Privacy Vs. Security In The United States

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.

(Bill or Rights, n.d.) Attempting to keep the country safe while supporting its citizens’ rights is a continuous struggle for the government and its agencies. Absolute privacy with absolute safety, albeit utopia, is a lofty expectation and a challenge to procure. The Associated Press - NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reports 42 percent of Americans feel their security should be a vital objective of the government. While civil libertarians may strongly disagree, 54 percent of Americans feel individual rights may need to be forfeited in order to avert terrorist acts. Warrantless surveillance has been a very contentious subject relating to this right, especially surrounding the abilities granted to governmental agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) via The Patriot and USA Freedom Acts. Despite this controversy, more than half of Americans, 56 percent, still believe the government possesses the right to surveil internet correspondence, conversations, and phone calls without a warrant for suspicious or terrorist activity. This may be due to the fact that the number of Americans who fear that they or someone in their family could eventually become the victim of a terrorist act has doubled since 2013. (Americans,

Whether it is calling someone on your phone or online shopping on the computer, people are more connected than ever to the internet. However, a person might be oblivious to the fact that they are being watched using these technologies. The NSA (National Security Agency) is an intelligence organization for the U.S. to protect information systems and foreign intelligence information. Recently the NSA has been accused of invading personal privacy through web encryption, tracking, and using personal information for their own uses and without permission. The surveillance of the NSA produces unlawful invasion of privacy causing an unsecure nation.

NSA infringes on the 1st and 4th Amendment rights. America was the safe zone: a lot of people came to the United States so that they would have the freedom to express who they are, what they believe, and their thoughts without punishment. Edward Snowden, NSA whistle blower, wasn’t allowed that freedom when he made it know what the NSA was doing with Verizon’s phone records. Snowden did break the law but he brought awareness of this dilemma to the average citizen, villain, and hero. In the end, it caused the NSA to change some policies but it doesn’t even make a difference because still the administration continues to collect data without a cause. Correction: the NSA uses surveillance to protect United States of America from terrorist, terrorism and terrorism related crimes… The agency’s interpretation: anyone and anything under the sun.

The NSA, The National Security Agency that is under the government control was initially intended to protect the USA by tethering through technology devices to attempt to pick up any suspicious activities. The problem is that many feel as if the NSA has no right to evade their privacy. The NSA should be penalize every time they do so, or should have some type of warrant, but only for last resort, or stopped completely. There are many other ways to go about finding troublesome threats like antagonist programs like CDT as I mentioned earlier. Having your privacy tampered with isn’t worth it. The NSA is not needed that bad.

It has been more than seventy years since the release of George Orwell’s 1984, a novel that imparts a lesson on the consequences of government overreach. However, today that novel reads like an exposé of government surveillance. Privacy and national security are two ideas competing for value on a balance; if one is more highly valued, the other carries less weight. Government desire to bolster national security by spying on its own citizens-- even the law abiding ones-- is what leads to the inverse relationship between civil liberties and security. In times of a perceived threat to the nation, national security becomes highly prized and people lose privacy. One case is terrorist attacks. 9/11 caused an understandable kneejerk reaction in Americans to bolster protection. Some of the the measures taken were observable, like greater security at airports, but others attempted to increase national security in a more intrusive way. Privacy should be more highly valued than national security, and America has reached a point where that is no longer true.

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 NSA has been secretly ordered to eavesdrop by the Bush administration after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The base of where the NSA has been operating their wiretapping agenda is in Bluff Dale, Utah the building sprawls 1,500,000 square feet and possess the capacity to hold as much as five zeta bytes of data it has cost almost $2,000,000,000. The act of spying over the USA citizens even though they are suspicious is a threat to the people’s privacy and the privacy of other countries’ members are being infringed on by the NSA by the act of wiretapping. The action of wiretapping violates laws for privacy, like the Bill of Right’s Amendment Four which says “Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches, and

