Since the invention of the internet in the late 1960s and the cell phone in 1973, cell phones and computers have become increasingly popular, accessible, and advanced. Because of that increase in popularity among the people, the government realized that it needed to create an intelligence organization focused primarily on global monitoring, collection, and processing of data information for counterintelligence and foreign intelligence purposes. This intelligence organization is called the National Security Agency (NSA) and was established in 1972 by President Truman. The NSA had few issues with the American people, up until 2013, when the Guardian newspaper reported that the NSA was collecting the telephone and email records of tens of millions
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On October 26, 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act which granted the NSA total, unsupervised access to all fiber optic communications including emails, text messages, phone calls, and social media (John Oliver). The Bush Administration used the powers set in place by the Patriot Act to overrule the FISA Court, or the three judge panel, and directed the NSA to spy directly on al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups making contact with citizens of the United States, without a search warrant. At the time, this was not known to the public and it didn’t bother anyone. But the NSA rapidly began to shift gears, focusing mostly on surveillance of US citizens, and less on foreign …show more content…
A fight broke out on Capitol Hill and across the nation after Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant at the NSA, leaked vital and top secret documents to the American people through various journalists and newspapers (Freedom). These documents contained information about the abilities of the NSA and what the NSA has covered so far in their programs such as Prism. The agency is supposed to monitor our country, looking for homegrown terrorists and possible terrorist attacks, without majorly breaking our rights of privacy as citizens. But the NSA has crossed the boundaries, going into our phones, emails, and computers, monitoring every page we click on, person we call, and group we contact. That is what Edward Snowden wanted the people to know, that we have rights of privacy and domestic surveillance is a violation of those
On October 26, 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act which granted the NSA total, unsupervised access to all fiber optic communications including emails, text messages, phone calls, and social media (John Oliver). The Bush Administration used the powers set in place by the Patriot Act to overrule the FISA Court, or the three judge panel, and directed the NSA to spy directly on al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups making contact with citizens of the United States, without a search warrant. At the time, this was not known to the public and it didn’t bother anyone. But the NSA rapidly began to shift gears, focusing mostly on surveillance of US citizens, and less on foreign …show more content…
A fight broke out on Capitol Hill and across the nation after Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant at the NSA, leaked vital and top secret documents to the American people through various journalists and newspapers (Freedom). These documents contained information about the abilities of the NSA and what the NSA has covered so far in their programs such as Prism. The agency is supposed to monitor our country, looking for homegrown terrorists and possible terrorist attacks, without majorly breaking our rights of privacy as citizens. But the NSA has crossed the boundaries, going into our phones, emails, and computers, monitoring every page we click on, person we call, and group we contact. That is what Edward Snowden wanted the people to know, that we have rights of privacy and domestic surveillance is a violation of those