NSA Surveillance Should Be Stopped Essays Examples

The government initiated a program in 2001 aimed at fighting cyber terrorism by spying on the people and collecting data on various aspects. Spying can, and in most cases succeeds in detecting cybercrimes and apprehending criminals before they cause a lot of damage on the people. However, in as much as everyone appreciates the efforts of the government in the fight against cyber terrorism, the methods used by the NSA are not in line with the privacy policies of the citizens, economic interests, and other aspects of the citizens. There have been claims and even court battles that challenge the legibility of the surveillance program. It is evident that the surveillance programs should be stopped because they cause more harm than good by jeopardizing the civil rights of Americans.
NSA infringes the right to privacy of the American citizens. Joseph Menn (2015) noted that the NSA has the ability to install hidden spy wares in hard drives without been detected by the owners. The NSA is also using sophisticated espionage software that cannot be detected by common virus detection software (“New Snowden Findings Suggest Cyber-Espionage Program Used By Several Countries,” 2015). Such enables the NSA to track the activities of the majority of the computers, not only within USA, but also on the world. In this case, therefore, the government would be tapping personal data and information without the consent of the person, and for potential malicious use. The action of having spyware preinstalled in computers is a total violation of the privacy of the clients, and the end user license that does not indicate that one is being spied. It is also immoral for any government anywhere in the world to infringe on the rights to privacy of its citizens hiding behind perceived cyber terrorism wars. The fourth amendment gives one the freedom of privacy without requesting one whether such is good for them or not. Therefore, the government can only breach this requirement under specific cases which must be justifiable.
Private information can be used against one at any time with impunity. One may be tempted to argue that it is the duty of the government to protect its citizens at all cost and, if by any chance if the collected information is not used for malicious purposes, then the program is right. Such a stand does not remove the right of not being spied on without a necessary and a just cause. In this case, there is no justifiable cause that can warrant secret spyware that exposes one to the potential misuse of the information so gathered by the government and its agents. For the government to produce the information in a court of law, the data may be rejected on grounds of being illegally obtained evidence that incriminates an individual. However, to some extend and owing to previous court judgments on the NSA surveillance, there is no surety of such. It is, therefore, possible that the data can be used against an individual in a court of law violating the lawful procedures or the right of the person to have fair trial devoid of prejudice. The same information can be used to target political enemies unfairly (John Cassidy, 2013).
The government has turned the whole program to a mass weapon. One wonders who benefits by the whole the program. The government is having hidden intention of collection personal data (John Cassidy, 2013). With almost everyone using the internet in USA, the government can, and is using the program to collected data for its own use and not for the benefit of the citizens. There is a great potential that the data can be used for racial, ethnics, and religious profiling by following and collecting data on citizens selectively. In that case the movement shall be discriminating against its own. The current state of affairs in America in so far as the minority communities (religion, ethnicity, and the rampant stereotypes), is concerned is a cause of worry on their part with such type of surveillance imposed on them.
In addition, even though the current government might have all the good intentions on the same, the future government might not be trusted with the same. In this case, the government can use the data so collected to advance malicious attacks on some people for no apparent reason. One may think that if one has nothing to hide, then it is okay for the government to collect any data they want. The catch is that the definition and the state of being innocent can change overnight, and one can be ambushed with unknown criminal charges specifically if from “wrong” side of the government. One wonders what would happen if such data falls in the hands of a tyrannical and racist president. The data can be used to send the whole of America back to slavery days where freedom of speech, interactions, movements, and other aspects were limited without a just cause. Jeff Clark (2013) asserts that the government can use any data collected for evil purpose.
Spying on people especially foreigners as it has been the case so far (Michael German, 2013) may make the investors fear to invest in American cause economic problems. It is evident that the NSA tends to spy more foreigner than it may be concerned with the citizens. As the foreigners feel discouraged on the way the date so collects is used, they are discouraged to invest in country without privacy such as America. In this case, the economy of the America is put at stake. The spying can weaken the internet by allowing computer companies to install spyware that are vulnerable and can be used by criminals to hurt the economy. It is important to nota that the manufacturing can make intentional fault in the computers.
In conclusion, with all sides considered, it is clear that the negative sides outweigh the positive and hence, the NSA surveillance program needs to be stopped. There are other viable of ways of averting cyber terrorism that do not infringe on the rights of the citizens and do not hurt the economy of the country.

Works cited

Joseph Menn. NSA Has Ability To Hide Spying Software Deep Within Hard Drives: Cyber Researchers. 2015, Feb 16. Huffingtonpost. Accessed on February 21, 2015 from < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/16/nsa-computer-spying_n_6694736.html >
“New Snowden Findings Suggest Cyber-Espionage Program Used By Several Countries.” The World Post. 2015, Jan 27. Accessed on February 21, 2015 from < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/snowden-regin-spy_n_6559520.html>
Michael German. American, NSA Surveillance is bad for Business. The New york Times.2013, 13 August. Accessed on February 21, 2015 from <https://www.aclu.org/blog/national- security-technology-and-liberty/america-nsa-surveillance-bad-business>
John Cassidy. Inside the White House N.S.A. Report: The Good and the Bad. New Yorker December 19, 2013.web. Accessed on February 21, 2015 from <http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/inside-the-white-house-n-s-a-report-the- good- and-the-bad>
Jeff Clark. The Good, Bad and Ugly of Surveillance. Web. August 15, 2013. Accessed on February 21, 2015 from <http://www.datacenterjournal.com/it/good-bad-ugly-dragnet- surveillance/>