In The Wake Of All The Leaks By Edward Snowden

Current statistics show, “the US National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans… on an ‘ongoing daily basis’” (BBC News). They also spy on the internet traffic on the most popular websites such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, and YouTube in search of any possible “threats” against the United States. Many people are not only angered because the government can track the nation’s communications, but also because the uses of high-tech surveillance technologies that are owned by the government are not entire known. The NSA uses their surveillance technology to monitor many people’s lives. This surveillance takes away people’s privacy but is necessary in our time because many terrorist organizations
Schmitt sees the need for a balance between national surveillance and personal privacy because much of what the NSA has been doing is exposed by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who faces charges for making “revelations [which] have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.” (Washington Post). Because Snowden exposes the secrets the NSA was hiding, he starts the conspiracies of what else the NSA can be hiding. Some fear that the government will give its agencies too much power over their individual rights and that people will not have anything kept private. Recently, the war on terrorism causes the United States to take many precautions with national security. Kurlander says that, “Civil liberties are often suspended or restricted during times of war when national security takes precedence over individual rights.” (Kurlander), but people still want to know the extent to which the government goes to protect the United States. Edward Snowden believes that
Kurlander speaks the truth when he says, “We walk Main Streets and drive thoroughfares that are monitored by cameras and speed passes. We work at computer terminals that allow our bosses to monitor our behavior and work productivity, and we use social media and search engines that can track our usage and establish personality profiles to sell and share.” (Kurlander). Today, technology that analyzes and records our personal preferences becomes increasingly popular. For example, Netflix provides suggestions to its users, and Facebook recommends friends that people have in common. Kurlander brings up, “We now also routinely spy on our families and one another too in our homes, businesses, and elsewhere, simply [by] clandestinely hiding spy cameras or affixing and monitoring GPS [global positioning system] monitors to phones, computers, vehicles or possessions.” (Kurlander). New and advanced security systems allow the owners to view footage from their micro-sized cameras. Today, average people are able to spy on each other because this surveillance technology is not only owned by the government but can also be privately