They do as many good things as bad. They stop terrorist attacks on our country. They also watch American citizens that have done a crime or suspected of about to do a crime, which is for a greater good. Citizens may say, it is okay for them to bend the law to protect the citizens, they may say that invading our privacy shouldn't be a problem if we are not doing anything wrong. That is true to a point. But, the NSA is not just violating foreign invaders. They are also violating American citizens just as much. When does it stop? It is not okay to take away something from us, as citizens, without our consent. As an American we have the right to our civil rights. We have the right to privacy and no matter how high in government that should not be taken away from us. It is okay for the NSA to do their job, protecting U.S citizens from terrorist attacks, if they did not have to bend the rules to do it. The NSA has been caught hacking navigation systems many times to find their assignments, the contact they are looking for. It is not okay to bend or break the laws because it’s for the government. The government is suppose to protect this country. It is not suppose to spy on its on

The NSA, or National Security Agency, is an American government intelligence agency responsible for collecting data on other countries and sometimes on American citizens in order to defend the country from outside risks. They can gather anything from people’s phone data to their browser history and use it against them in the court of law. Since the catastrophes of the September 11 attacks, the NSA’s surveillance capabilities have grown with the benefit of George W. Bush and the executive branch (Haugen 153). This decision has left a country divided for fifteen years, with people who approve that the NSA should be strengthened and others who think their powers should be limited or terminated. Although strengthening NSA surveillance may help

You’re constantly being watched, the NSA collect the data from over 75,000 people daily. The NSA, or National Security Agency, is responsible for collecting and monitoring all this data that they gather. They collect all this data to help the government as they are a government agency. They truly do help the United States by monitoring this data to help protect the citizens, but still people find a way to oppose it. Even though it might violate people 's right to privacy, the NSA helps protect citizens with their ability to collect and search through large amounts of data, and using this information from to prevent possible attacks on the United states from actually happening.

With increased security, we have lost a lot of our privacy. Security from our defense systems, such as the military, NSA, CIA and other government agencies, protect us everyday by monitoring threats and online activities. The security measures in place at public areas, such as full body scanners at airports and metal detectors at courthouses and some schools, are all in place to protect the general population. As a consequence of improved security we lose some of our privacy with the invasive searches of our person and our belongings. One of the former president Barack Obama’s last executive orders gave intelligence agencies the ability to have weaker filter on the data from the Internet. With less of a filter, more information can be collected about threats to the nation. “CIA, FBI and other agencies will be able to access surveillance on foreigners abroad, including information identifying Americans they may be in contact with” (Swaine). Our government has gained the right to collect information of people with suspicious tendencies not in the United States. This choice over freedom is not the way to go. Our goal as a nation is to keep its citizens safe. The executive order gives more reasons for people that hate Americans to want to kill Americans. Although our wings of freedom will spread farther over the earth, people do not like to

You’re constantly being watched over and protected, the NSA collects the data from over 75,000 people daily. The NSA, or National Security Agency, is responsible for collecting and monitoring all this data that they gather. They collect all this data to help the government as they are a government agency. They truly do help the United States by monitoring this data to help protect the citizens, but still people find a way to oppose it. Even though it might violate people 's right to privacy, the NSA helps protect citizens with their ability to collect and search through large amounts of data, and using this information from to prevent possible attacks on the United states from actually happening.

National security and personal privacy have been a hot topic for many years. With the NSA overstepping into our own privacy we never know if we are being watched or listened to. Although they claim that what they do is for our own protection, it’s still violating our personal privacy. It can be argued that almost too much is being done in terms of security to ensure “our safety” but the way things are going everyone seems to be a suspect. Cutting back on some of the measures they take could make a difference to those whose rights are being violated. Branching out to the types of security, national security has been divided into several categories. Political security, Economic Energy and natural resources security, Homeland security, Cybersecurity, Human security, and Environmental

This web site http://www.wnyc.org/ talks about how the NSA collects and processes information from around the world to gain knowledge on foreign intelligence/activities as well to improve counterintelligence systems and the extent of what the organization can do. That basically means the NSA looks for threats and protects the U.S. from spies, but what Americans fail to realize that an agency that spies on other countries has the ability to spy on the United states as well, and to use the information against them. Of course, the counterargument is that this information will only be used against you if you are “doing something wrong,” but what is stopping the government from using this information to further potential projects to or just to suit their needs. Ergo, our information is not being collected to protect the United States, it is simply a way to undermine our constitutional rights and make us slaves to the government. It is simply illogical to overlook such actions as american citizens do today. And during the topic of “End The NSA?”, on MSNBC news, a congress woman was silenced by another to talk about the “Breaking news” of Justin Bieber getting arrested. This collection of information could be shared to change the views