...For many years, nation’s governments have been monitoring their citizens through the use of surveillance technologies. Initially, privacy concerns involving computer technology arose because citizens feared that a strong centralized government could easily collect and store data about them. For the last decade in the United States, the federal government drastically increased its ability to monitor its citizens due to both changes in its laws and due to advancements in surveillance technologies. Together, the unfolding revelations opened a window into the growth of government surveillance that began under the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has clearly been embraced and even expanded under the Obama administration. In 2007, the United States National Security Agency (NSA) even launched the PRISM program. The NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that telecommunication filtering systems discarded earlier, and to get data that is easier to handle, among other things. However, just because we are able to do something it is not always the best decision to do so. For instance, is it wise or even ethical for the government to use this level of surveillance on its citizens in its CHIAO 1 broad unrestricted searches for terrorists. Let examine the ethics governmental monitoring from the perspective of a variety of ethical models such...
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...How Has the NSA'S Surveillance Impacted the Economy? Southern New Hampshire University English 123: Composition II How Has the NSA'S Surveillance Impacted the Economy? Introduction The Guardian aired a report on the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency over one year ago. The report based on leaked information from one of the agency’s contractors named Edward Snowden. The national opinions from several interested parties concentrates on simplistic debates evaluating the tradeoff between individual privacy and national security. However, it is an important time for the government and other stakeholders to begin weighing the benefits and costs associated with the surveillance more carefully. In spite of the strong defense by intelligence officials in favor of the NSA programs, the officials fail to table any credible evidence in support of the benefits they suggest. In fact, some initial analysis of the programs indicates that the benefits are dubious. It is true that the United States is a target for terrorist and other malicious groups, state officials often use the threat as an excuse to conduct and promote the activities of the National Security Agency. It may be beneficial in the context of security, but the surveillance programs also jeopardize the activities and operations of other organizations and individuals within the United States. The impact of the activities of the NSA on other parties is a cause for an analysis of the economic effects realized...
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...aspect of surveillance morality is the myth of consent. The idea behind the myth of consent involves one of the most critical but ignored things in America: the terms and conditions. In the terms and conditions of most cell phone contracts, it will be stated that you consent to having your phone metadata, aspects such as call length and phone numbers, shared with the government (Spener 404-405). The problem with this is that not many people actually read those terms and conditions, they just blindly agree. This means that millions upon millions of Americans “consent” to have their information monitored, when virtually none of them are aware that they agreed to that. The debate about the morality of government surveillance is...
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...Introduction US Government changes since 9/11 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Intelligence Reform The USA Patriot Act National Defense Programs Conclusion References INTRODUCTION Ten years have passed since the United States was attacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. The event was a crucial moment in U.S. history. After it was discovered that the attacks were delivered by Al-Qaeda, the information sparked intense debate in the political world. Former President George W. Bush decided to pass a large amount of U.S. legislation to strengthen U.S. National Security. The impact of 9/11 is clearly visible in the policies adopted by the United States government in the wake of the disaster. On October 7, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks. On March 20, 2003, the Iraq War began. Many people feel that the changes put forth by the U.S. government have benefited the livelihood of Americans. This might be true as the United States has not experienced a major terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. Other people feel that the spending has hurt the United States economy, pushing America into a series of economic downfalls. US GOVERNMENT CHANGES SINCE 9/11 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 is an Act of Congress that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The update makes it illegal to intentionally engage in electronic surveillance under...
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...Greenwald insinuates throughout the entire reading of No Place to Hide, that the government believes that they should have surveillance on the entire state because of safety factors and that it would unite it more effectively. This coincides with the statement “Mass surveillance is a universal temptation for an unscrupulous power. And in every instance, the motive is the same: suppressing dissent and mandating power” (Greenwald, 4). If the government can pacify the people of the state by going under the illusion of safety, they can use “mass surveillance” and control the entire state without much, if any, dissent from the people. Greenwald’s stance is solid but his glazing over of how we can change things (other than using encryption like him)...
