Government Surveillance Persuasive Essay

911 Words4 Pages

Many people are failing to recognize the government’s full potential of surveillance over citizens. Most people truly are either just oblivious to the matter or are turning a blind eye on it. Having no privacy over people 's own lives own life takes a turn on things and pushes them straight into the reality the country is dealing with right now. When taking a look at other countries that the government watches over everyone, like North Korea, it’s assuring that that’s not where anyone would want to live. People want to live in a place where they feel safe to read, publish, or watch whatever they want without being watched. Because it can’t completely eliminate terrorism, government surveillance should not be allowed in the United States. American’s …show more content…

The British Home Office did a study in 2005 to prove that cameras didn’t decrease the crime or the fear of crime. (“What’s Wrong With Public Video Surveillance?”) This goes to show that the things they think will make a beneficial impact, in fact, do not. About 20 percent of United Kingdom’s criminal justice budget is on video surveillance. “But everyone from academic criminologists to the British Home Office has studied the impact of that surveillance, and has been unable to find any impact on the crime rate.” (“Surveillance Cameras and the Attempted London Attacks”) Government surveillance in this case wouldn’t be the most effective way to spend our money. There is a lot of terrorism in the United States, no doubt about it. However, since the main purpose of a terrorist attack is to gain publicity, this will give them even more reason to. The terrorists will get more views if it’s on video and the government can release them and any other information they find about the terrorist. However, if the terrorist plans to stay undercover, they can disguise themselves by covering themselves up to not get caught on footage and then no one can trace who they are and their technology. All of this money will come out of American tax papers. America is already billions in debt and can’t afford to be using useless surveillance to snoop on their