Security at Expense of Privacy...?

The NSA, or National Security Agency, is the largest U.S. intelligence organization within the Department of Defense. It is the main producer and manager of signals within the U.S and the world including American Citizens; emails, phone calls, and text messages. They have the power to bug major electronic systems, such as security cameras, and they also analyze, translate and provide counter telecommunications. NSA is also a supposed clandestine organization, or in other words, unnoticed by the general population, which of course is not the case anymore since Snowden decided to sell American NSA secrets.

Recently the NSA has started to collect massive amounts of mobile data from American citizens. Because of this drastic policy, many citizens have risen up and took a stand against this invasion of privacy. However, many people defend the NSA seemingly unconstitutional acts as well. So who is in the right here? Is it really right for the government to put up three thousand cameras in New York City and say that it’s for the protection of the people? Is the excuse to catch criminals and terrorists really a legitimate reason to invade hundreds of thousands citizens privacy?

I think what most people forget is that the NSA is a very human reliant organization, and that they process millions and millions of communication signals a day. The fact that the NSA does this all while staying in line with so many government regulations is and astounding feat! “We’re a human-run agency operating in a complex environment with a number of different regulatory regimes, so at times we find ourselves on the wrong side of the line,” said a senior NSA official. So, when the NSA did cross over their regulations, many citizens found out for the first time that their phone calls, and all their methods of communications could be analyzed and recorded by the NSA. Once or twice a mistake can be made but “The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications.”

Even though most of these violations of privacy were unintended and only included facilities in the Washington Area, it is imperative that the NSA take steps to streamline their work so that they can give citizens and green card holders as much privacy as they possibly can. No one wants people to know if they go in for some kind of counseling, or if they are having family problems. That right to privacy is a very important asset in the lives of Americans. Sure the NSA’s purpose and usefulness is extremely important in catching a very dangerous criminal, however, there must be better and more reliable way to monitor signals without intruding so much on citizens privacy. In my opinion, many people wouldn’t even mind the NSA if it could stop making so many unauthorized collections of legally confidential communications. As long as they do their work within their bounds, then people will be fine with the fact that the NSA is helping to protect Americas National Security.