There has been much debate over whether or not the NSA’s surveillance programs are helping or hurting the United States of America. In this post, we explore some of the arguments that support these programs and those that do not. After reading each argument, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Note: These arguments do not reflect the opinions of the owner of this blog and are simply a collection of arguments from online communities.
For
1. The programs are legal and they contain checks and balances so as not to let the NSA run completely free with them. They may have the ability to collect mass amounts of data, but that’s just it… collection, not eavesdropping. In order to take a peek at these records they need reasonable cause and approval.
2. Terrorism is the real threat to civil liberties. Another attack like 9/11 could cause the public to give the government free reign to do whatever they need to do to stop the bad guys. This could result in an even greater loss of privacy if the government took these programs to the next level. Better to sacrifice a little privacy now rather than all of it later. Not to mention that stopping a terrorist attack would save countless lives depending on the size of the attack.
Against
1. Surveillance of this level threatens the very democracy that this country was built upon. Giving this amount of information to the government puts our freedom of speech and association at risk. It wouldn’t be hard to put a stop to a possible Tea Party rally or other political meeting, before it began, by figuring out the details beforehand.
2. This massive collection of data could come back to haunt you someday, even if you do not think you are doing anything wrong. With all of the data they have on you, even if you are completely innocent, it would not be hard to add pieces of data together to portray you as being guilty of a crime you didn’t commit. Or if you decide to run for office someday, the “dirt” that could be dug up on you would all be right there waiting to be used.
So what do you think about all of this? Are you pro or con NSA surveillance and why?
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