restricting individuals to be watched all the time turns the human race into robots, as individuality is lost, and liberty and freedom begins to diminish. America’s justification for surveillance and spy activity since 9/11 was to fight terrorism and protect the population, but these documents have nothing to do with capturing foreign terrorists or improving national security. They are a means of control, and instead of indicating those as the elected and the elector, meaning that congress and this government was only created through the

How many apps have you used today, or how many websites have you visited? The answer is probably very many, some even without your knowledge. Behind the pixels of your phone or personal computer’s screen, thousands of bytes of data are being transmitted. Most of that data is what you’d expect: e-mail, texting, weather, games, and so on. Unfortunately there has been a growing problem over the last several years, and it’s not one that is obvious to the average internet user. Some of that sent data contains information which isn’t necessary, oftentimes it’s personal data. Your browsing habits, favorite games, most listened to music genres are being shared to advertising agencies for profit. Privacy is quickly vanishing from the internet and

We all value our privacy, and we all know that privacy can conflict with other important social values. However, in this increasingly digital and technological world, we are more susceptible than ever to government intrusion of our digital communications and data. This came to light in June 2013, when former National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden revealed thousands of classified documents detailing the intrusive mass surveillance and bulk data collection of the NSA to journalists and subsequently the American public. As a result, widespread distrust and questioning of the American government’s data-collection programs grew among American citizens and bipartisan leaders who were also subject to the surveillance apparatus of the

Over the past few years we have seen a massive surge in terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic fundamentalists, which has forced the US government to take action in hopes of preventing future attacks. Part of this action has come in the form of increased online surveillance on US citizens. At first glance, the danger in this is not immediately apparent, but with the information leaked by Edward Snowden it is becoming all too clear what kind of danger this represents. To be perfectly clear, the purpose of this paper is not to delve into conspiracy theories about the government using this surveillance to keeps its citizens in check like some Orwellian dystopian society. Rather, this is simply to highlight how dangerous the methods used in this type of surveillance is to cyber security, and how inefficient it is at stopping terrorism.

The question of whether the government has a right to access unlimited amounts of information without public knowledge, has been a popular topic of debate among not only our nation, but others as well. This all started when Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance analyst, told the world that the NSA had a program that was using the servers of U.S internet companies to gather information. Snowden leaked a document, detailing his findings about the NSA’s PRISM program retrieving information from prominent tech companies. (“What is the NSA Controversy and what did Edward Snowden leak?”) PRISM or "Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization, and Management," is a government program which collects data from U.S. phone call records to search for possible links to terrorists abroad, and works on surveillance of online communications to and from foreign targets to detect suspicious behavior. (“What is the NSA Controversy…”) Many people were outraged with the government for keeping this a secret, while others thought that this technology could be useful. Regardless, mass surveillance is a problem in our society because it is a clear invasion of privacy, and it can be very dangerous if abused. Even though it may be for the best interest of our country, the invasion of personal privacy is borderline on infringing the right to free speech and privacy.

When one begins research on surveillance, one commences to find that there is more to government surveillance than one may have first thought. Because of the countless diverse viewpoints on the issue of surveillance, it is difficult to imagine that the American people are satisfied with how the government conducts their various surveillance programs. Consequently, one might say that numerous Americans do not fully comprehend how invasive the surveillance programs are, and the amount that is used. Hence, the countless programs that the American government uses to collect American citizen’s private information, is not used for the greater benefit of the American people. Today, the American people have additional facts about government surveillance that they did not have several years ago. Americans were made aware of the extent of mass surveillance after a man named Edward Snowden leaked information, regarding mass surveillance, to the public. Therefore, one of the agencies that the government has authorized for surveillance is PRISM. PRISM is a code name for a program that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) uses to gather internet information from various national internet companies such as: Google, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube and several other commonly known internet companies. In 2007, after the Protect America Act was passed, PRISM came into existence under the direction of the Bush Administration. It is an information collection method that is run under Section 702, which gained disrepute after Edward

With the widespread use of technology becoming more prominent, acts of cyber terrorism pose an increased threat to safety. Cyber terrorists exploit the internet and its users to commit acts that can be increasingly detrimental to their targets. Some of the terrorist activities include large scale corruption of computer networks by using tools like computer viruses. Certain individuals even have the ability of creating severe damage to government systems, national security systems and even hospital servers. Most of the technology made today only has intentions of making life easier for people. However, skilled users can manipulate the cyber world for negative intentions. Staying informed when it comes to cyber terrorism and cybercrime is important to do because of the increased reliance on technology in society. Steps to improve cyber security before an attack ensures the safety of sensitive information. The topic of cyber security and cyber warfare are interesting topics to keep up to date with. Understanding these topics can be beneficial to my dream of being in the FBI, ensuring the safety of others by working to prevent acts of cyberterrorism.

Consumers of the Internet continually yearn for the time where there Internet privacy will be taken into consideration. Sadly, that day may never come. The Internet has become a very lucrative world with many players involved. Now that there are criminals who break into websites and steal information for personal gain, there’s a huge incentive to protect consumers at all costs. Meaning there’s a need to increase Internet monitoring to ensure the protection of consumers, which violates the privacy of everyone who uses the Internet. For all the consumers of the Internet, Internet privacy should be entitled to everyone. It’s virtually impossible to grant Internet privacy, when you have entities stealing and using critical and personal information.

The three pieces are focused on internet safety and how/ should we make the internet a safer place for our younger generation. They are all begging the question what is the balance between unnecessary restriction and the safety of the most venerable members of our society through ideas of internet addiction suicide and, feelings of fear and despair but to resolve it with solutions