I feel very strongly towards personal privacy, but in today's society, it's become a controversial topic. Regarding the government's power upon a citizen's privacy, I truly believe that the government does have the right to "eavesdrop" or be cautious of what the people of this nation are doing, planning, or saying. With the issue of "warrantless wiretapping", I personally believe that it's a good thing. If an act such as the events of 9/11 could have been avoided in any way by possibly catching on to what those terrorists were doing, why is it such a bad thing? The government is trying to keep this country safe. I stand firmly that a citizen's rights should not be violated, but there is no constitutional right to privacy. It just doesn't exist. I have no problem allowing the government to "listen' to my phone calls and filter my conversations to look for words or phrases that might have to do with terrorist acts or bombings or anything regarding harm to this nation. After the events of 9/11, I feel that something did need to be done, and now that the government is "prying" just a little bit more, I feel that certain situations will be avoided. And for that, I am grateful. The United States is in a state of extraordinary times and I feel extraordinary measures should be taken, and if that means I give up a little privacy for it, then that's fine by me.
Although I feel this way, I need to state that the "invasion of privacy" needs to stay at a minimum level unless there is probable cause to further that. A person's privacy should not be completely be imposed upon. I'm aware that this does raise questions as to what extent to take the governmental interference, and I think that what the government is currently doing is fine. If they have probable cause to further investigate into a citizen's life or intentions, then that's okay, but they should not have the right to do so simply because they want to.
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I'd have to agree with Brianna here. Who knows how many threatful events have been prevented since our invasion of privacy. You gotta think here for a second. There's millions of people living in this nation. How many people are really on the job listening to our full conversations? There has to be a computer program where it just picks up certain words or phrases. It would be incredibly difficult to listen to millions of conversations at a time.
ReplyDeleteRealistically this compromise is keeping our nation safer. Some might say they have to have probable cause to pry your privacy, but I remember in one recent class we've had where one of my collegues mentioned that after 9/11 could be classified as probable cause. It's not like some agent is going to knock on your door and tell you that he/she knows your dirty secret or what you're selling. We should sacrifice a little part of our privacy freedom for our whole nation's security, safety, and well being.