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...NO: 09898839289 EMAIL-ID: nupuragarwal201995@yahoo.com CO-AUTHOR’S NAME: NUPUR JOSHI AFFILIATION: UNITED WORLD , SCHOOL OF LAW MAILING ADDRESS: 67, SWAGAT CITY , GANDHINAGAR – MEHSANA ROAD ADALAJ GANDHINAGAR PHONE NO: 9408968686 EMAIL-ID: nupurjoshi184@gmail.com TITLE OF THE PAPER: CYBER SPACE MASS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS,INFRINGEMENT OF PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALS, BY STATE IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY. ABSTRACT: In this present era of cyber revolution and globalization, citizens have turned into “Netizens”. The advancements in the field of technology is also accompanied with the development of various methods of surveillance and intervention by the State into individuals’ private information. Governments are keeping an eagle eye by monitoring individual's movements, businesses transactions and also the means of communication, which includes cyberspace. It is alleged that the United States of America’s National Security Agency runs a program known as PRISM, which enables the US government to gain access to e- mails , conversations, pictures, voice calls and even sign in details of people using websites and applications associated with 1|Page Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, to name a few. Failure of cyber law mechanisms and national authorities to advance legislation and frameworks along with the technological developments and the increasing trends on States’ surveillance practices has created an environment in which citizen’s right to privacy is easily violated, leading...
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...The Ethics of the NSA Mass-Surveillance Program University Name Student Name Course Number/Name Professor Name Date Introduction One of the most explosive scandals of the 21st century was involved the National Security Agency (NSA), and the revelations that the agency had set up a robust, warrantless mass surveillance program in the years after the 9/11 attacks. Designed to pick up bits of intelligence that could be used in order to thwart future 9/11 attacks, critics of the program argued that not only was it unconstitutional given the lack of warrants obtained prior to engaging in the program, but that it was ineffective at stopping any kind of real terrorism. Supporters pushed back that the program was an essential tool for fighting terrorists who had become more advanced digitally, often using the internet in order to communicate with each other. Much of the discussion on the program related to the ethical appropriateness of the NSA’s activities. This paper will summarize the NSA’s surveillance program and discuss it from the perspective of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics; in addition, the paper will discuss the author’s personal viewpoint of the program. Summary of the Program The NSA spying program, named the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” by the New York Times, focused on monitoring the communications of between 500 and 1000 people within the United States with suspected ties to Al-Qaeda (Dunn, 2015). Many of these individuals were American citizens,...
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...Who is Edward Snowden? Edward Snowden, 30, was a three-month employee of a government consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. At Booz Allen (he has since been terminated), he worked as a systems administrator at an NSA Threat Operations Center in Hawaii, one of several facilities detect threats against government computer systems. In other words, he was a low-level intelligence government contractor. Background: Edward Joseph Snowden was born June 21, 1983, he grew up in Wilmington, N.C., but later moved to Ellicott City, Md., he told The Guardian. His mother, Wendy, is the chief deputy clerk for administration and information technology at the federal court in Baltimore, a court official told NBC News. His father, Lonnie, is a former Coast Guard officer who lives in Pennsylvania, the Allentown Morning Call reported. A neighbor said he has an older sister who is an attorney. Education: He did not complete high school. He told The Guardian that he studied computers at a community college and obtained a general equivalency degree. A spokesman for Anne Arundel Community College confirmed that a student with the same name and birth date took classes there, from 1999 to 2001 and again in 2004 and 2005. Military service: He spent four months in the Army reserves, from May to September 2004 as a special forces recruit to a 14-week training course, the Army said. "He did not complete any training or receive any awards," an Army statement said. No other details were given...
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...The events of September 11th, 2001 potentially changed the legal structure of the United States. Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the President and Congress saw fit to protect the United States by passing a bill called the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act significantly expanded the powers of law enforcement by allowing law enforcement and intelligence agencies to use types of electronic surveillance that were previously only allowed with legal warrants (Ibid, 2001). Additionally, the Patriot Act allows government agencies to detain suspected terrorists for unspecified lengths of time in order to investigate their activities (Ibid, 2001). The detainment of terrorist suspects does not allow these individuals access to an attorney, a trial, or any other guarantee promised in the Constitution. The United States legal and judicial systems utilize a network of checks and balances to ensure that the rights of citizens, as enumerated by the United States Constitution, are not violated. These systems call for crime investigation to require a warrant issued by the judicial branch in order to execute any search or seizure of personal property, as declared by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution (Madison, 1789). The framers of the United States started the Constitution with a Bill of Rights that set our inalienable rights. These rights are not allowed to be violated and the legal system is designed to protect these rights, even if...
