The Nsa 's Surveillance Program

Over the last several years, cyber attacks have been continually rising. This is in response to emerging threats from rogue nations and terrorist groups. They are increasing their attacks on government, military and civilian installations. According to James Clapper (the Director of National Intelligence) these threats have become so severe. It is surpassing terrorism as the greatest challenge facing the nation. In response, the National Security Agency (NSA) began conducting surveillance on those who are involved in these activities and others which are threat to US national security interests. This program became so broad; it started continually collecting phone records and emails on ordinary Americans. This angered many, who felt that the US was acting in a way that circumvented established legal guidelines and procedures. To fully understand what is taking place requires focusing on the event, the government 's response and the ways it did / did not meet our national security goals. Together, these different elements will illustrate what occurred and the lasting impacts on everyone. (Greenwald 2014)

The NSA PRISM program allowed US Intelligence Services to collect private information of users utilising services such as Facebook and Gmail in order to guard its countries interests.

With the seemingly exponential propagation of inexpensive digital communications technologies over recent years, the general public is becoming more aware of the issues surrounding information privacy and government surveillance in the digital age. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a smart-phone has to be wary of how they use their private information for fear of that information being collected and used in a way contrary to their wishes. "Leaky" smartphone apps that transmit private information across the internet can be unethically used by government agencies. The issue of privacy is a balancing act; the public usually wants increased privacy and the government usually wants increased access.

On June 6, 2013 the details of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance activities where given by Edward Snowden to the public; raising concerns of Americans about their privacy. Edward Snowden, a former employee of the NSA, gave the alarming details of surveillance programs in his interview on how the NSA accesses our emails, calls, internet activity, and anything else that is related to technology. In this system of surveillance the NSA can gather data from companies and tap the cables that are vital for moving around information from technological devices, they may also use their relationships with technology companies to get emails or information straight from U.S. servers. (Cawley, Kiss, Boyd, Ball) Nevertheless, the claim is

In Marc Thiessen’s article “Leaks, Not the NSA Programs, Deserve Condemnation,” Thiessen discusses the NSA leaks from 2013, criticizing Edward Snowden for leaking this information to the public. He states that the criticism of the “warrantless wiretapping” of the NSA spying programs are not warranted, with the claims of violations of the Fourth Amendment being nullified by the ruling of the Smith v. Maryland case. He then list three methods of obtaining information for combating terrorism, which are interrogation, insurgency, and communication monitoring.

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.

The US has always envisioned itself as the country of free choice and chance, however the US is not as far from a dystopian future as one might think. In the novel 1984 citizens live in a impoverished dystopian future, there is a shortage of food and drink, the three countries are constantly at war, and perhaps worst of all, anything anyone says is monitored to make sure no one is committing crimes against the government/ruling party, Ingsoc. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 the government controls through a heavy use of surveillance similar to the US’s use of monitoring calls and texts, incriminating those who reveal surveillance secrets, and using paranoia as an excuse to spy on it’s citizens.

The NSA is an agency that started surveillance on U.S. citizens and people around the world after 9/11 occurred to ensure the nation’s security. The goal of the NSA is to ultimately protect citizens of the U.S. and to keep a massive terrorist event from occurring in the country again. The NSA collected numerous amounts of data on people to find any type of threat that could lead to the distress of the country, but citizens were not aware of this surveillance. The NSA’s secret was eventually exposed and left not only U.S. citizens, but countries around the world outraged. As mentioned in the article, Edward Snowden: Leaks That Exposed US Spy Programme, by BBC News, “The scandal broke in early June 2013 when the Guardian newspaper

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

Keeping the United States of America safe from foreign threats is far from an easy task. However, preventing domestic threats is a much more complicated and delicate one. Government organizations such as the National Security Agency [NSA] are known to have invaded our privacy through our connection to technology. The NSA has publicly admitted to the surveillance. Due to media coverage, the NSA is often viewed as the main agency that bulk collects data. Emails, phone calls, and even our text messages have been surveilled under an NSA program known as “PRISM” (“Domestic Surveillance Techniques”). Everyday government organizations invade our privacy for the sake of national security in an attempt to defend us from domestic threats, but it seems they often take surveillance a step too far. United States citizens should understand legality of these actions, as well as the purpose this data collection serves.

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.

On June 6th, 2013, the Guardian and the Washington Post have published reports on the CIA's program called Prism. The information was provided by a former employee of the US National Security Agency, Edward Snowden. According to the confirmed data, the largest world companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and YouTube actively cooperated with the secret services. Many of them reported the information and data about their users not only in the US, but also in other countries of the world. Thus, the special services were able to access our e-mail messages, social media publications, contact lists, documents stored in the computers, audio and video files.

citizens in the data net. In 2013, Edward Snowden brought to light how the NSA can demand information from firms like Google and Microsoft. In addition, they can use a program called “PRISM” to collect citizen internet traffic such as email content and social media activity (The Guardian 2013). Instead of focusing on criminals, the government is slowly turning their attention to everyone. Collecting data in this way is an infringement upon rights guaranteed in the fourth amendment. The fourth amendment requires law enforcement to go to courts and show probable cause to prevent dragnet surveillance: a system of coordinated procedures for apprehending criminals or suspects; including road barricades and traffic stops, widespread DNA tests, and general increased police alertness (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). Targeted investigations help protect people from being subject to general searches by an abusive government. We do need to collect more data. We need better ways of understanding the information we

Throughout history, we as a country have worked tirelessly to improve our laws and rights as citizens. Constitutionally, we are require to have specific privacy rights or acts that protect us. At least it would be presumed that way, up until topics like government spying break that assumption of safety of our calls, searches, emails, and history on our devices. The uproar that occurred in early June of 2013, was due to a so called security program called PRISM. Prism is not just any security programs. This specific program was created by the NSA and FBI and used to tap into servers without consent. Reading articles such as, “ NSA Prism program taps into user data of Apple, Google and Others” by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill from The Guardian

In January of 2014, news agencies reported on the National Security Agency's (NSA) use of “leaky” mobile phone applications to obtain private user information. The United States government has admitted to spying on its citizens, but claims that doing so is the best way to protect the U.S. from foreign threats. Certain smartphone applications, such as the popular Angry Birds game, inadvertently transmit personal user information, such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status and current location, collectively known as the user's metadata, across the internet[1]. As part of their world-wide telecommunications surveillance for terrorism or other criminal activity, the NSA exploits these security holes in smartphone applications, by collecting and storing user data. While many users are unaware of the information leaks in their mobile applications, most people would certainly prefer to keep such information private [2]. Smartphones know almost everything about who we are, what we do, and where we go, but how much of that information does the government have the right to know and possess? Is it ethical for the United States government to collect and track the cell phone data of its citizens in the name of national defense, or does that violate the citizens' right to personal privacy? NSA surveillance of private user data of U.S. citizens is the best method of protection against terrorism and is also legal under the Constitution. By examining these two components, it is plain to