Jacob Sutton 808
The
article “Watching You” by Patricia Smith in the New York Times’ Upfront
newsmagazine talks about how in the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in
2001, the government has been adding more and more types of surveillance
systems to keep an eye on its citizens. Every
year Americans grow more and more accustomed to these intrusions. There
are more body scanners, shoe searches and video surveillance cameras keeping
tabs on Americans than ever before. According
to this article, the question Americans are asking is “how much privacy is
worth sacrificing to keep the nation safe?”
There are methods of surveillance that the government
uses that affects our privacy. One
example of this is body searches at airports.
Regular airline passengers are subject to full body scans and invasive physical
“pat downs” to ensure that they are not bringing any banned substances on a
flight. Another example of increased
surveillance is how the government can monitor the communication on your phone
The
article talks about former National Security Agency (N.S.A.) contractor Edward
Snowden and his leaking of information to the media that details an extensive government
phone surveillance program. Snowden
risked a long prison sentence for disclosing top secret material to the
journalists because as Snowden says, “The public needs to decide whether these
programs and policies are right or wrong.”
Snowden’s documents revealed that the government always has access to your
phone and instant messages, and can be monitoring you and the people that you
are communicating with. These surveillance
techniques make me feel like the government may be invading our right to
privacy as identified in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
At the
same time, this might all be a good thing.
Think about it… if there are terrorists among us, and the government is
checking their phone messages, terrorists could be apprehended before they harm
Americans. If that is the case, do I really have no problem with the government
checking my phone messages? Yes it is a
little spooky, but if they can stop a terrorist attack by doing this, then I have
no complaint.
This article has really gotten me to think: On
one hand, the government is really invading our right to privacy. And on the other hand, this could mean
protection from future terrorist attacks.
This article has really challenged me to think about my desire for
privacy versus what might be necessary to ensure the safety of Americans.
Works
Cited
Smith, Patrca. "Pre-K-K." January 13, 2014.
N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
<http://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/01_13_14>.
