Government Surveillance Vs Privacy

Superior Essays
Imagine a nation that forced people living here report to it at all times of what they are doing, where they are going, who they are speaking to, and even how they spend their money. Probably no one would want to live in such place where its citizens could not enjoy the freedom and dignity that are constitutive elements of a liberal democracy. Although the U.S. government does not compel its citizens directly to share their private information, it relies on various kinds of surveillance and data mining technology to trace and collect individuals’ information, and then, analyzes and uses them at will, in the name of national security. It seems that the development of technology has expanded the government’s ability to profile any given person under surveillance by gathering and analyzing his/her private data. When some people are worried about if these high-tech surveillances violate an individual’s privacy, defenders of the surveillance typically argue that you do not need to fear if you do nothing wrong. An article “Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide” written by Professor Daniel J. Solove refutes that the issue of privacy affects more than just individuals hiding a wrong. It means that privacy is valuable not just to criminals, but to all of us. Under surveillance, an ever-intrusive eye looks into every personal, private life, as a result, people lose their rights to control their lives. Therefore, I agree with Professor Solove that privacy matters because privacy is a crucial part of human rights, allowing people to be free to live their lives and protecting individuals’ private information from being distorted and secondary use by those in power without their permission. Without privacy, people lose their rights to prevent their lives from being controlled by the authorities. Privacy makes people’s lives free and gives them a powerful feeling that is key to security and satisfaction. With the surveillance technology installed everywhere, the authorities seamlessly deprive of people’s privacy step by step. As Solve explains, individuals’ privacy is vanishing imperceptibly; it is late for people to realize that they lost too much privacy after their lives being controlled by the government for a long time (345). It is more likely that people’s freedom to control their lives are taken over by the authorities. Some people might do not mind whether the government collects their phone numbers and monitors who they contact with. However, one day, they found that they had paused when communicating with others, suddenly remembered that they might be eavesdropped on. Probably it was an online chat, an email, an instant message, or a conversation in a public place. Their topic might be related to terrorism or Iraq. They had to stop immediately and were worried about if their words might be taken out of context, then they continued the conversation but the topic was subtly altered. We can see what happened if the privacy is exposed to the government: people lose their right to make a free talk under the surveillance in their country, and their behaviors have to be changed to conform with government’s value. People, as a society, have right to decide if they want to share or hide something. This …show more content…
It is fair to say that security plays a significant role; sometimes people should sacrifice their personal information for national security. However, rather than a debate regarding privacy and security, “nothing to hide” argument is about a choice between human rights and power. More precisely, if you have nothing to hide, why you are worried about being watched or investigated by others. Here, the main problem with surveillance is not that someone’s privacy is invaded. Instead, government surveillance creates a power imbalance, depriving of human rights. Solove states that the private information collecting programs lack of transparency and accountability (344). The governmental agencies know everything about you; you know nothing about them. They have all the power to collect everything they want; you have no idea how your private information will be processed. It seems that those who have the least power have the least amount of privacy. Thus, privacy matters because it is a way for people to defend their human

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