How do the actions of governments such as laws or regulations promote certain outcomes?
The National Security Agency, or NSA, has been facing criticism after the phone company, Verizon, was caught collecting customer's data. This was all brought into public attention when Edward Snowden released top secret information. The NSA has been called out for using a program, known as PRISM, to track data from phones and computers. They are also using UPSTREAM, which is a program that provides data from phones and fiber optic cables. PRISM and UPSTREAM gives the NSA access to foreign communications. It’s main purpose is to find information that may be involved with terrorism, and is supported with the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act. The main debate is about whether or not the NSA is violating American’s basic constitutional rights. Also the NSA is being criticized for collecting a large amount of domestic data with PRISM.
It is known that PRISM is used with the nine major internet companies, but it is unsure if every big communications company is cooperating with the NSA. Some of these internet companies include Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, and Microsoft deny giving any permission to collect data from their servers. UPSTREAM is mainly used with phone companies in the United States. The number calling and called, duration of phone call, and time of phone call is collected by this program. Names involved in these communications are changed or covered, so that the identities of the people are protected. Even though this does not seem very personal, these details can be used to find out more intimate details about the caller. If analyzed a person could find out your political affiliations, religious views, work habits, and more.
All of this collection of data scares Americans. They don't think they can make a phone call or email a friend without the government watching their every move. A large amount of people think this is a violation of our rights, and they believe the government should not be able to monitor our phone and web data. People have been protesting against the NSA's actions. The government does have good reason to monitor data. They can use it to prevent terrorism attacks occurring in the United States. Even with reason, the collection of phone and internet data has been a topic in Congress. There is proof that the NSA has collected data that they should have not. PRISM and UPSTREAM should only be collecting foreign data, not domestic. A agency, called the Secret Court, is supposed to be overseeing these operations, but are not doing as great of a job as Congress would like them to do.
Obama and the NSA are going to have to be careful with these programs. There is no solid proof that any rights are being violated, but as more Americans find out about the government spying on them, the more opposition the government will face. Americans are not going to take the government treading on their rights easy, and this will most likely be a topic on the minds of them as the use of technology becomes more apart of their daily life.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/politics/nsa-fisa-court/
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