National Security: The Invasion Of Privacy

As Americans, we exercise the right to choose, including the right to choose what we share online and how we share it. Although there is no centralized formal legislation protecting data privacy around the world, there are some checks and balances which regulate the dissemination of publicly available data. Living in the digital age we currently live in, anything we put on the internet is almost always accessible to anyone at any time. Anytime we access something via the internet, whether it be an email software, social media platform, or simply browsing the internet, our data is collected and stored with algorithms. However, under the United States Privacy Act of 1974 with regards to information disclosure to third parties, “No agency shall
With the increasing threat of homegrown terrorism, there is tension in balancing privacy concerns of American citizens with the surveillance efforts of terrorists via social media. Finding the happy medium between civil liberties and national security has always been a challenge of our nation’s agenda but as with most multi-faceted conflicts, “something’s gotta give.” Unfortunately, there is no perfect world where both sides can be completely satisfied with all of their needs met. The ideal solution is to utilize effective intelligence strategies to target the people of interest, terrorists, without disrupting civil liberties of the citizens we are trying to protect. Using American civil liberties as a stepping stool to reach the true target of dismantling terrorist organizations is not the “American way.” Looking back at how far our technological capabilities have come in the past twenty years, I have no doubt that we will be able to fine tune our intelligence capabilities and hone in on the people of true interest without the collateral damage that is currently being created amongst citizens. I acknowledge the fact that our world has much evolved since the conception of our Constitution and many of the laws concerning data privacy today. However, issues plaguing our national security will never cease to exist. Terrorism is a very real and very dangerous threat to our society and as much as we would like to convince ourselves of our immense power and influence around the world, man is not powerful enough, smart enough, or equipped enough to eradicate the evil in the world. It is naive to think that sacrificing our civil liberties, even for a great cause, is enough to combat terrorism. It is no question whether having the surveillance capability will help fight terrorism; it will. But where is the line drawn? If we start sacrificing our civil liberties little by little,