1984 By George Orwell: Safety Or Liberty?

Safety or Liberty? Today, that is the question. Because of the 9/11 attack, it is difficult to arrive at an answer. If Americans were to completely relinquish their freedoms, they would be almost completely safe from any harm. Safety is a very good, very important thing to have. However, the nation must avoid what is seen in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. At the same time, America cannot be completely free from surveillance, otherwise there would be riots and terrorist attacks every week. So what is the solution? Freedom is not given to the people by the government, so it is not the government’s to take away. "We The People" must protect our liberties, sometimes even before our safety. This is not to say that no compromise can be reached,

In my personal opinion, the right of privacy should be enough to warrant the desire to know my information is safe. However, more than just my opinion, it is a fact that in 2013, Dr. George Ellard, Inspector General, reported twelve misuses of government surveillance technology by workers. (Ellard, 2013) While each case was relatively harmless, it is important to understand that anyone can be spied on, for any reason the person running a system determines is necessary. Edward Snowden, a famous whistleblower and former worker for the NSA, stated that he had the power to legally wiretap any person, from a regular citizen to the president, using nothing but a personal email address. (Greenwald 2013) The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. Should this right not include safety from the invasions of privacy that can be done by the government at any time, warrantless? The reason for this surveillance was originally for safety, although it seems to have devolved into the beginning of an Orwellian society. It is not as much the government that protects its citizens, as it is citizens protecting other citizens. (Gillespie 2004) These soldiers, volunteers, and sometimes, unfortunately, victims, are who prove that the

No person should be allowed to live a modern life completely outside the boundaries of the government. America’s police still need their cameras to document criminal behavior. Sometimes, though rarely, the government must perform unconstitutional acts to better provide for the common defense of the U.S. people. As of today, there are laws in place to protect many rights of the U.S. citizen from being taken away: the first and fourth amendment, or the privacy act of 1974. According to Stephen Goode, Americans do indeed have a right to privacy. There are laws allowing legal action to be taken if privacy is taken away. Goode also says that organized crime and illegal drug activities are the main concern of the majority of wiretaps performed by the government. In reality, even though the government can wiretap individual citizens, there should be no concern amongst citizens of this actually occurring (unless you are in fact a terrorist or drug dealer). This wiretapping is, unfortunately, necessary as crimes such as drug dealing are more or less victimless. No drug user is going to turn in his drug dealer. So, to prevent this distribution of drugs, the police are required to either go undercover, which is extremely dangerous. They must pay informants, which are very expensive and often unreliable, or make use of