Is government surveillance worth the invasion of privacy for the security of the public?
In response to @joshweeterman’s question, in short no. Since the 9/11 terrorist attack, the United States has monitored its citizens claiming to ensure the prevention of another attack. Unfortunately, I like most other citizens have no way of knowing if the United States has actually prevented another attack by monitoring American citizens. A large issue with the use of surveillance by the United States is that there is no transparency as to the extent to which they monitor. The government uses agencies such as NASA, the NSA, and the CIA all to surveil citizens. In 2013 information from the NSA was leaked by Edward Snowden. This was a huge “eye-opening” event for many Americans since many did not even know they were being monitored. Snowden released dozens of documents that exposed the United States and its overreach. Included in the leaked information was information on a program called PRISM. PRISM is an NSA program that works with big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple to track personal emails, search histories, and files. Information leaked by Snowden, I believe was a turning point for American citizens, it furthered the distrust in the American government, and for good reason. If there is not a line to be drawn when it comes to privacy how far will the United States go in the name of national security?