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...Introduction From the late 1960s through the 1970s, America struggled with the legal status of surveillance under the Fourth Amendment (Cetina 2013). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) became necessary in the 1970s after turmoil surrounding the legality of various domestic intelligence activities, especially that of President Richard Nixon’s usage of federal resources to spy on political and activist groups. In response to these conflicts in 1978 FISA was created (Banks 2007). FISA essentially regulated and authorized electronic surveillance of foreign powers and agents of foreign powers in the United States. FISA Court was created to setup a standard set of rules while obliging by government’s need to obtain surveillance orders secretly and as quickly as possible. However as a result of our changing world FISA has become a drastically more complicated law than when it was originally passed in 1978, and the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has accordingly grown far beyond the bounds of what government envisioned when the law was created (Blum 2008). FISA has proven to be troublesome in multiple ways for both intelligence gathering agencies, and those concerned with its potential violation of the 4th Amendment and various privacy concerns. It has proved to be a bureaucratic burden for intelligence gathering agencies, but also increased scrutiny from the public about concerns surrounding the 4th Amendment. The best way to revive balance...
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...Section 702 of FISA: Is discrimination between US and non-US persons justified? 1. Since the release of NSA’s classified documents by the NSA ex-contractor Edward Snowden, the controversy of morality and legitimacy of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), and, in particular, section 702, has become a major issue of public debate in the context of national security and privacy rights. To understand the underlying controversy, it is important to understand what powers section 702 gives to the US intelligence agencies. Section 702 of the Federal Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA) is the section that elaborates on the procedures and regulations for surveillance of non-United States persons while they are located outside the US. It...
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... The citizens of the United States are both victims and witnesses. Today's Americans, are victims of the unacceptable actions of the American government, but they are also witnesses who refuse to do anything about the injustice. George Orwell’s 1984, portrays life under an oppressive government that constantly spys on citizens, presents misleading media, and is constantly fighting a foreign enemy. Today in 2016, the United States government spies on citizens through technology, allows a media oligarchy, and is constantly in the midst of a never ending war. The unacceptable actions of the government in Orwell’s 1984 and today are eerily similar, and the...
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...Over the past two decades the United States has been more and more involved in combatting the ‘War on Terrorism’, both on a global scale and within the United States. Within the United States the idea of achieving National Security, in some cases, often comes with the sacrifice of certain civil liberties in order to afford safety for its citizens, preserving the ability for each person to achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Some of the laws that have been enacted and that have been highly debated of wearing down American civil liberties, are that of those laws that have illegally invaded our right to privacy. There are two distinct laws that provide the American government with power for covert surveillance and that of...
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...Ethics in the Government and Public Sector in Electronic Surveillance “Can you hear me now, Yes I can even see you” Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Abstract In todays society the number of computers, tablets, mobile devices will rise to about 65 billion devices connecting to the internet. That not counting vehicles, household applicances, gaming devices. However, with all of these deveices there is a significant benfit that will make our lives easier and one potential theat that invades our privacy called Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance (GPS). This sometimes hidden or masked feature is colleting our personal information, location and sometimes converstation. Laws have have enmpowered government and companies to collect databases of consumers without our consent. With ongoing technology where does the protection beging and the surveillance stop. Ethics in the Government and Public Sector in Electronic Surveillance In the movie Enemy of the State the lawyer played by Will Smith becomes a target by a corrupt politican who kills a congressman for his unwillingness to help with a new surveillance system with satellites. The politican with the help of National Security Aministration agents to destroy the lawyers life by manipulation thru the internet and surveillance. This movie was produced in 1998 and then the technological devices we have now were not that advanced. Little did we know that would become the norm of everyday life of those who possess...
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...9/11 was one of the most known national tragedies in the United States. According to the Washington Post, more than two-hundred and sixty three government policies were either created or reorganized following the attacks. The newspaper found that more than twelve hundred government policies plus organizations and nineteen hundred private companies do work related to counter-terrorism, homeland security, and intelligence ("9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed"). At 9:05 A.M. President Bush is sitting in the second-grade class when a man named Andrew Card tells him that another plane has struck the twin towers. By 9:12 A.M. President Bush leaves the school and is already in touch with New York officials as well as the Vice President, Dick Cheney...
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