NSA Spying

On June 5, 2013, Edward Snowden leaked information to media outlets that proved that the NSA was spying on U.S. citizens by requiring service providers to hand over phone records. It later came out that the government was spying on world leaders and other important political figures from other countries. Then people learned about XKeyscore, a program that tracks keystrokes and almost everything else done on the internet. All of this was being done without citizens consent or knowledge, which was soon deemed unconstitutional and illegal. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the government spies on its citizens through tv screens in every home, hidden microphones, and secret police. As outlandish as these things seem, it isn’t as impossible as

government spying on its citizens is unconstitutional and illegal. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “Bush signed a presidential order in 2002 allowing the National Security Agency to monitor without a warrant the international (and sometimes domestic) telephone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds or thousands of citizens and legal residents inside the United States… but no requirement that warrants be obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as the 4th Amendment to the Constitution and the foreign intelligence surveillance laws require. In other words, no independent review or judicial oversight. That kind of surveillance is illegal. Period” (“NSA Spying on Americans is Illegal” np). The fourth amendment clearly states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause” (“NSA Spying on Americans is Illegal” np). This means that people’s houses or personal belongings cannot be searched without a court order or probable cause, deeming spying by the government unconstitutional. Adding to this, there are three laws that explicitly state that it is illegal to spy on people, one of them being under title 50 saying “A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute” (“NSA Spying on Americans is

In 1984, the population is controlled and monitored almost entirely through technology. There are screens in almost every home, hidden microphones, and secret police. The power of this government is extensive. They can limit vocabulary and erase events in history by destroying documents. The U.S. government may not seem like it is capable of this, but in this day and age, everyone has smartphones and computers that can act as cameras and microphones. “Privacy advocates have challenged the legality of the program in court, and one Judge deemed the program unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian," while another one ruled it legal” (Franceschi-Bicchierai np). The world in 1984 is very uniform and drab. If someone is to show the slightest sign of a thought that goes against the government, they are taken and tortured until they are loyal citizens again. This creates an environment of people who are all the same and think the same. Without difference of opinion in the U.S., there would be no progress, debate, or opportunities to learn. There wouldn’t even be a need for a presidential election. No change equals no