Since September 11, 2001, the United States of America will always watch its back for terrorist attacks. Ever since that September day, we have increased our security in our airports and created Homeland Security. Some people feel the NSA, National Security Agency, has gone too far with its surveillance in protecting our country and people from attacks. Some say that they have not done enough to protect us. I feel there are some things the NSA should absolutely do, and then there are others I feel do invade people’s privacy. But do we really have privacy as it is?
Anyone can hack into our computers, phones, bank accounts, and more as long as they have the brains to do it. I’m not completely against the government watching what we are doing, but I’m not all for it. I don’t want cameras in the dressing room to see if I’m stealing. It would make me feel violated. If we were to let anyone invade our privacy for example: going through our text messages, recording our phone calls, watching us on security cameras, and more, then why not let it be our government. If it will protect the American people from attacks that could kill thousands of innocent people, then why not?
If you have nothing to hide then let them do what they can do to defend us. I’m not saying that we have the most trustworthy government, but we could be worse off. I want the government to do what they need to do in order to protect our citizens from crimes. Even if we can’t prevent the crimes we can at least punish the people that committed them. Take Edward Snowden for example: “Former U. S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden stole and leaked hundreds of documents to the media about the United States’ spy and surveillance programs” (Rigwell).
There are going to be people that will have access to see all of our personal information. How do we know the NSA won’t leak them? We don’t. Would you rather have terrorist attacks and domestic violence or give up your grocery list that you texted to your significant other or the angry text that you sent your cheating ex. They don’t care about your daily life, only if you are a threat to the American people. One thing I dislike about one of the surveillances used are the civil drones. Anyone can buy them. With civilians using the drones it can cause several problems.
Air safety being one of the problems: “Since June 2014 commercial and private pilots have reported some 25 near collisions with drones. ” (Difa) With people going beyond the set altitude limit, drones are being sucked into engines, rotors, or propellers. Illegal surveillance or spying on people can occur too. If anyone can have a drone and fly it, then there is nothing stopping them from going to a hotel thirty stories up and peeping through windows. People should have to have permission or a warrant to fly them in certain places, or it invades peoples’ privacy.
I also don’t think anyone, besides the government, should be allowed to have them because eventually someone will take advantage of it, and then it will turn into a big ordeal. It’s like a saying my dad always told me, “Don’t let one bad apple ruin the whole batch. ” Some people will abuse the drones for their own pleasure, but that does not make all drone usage bad. There are some positive things about civil drones. They can help with search and rescue parties, mapping, surveillance over certain areas like the Mexican border, and more.
NASA has used the drones to watch hurricanes along with other natural disasters. There are people who hate all the surveillance that we have, but without the security that we have, you wouldn’t know if a rapist lived on your street. Without our nation’s surveillance, you could put your children and yourself in danger. If we didn’t have the security that we have, you could never look up a person’s name that you are going on a date with to see if they have a criminal back ground. You could never search to see if the person you hired to babysit your child or children is a child molester.
You never know how a person really is and they could easily be putting on a show until they make their strike. If you were to get mugged in an alley or on the street, there is a possibility that cops can find the person who mugged you with footage from the surveillance cameras. We could improve security by increasing surveillance in the airports and any place that has transportation. We should appreciate all the irritating airport security. If airports didn’t check your luggage, then someone could easily put a bomb in it and blow up the airplane or the airport.
Thankfully, the airports also have metal detectors that you have to walk through to detect if there are any weapons on you. They make you put your keys, belt, phone, carry on, and any other personal items you might be taking on to the plane with you, in a tub. Then they put it through an x-ray machine to check for anything that could be used as a weapon to possibly take over a plane. With all the security cameras, in case something corrupt happens, the FBI, or whoever handles the crimes, takes the tapes and runs a facial recognition to find out the name of the criminal who committed the crime.
Even though CCTV surveillance does provide a great deal of help, it does have a few drawbacks. For example, a police officer or an FBI agent could use it to talk to people. Maybe someone made them mad, and to get revenge, they use the video surveillance to determine where they are or how they go about their day to get back at them. There are real people controlling these, not a machine, and they are watching the cameras for suspicious behavior.
Not everyone is racist, but there are some people who may not accept a certain race and will target them instead of someone who might actually be committing a crime. Yes, video surveillance can be misused, but what can’t be oppressed in today’s world? Everything has the potential to be ill-used, and we can’t stop every crime from happening or avoid them. Something is better than nothing. Do I think the government has taken surveillance too far? I can’t say for sure. Yes, I want to be protected, but I don’t want a random person with a drone to peep in on me.
I don’t want to be targeted on surveillance footage because of my sex or race. I’m not doing anything wrong, so maybe that is why I don’t mind the government going through my emails. I just want the American people to be safe and not have to go through another heartbreaking tragedy, but that will never happen. Maybe it’s not the surveillance that bothers people but how corrupt, terrifying, unbearable our world really is. The monsters in movies don’t even come close to the monsters in our world today who have caused us to have the surveillance that we have today.