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Government Surveillance In America

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Many times an individual desires to travel back in time to revisit a particular event. They may choose this pleasant circumstance or maybe there was an important cue in a conversation that they did not catch because the person was distracted. While we have recently made numerous technological advancements, one has not mastered time hopping. However, people are not the only ones who want to reverse time, but the government actually performs this action. Now they can press rewind, reviewing camera footage and sent text messages.
As citizens of the United States, we are called to be aware of these current societal issues. It is important to know just how far the government is going, such as the new technology and its capabilities. Furthermore, …show more content…

Although the primary objective of the government is to protect its people, it cannot get to the point where the country is bankrupt while doing so. According to a CNN reporter, Manhattan recently installed a “$150 million initiative”(Kelly 2) for surveillance equipment. Furthermore, Britain has contributed a daunting “$800 million over the past four years”(Kelly 2) to numerous cameras spread around the city. However, “only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras…” (Kelly 2). It can get expensive for a country trying to protect its people, especially when they are already providing military protection. The question a country must ask about surveillance is if this extensive equipment really makes a difference? Is it worth increasing our already high debt to solve a small number of crimes? Does the cost of the cameras come even with the things they prevent from …show more content…

When one is considering the cost of surveillance, oftentimes they believe if the surveillance cameras caught just one transgression, its purpose is justified. Furthermore, it is understood that some information must be withheld from the mass population. If everyone knew the secrets the government purposely holds, it would no longer be classified. For the good of the citizens and the country itself, programs, such as those Snowden uncovered, all aim for one goal: prevent terrorism and at home invasions. Moreover, through surveillance, we are able to solve crime quicker because there is now tangible evidence courts can rely on. Within three days of the Boston marathon bombing, “it took the FBI only three days to release blurry shots of the two suspects…” ( Kelly2). Had they not exercised these resources, it could have endangered further

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