Privacy and Security - Essay Example

The leaked documents revealed operational details of a global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA and other members of the Five Eyes alliance, along with numerous commercial and international partners.[3]The public and government officials are divided on the rightness and legality of these programs, but President Barack Obama defends their constitutionality, urgency, and effectiveness as he believes in the tradeoffs between security and privacy. Other commentators claim that privacy should not be traded off in any way for better security.

It is argued that the need for security is not threatening Americans’ right to privacy because the state is balancing them in the best way possible. The need for security is paramount, however, and should override privacy concerns because it only preserves public safety by reasonable authority, surveillance, and approval of Congress, some politicians, and courts. The need for security is not threatening Americans’ right to privacy because the state is doing its best to balance both interests.

First, President Obama himself assured the public that it is not listening into every call that Americans make. Wiretapping and listening to other data can be considered as a “search” that can breach the Fourth Amendment, but this is not what the government is doing. Instead, the government is only studying data trends. Lara Jakes and Darlene Superville report on the specific procedures of the government, clarifying that the program does not include listening into calls, but only monitoring the origin and duration of calls.

This means that the government is not fully breaching privacy rights. The article no longer explained though how data trends and call location can identify suspicious activities. Jakes and Superville add that if there are specific numbers that are perceived as suspicious of terrorist intentions, intelligence officials “must return to court to get approval” before