I agree with Mr. Ortiz's position. I think it’s important not to
judge the situation so quickly. While it may be uncomfortable to think about,
maintaining national security is not always so black and white; there is a lot
of gray area. If the NSA is gathering information from my texts and emails, I
am not too concerned. One, because I have nothing to hide in the first place,
and two because like you said, if they prevent terrible situations or at least
monitor suspicious activity, then I’m not too upset about it.
Another thing I find interesting about this issue is how
people think that it is something new. Spies have existed since the first
civilization started on Earth, and they are never going to go away. I am not
saying we should accept being spied on (especially from private parties!) but I
am saying that if our national intelligence agencies is using information to keep
me safe, then I’m at least glad they’re using it to protect us.
Of course we can’t assume they are using it for something
good. There is definitely a possibility that they are breaking laws, and our
privacy is being violated. But, one thing we also need to consider is, they are
getting this information from technology. And even if our texts and tweets are
technically private, we are still sending them to a satellite somewhere. We
need to accept the fact that anything we put on technology of any kind can be
found. That’s why we don’t go around emailing our Social Security Number!
While technology has provided new ways for our information
and conversations to be monitored, it’s important to remember that in order to
protect our nation, our intelligence agencies may need to use some morally ambiguous
tactics. And, if you don’t want anyone to steal your information, don’t put it
on the Internet.
1 comment:
The NSA’s ability to monitor all of our electronic communications is not protecting America. Anyone attempting to attack us knows just as well as we do that their communications are being monitored and will find a way around it. Everyone has something to hide. It might not be that they’re terrorists but everyone has private information. That is why we are protected from illegal searches and seizures. Which, when we get right down to it , is a right that the NSA is taking away from us. We would not let the police go through our mail, why should we let the NSA go through our email. It is true that we can avoid giving private information via electronic communication but its not easy to do. In today's society we use electronic communication for everything including: where we are , what we are doing and who we are with. That’s a lot of information for a government to have on its citizenry and we have no guarantees on exactly how they are going to use it. Its also true that this information has to be stored but we originally had rights protecting us from people using that information. Now we don’t.
The NSA’s ability to monitor all of our communications is ineffective, it takes away the rights of american citizens and gives the government way too much power.
Post a Comment