citizens have been oblivious of the government’s use of electronic surveillance to monitor their private information for years. The use of electronic surveillance in the manner of wire tapping and eavesdropping has enabled the U.S. government to apprehend criminals for quite some time now (Landau 301). Despite worries from the public, the government did not relent. As the concern for the privacy of personal information grew, classified information under the care of NSA was leaked in 2013. This information revealed that innocent people numbering millions had been put under surveillance illegally by the NSA. In further pursuit of people’s private information, the NSA has moved from cameras and phone conversations to surveillance via the internet. With the current generation being driven by technology and connectivity via the World Wide Web, this basically means that personal information can no longer be considered personal. No one can consider themselves free from the eyes of the government. The NSA defends its act of surveillance as being beneficial to national security. It sees it as a critical weapon against crime and terrorism. Nevertheless, the surveillance is targeted at everyone, criminal and innocent alike, thereby putting the innocent ones at …show more content…
It should be accountable and transparent to its citizens in every way possible (Shamsi and Abdo n.p). As much as the use of electronic surveillance has proved to be negative, it has also been quite helpful. As such, it would be appropriate for the government to find a way to make the use of surveillance be of more impact towards catching criminals and stopping terror attacks than risking or destroying the lives of innocent citizens. One way of achieving this would be to direct surveillance specifically to known criminals or individuals with proven records of misconduct. The government should also limit its surveillance to guidelines within the law. Such laws that pertain to restrictions of overboard surveillance by the government need to be amended by congress. Congress should further make certain that the executive branch operates within the limits of those laws to impact change. The executive branch in turn should make sure that law enforcement agencies only conducted surveillance with probable cause. They should also make sure that the intelligence agency are set fully guarantee the protection of the civil liberty and privacy of Americans. Ultimately a system of checks and balances that guarantees accountability and transparency is the way forward to ensuring that crime is fought and citizens are protected at the same