Surveillance & Tracking
Is the invasion of personal privacy for your security okay?
Background
- One of the first real introductions to surveillance was the Patriot Act in 2001
- The Patriot Act was put into place because of the terror attack on 9/11
- The people started to worry because they thought the government would be able to track them for a minor crime
- Because of this and an action of President Nixon FISA was created
- Essentialy FISA required law enforcment and government agencies to obtain a warrant before they could search or track a suspect
- If laws and technology to track suspects were used on 9/11 it could've possibly prevented the attack as the hijackers were already wanted
Pros
- Places like airports use software that scans crouds for wanted terrorists
- Facial recognition software has already shown results in real life situations
- Tracking technology already exsists so losening up the laws of it could allow the government to more easily find wanted individuals
- This technology has prevented many possible terror attacks
- The government can use the suspects belongings (car, phone, computer, etc.) to track and find terrorists or wanted individuals
Examples
- The government caught several men who gave $8,500 to a somalian terrorist group with surveillance and tracking technology
- The government also caught a man who was giving lots of money to Al Quaeda
Cons
- Devices like smartphones can easily be hacked wuth there built in cameras and GPS systems
- Things that are moniterd by the government can be hacked easily by criminals to get information
- Putting your data in the cloud is quick and easy for you but it can be hacked into very easily and has been many times
- In order to fully check for wanted individuals in places like airports over 6 millions faces would have to be scanned
- although the government can use surveillance for good, criminals can and will use it to their advantage
Examples
- FISA was created because Richard Nixon used surveillance technology to spy on his democratic opponents
- Edward Snowden, a former member of the NSA, leaked real government data of tracked phone calls, emails, text messages, and more
- He said, "Much of what I saw [on the job] ... really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," meaning the government was taking advantage of their ability to track us beyond the law
So is the invasion of personal privacy okay for our security?
I believe it is. This is because it will make it so much easier for the government to track and find wanted individuals. I can think of so many times when this would help, Ex: say there was a gunman on the streets with a cell phone. The government could easily hack into the phone and track the person to find him/her. This could save so many lives. That said, I do believe laws need to be put into place to not allow the government to spy on us. This is not okay and does not relate to protection. Overall I do think it is neccisary.