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Should The Government Be Allowed To Monitor Their Citizens

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The Extent to Which Government Can Monitor Their Citizens
The National Security Agency (NSA) spying program originated shortly after the September 9, 2001 terrorist attacks took place by President George W. Bush. However, this program was kept secret in till it was revealed in 2005 by the New York Times magazine. The administration then proceeded to label the NSA as the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” and reluctantly admitted that at that point in time between five hundred and one thousand United States Citizens were being monitored, without warrants, because they were suspected to have connections with Al Qaeda. The question “To what extent should governments be allowed to monitor their citizens in the name of protecting the general public?” has risen since the release of this article. The NSA and other domestic surveillance programs are succeeding in …show more content…

The NSA has access to personal emails, text messages, and can intervene and listen to phone calls made from and received on a personal device. There should not be a limit to how far a government agent can dig and search when probable cause is placed on an individual. Nation security is the number one priority and citizens should stand behind the government. (“How the…”)
Domestic surveillance programs are not limited to just the NSA. Programs such as domestic drones and airport security screenings are also used to keep the United States citizens safe. The Federal government has several ways in which they keep an eye out for the safety of their citizens while they have no idea what is going on, and that is how it should always be. These programs cause no harm; the only individuals who are affected are the domestic and foreign enemies of this

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The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective.

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The wiretapping program is used to collect data that is transmitted on a network and allows the government to eavesdrop without a warrant. The use of this program is easy for the NSA to snoop and allows the government to eavesdrop without having to present a warrant. President George W. Bush had addressed this program as a crucial part to the National Security Agency, yet this announcement led to the wild growth of the NSA’s power. The NSA took advantage of the program and used it to spy on the conversations between foreign nationals, U.S. citizens, and international communications. However, curious of the program and questioning President Bush’s speech, a group from the U.S. senate decided to look into the situation.

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According to the BBC, it has become known that the NSA was responsible in the massive surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans through the PRISM progra,, not just those who have suspected links to terrorism. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo routinely provided a back door for the NSA to tap into their servers and track online communications (Document 1). This article was released about two years after the leaks when the debates over the future of the PATRIOT Act started to intensify. The National Security Agency strong armed these firms into giving up clients’ private data. No one stood in their way because the NSA had the full backing of the blinded Congress.

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In his excellent blog NSA surveillance and the Failure of Intelligence, Aftergood looks at the history of domestic

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It is impossible to discuss civil liberties and security without talking about 9/11 and the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed almost immediately after 9/11, hugely expanding intelligence agencies ability to investigate potential terrorism. However, critics of the law say that it infringed on the civil liberties of the innocent and did not guarantee proper oversight of law enforcement agencies in their execution and use of these newfound powers. I agree that as war and violence evolve, so must our methods of preventing them. In this digital age preventing such violence means monitoring information channels and being able to respond to leads rapidly and subtly.

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The U.S follows a different school of surveillance. Despite the fundamental right to be held “innocent until proven guilty”, it monitors everyone until proven innocent. The status quo could of course damage America’s long known liberties granted by the Constitution. Recent revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden, have confirmed that the government is more likely to cross some constitutional lines in the name of national security. “The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) regulates the government’s acquisition of any electronic surveillance within the country for foreign intelligence use.

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Moreover, President George W. Bush created the Patriot Act which expanded the government’s surveillance powers of phone messages and emails. As a result, many Americans were troubled by the unlimited wiretaps and the collection of phone records. Overall, these federal organizations brought a sense of security and increased the power of the

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Some Americans believe that the Patriot Act is a violation of privacy, but the government takes crucial steps to ensure the privacy of all law-abiding Americans. Despite contrary beliefs, the

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NSA hides the fact that they are monitoring on US citizens without the warrant as they find some connection between the person monitored and some illegal activity to justify their monitoring. At first, after the 9/11, President George W. Bush started a program of mass monitoring of US communication. He had started it without FISA Court’s knowledge and when the population find out about this Congress had to create and enact the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 and inside was the crucial Section 702 that, by law, validates mass monitoring over the last 7 years. These communication monitoring systems rely on these two statutes: FISA Amendment Act of 2008 (Section 702) and Patriot Act (Section 215).

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The NSA or the National Security Agency carries out most of the domestic surveillance in the United States. Before the 9/11 attacks the NSA needed approval from a court, but after the attacks, they were given free reign to copy any data that possibly linked to terrorist activities. This led to many arguments over whether this collection of data was unconstitutional or not. The extent of this surveillance shocked many people; many civil rights advocates thought that this surveillance breached United States citizens’ rights. Because of the threat of domestic surveillance in the United States it should be decreased drastically but not entirely stopped.

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In 2008, President Bush signed into law The FISA Amendment Act, an act which allowed the government to monitor Americans’ electronic devices. Bush claimed that this Act could help save lives, as mentioned before, but what he did not mention is that this allows the government to conduct surveillance without probable cause. (“How the NSA’s Surveillance Procedures Threaten Americans’ Privacy.”) When people heard about this, they became concerned, and many began to question if the NSA would abuse this power.

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Have you ever wondered why the Patriot Act played a big part in history or why it is so important to us? Well the government has compromised our civil liberties through the use of the Patriot Act. They also abused our privacy which wasn’t fair for us. The history of the Patriot Act, the abuse of our rights, and the way everything ended made the Americans feel like they couldn’t trust their government because they felt like they were always being watched. Through the Patriot Act, the law enforcement agencies and the government are given wide optional powers to acquire information not only from suspected people but also from the law-abiding Americans.

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The Patriot Act allows for government investigators to share information on suspected terrorists with other branches of the government much easier than before 9/11 so that tragedy’s like this can be avoided in the future. While intense backlash has been received regarding the Patriot Act’s effects on immigration, and unlawful surveillance, the small negatives that have yet to been proven true much outweigh the good this law can do in protecting the lives of innocent Americans. With the Patriot Act countless lives have been saved without the masses without even realizing they have been saved. According to a speech given by President Bush three years after he signed the law into place, with the Patriot Act a one man terrorist plan turned into

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The Patriot Act and Civil Liberties Civil liberties and freedoms are a fundamental part of America, and the lives of its citizens. Americans believe that they are born with these rights, and that nobody, not even the government who provides these rights, can take them away. Some people are willing to give up some of these freedoms for safety, but many have grown used to them and will not accept any infringement into their lives. The events of 9/11 are a major contributing factor to relinquishing of some of these rights by citizens for the protection of freedom and of the country. They believe that the government knows how to protect them from terrorists, but their rights will not be violated like those of a terrorist.

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What happens when the point of no return has been passed for a fixing detrimental problem? There are two interpretations of this: through novel and lecture. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a novel about an eighteenth century scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates life from a dead body and cannot handle the consequences of his action. Immediately after his creation comes to life, Frankenstein abandons his creation due to pure disgust of its appearance.

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