Government Surveillance vs Personal Privacy

Today, individuals are sacrificing privacy for security. These sacrifices have a great influence on the meaning of current privacy, but there is a possibility that it will have even greater impact in the future. According to Debbie Kasper of "Privacy Evolution (or Decentralization)" magazine, privacy is a struggle in the United States. Caspar asked: "When will it disappear, when will it disappear, why?" (Caspar 69). Our previous generation experienced the generation of baby boomers, today's world witnessed the prosperity of technology.

In today's society, the word "privacy" is everywhere. When discussing whether government monitoring and data collection pose a threat to privacy, the most common for privacy advocates - people who support databases, video surveillance, spyware, data mining and other modern monitoring tools - The objections are as follows. What should I hide else if I do not do anything bad? "There is no room for the government to collect and analyze our personal information.

Government surveillance has infringed our personal and professional privacy. Domestic intelligence agencies and their allies have collaborated with major telecommunications companies to delete and consider large amounts of personal information and corporate information. Foreign hackers also pose a serious privacy threat to national security. Encryption is an important and effective way to prevent government spying. As Snowden's disclosure clearly shows, the US and its intelligence agencies operate large scale monitoring equipment, eliminating large amounts of personal data and corporate data. Five Eyes - America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK - initially shared information on the Soviet Union under the supervision program called ECHELON. But in recent decades these governments are beginning to scan more and more data from civilians, domestic politicians and international targets.

The law on supervision of electronic communications does not necessarily protect the privacy of citizens. In 1986, the federal government passed the Electronic Communication Privacy Act banning telephone surveillance unless authorized by the US Attorney General and federal judge. However, telegraph, fax, and e-mail are not protected to the same extent. In the month following the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act and relaxed the current legal inspection of law enforcement officials. The Fed is now able to gather data more freely electronically, such as people's credit card receipts and bank records (Gertner 2005)