Running head: MASS SURVEILLANCE ISSUE
Mass Surveillance Issue
Turki Alsowaidi
University Of South Florida
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Mass Surveillance Issue
“Benjamin Franklin,” who was among the United States founders talked of how
individuals are willing to let go of their essential liberty as a reason of acquiring a little safety
that is short-term. As a result, such people did not deserve to get liberty or safety. The
information underwent mentioning in the letter written by Franklin on behalf of Pennsylvania.
Although it gets said of how Benjamin said those words almost two centuries ago, the quote
remains relevant in the contemporary world. The liberty of present day is the veil of privacy.
With the high level of technological growth filled with smartphones, privacy is now more valued
than ever. In the effort of increasing the level of privacy, there are two forces they are working to
oppose each other. The two opposing stakeholders entail the United States’ National Security
Agency and the way they employ the use of surveillance. The other stakeholder is the
organization that is against the NSA on its mass surveillance operations. The universal stand
between the two organs is their concerns over their citizens. However, the fragmental bypasses
created among the two organizations stand to comprise their objectives. The general data cannot
be accessible by any of the two sides.
In an attempt of understanding the current feud among the two bodies, we should first
familiarize with what the firms are, as well as their purpose. The National Security Agency refers
to a section of the US government that got created back in November 4, 1952 (Jacob, 1). The
agency has its specialization in maintaining the safety and security of the USA by the use of
technological advancements as well as protection. The primary goal of National Security Agency
is ensuring safety as well as the security of the nation through the employment of cryptology
("Mission & Strategy"). As a result, they beef up the protection of the country through studying
of computer code and understanding their effects on the systems. The agency’s core beliefs entail
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aspects such as transparency and much more. The NSA’s mission statement holds how the
Agency is on the forefront of various kinds of cryptology which stores multiple data aspects, an
aspect which is advantageous to the USA and her allies ("Mission & Strategy").
On the other hand, the Stand Against Spying agency stands to oppose the activities
carried out by the NSA on various organizations and individuals. Stand Against Spying
underwent forming immediately after Snowden closure ("Where Do Your Representatives Stand
on Illegal Surveillance?"). Snowden is the story that underwent release by Edward Snowden
regarding the National Security Agency operations on its citizens. Edward Snowden sued to be
an NSA contract employee that make discoveries of how the NSA was carrying out mass
surveillance on general citizens, regarding being in involvement with the red-flagged bodies or
no. Later on, he managed to get access on the proof of the NSA operations, releasing his
information to the public. Due to his revelation, Edward is undergoing prosecution by the United
States government. However, Edwards currently seeks asylum with the EU (Edward, 3).
Creation of Stand Against Spying was a step by step move that previously had multiple
firms come up with some anti-spying organizations. Its first activity happened in June 2013
through the coming up of Stop watching us call. It was a website that got formed with the goal of
urging the government to look into the National Security Agency’s unethical operations of mass
surveillance. During the following month, the Electric Frontier Foundation in association with
other various bodies took the US government to court for violating their constitutional
requirements. Later on, Stand Against Spying underwent creation in July of 2014 when the
organizations in question united to finish the illegal mass surveillance operation by the National
Security Agency.
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The primary goal of the Stand Against Spying is to launch fights on the mass surveillance
that is getting carried out in the United States. The agency holds a belief that mass surveillance
has no place in the free and democratic government. According to the organization, mass
surveillance, although it is technically possible, it does not mean that it should get conducted.
Stand Against Spying plays the role of informing individuals about the unlawful surveillance that
is getting carried out ("Where Do Your Representatives Stand on Illegal Surveillance?").
Additionally, it pressurizes people to force the government so that they disband such operations.
Mass Surveillance remains an area of issue among the two opposing organizations. Forts,
the National Security Agency sees its operation as the best solution of dealing with the issue of
insecurity in the US. On the contrary, the Stand Against Spying holds that mass surveillance is
an illegal program. I am of the opinion that though the various organizational operations, this
issue is likely to bring change that will be satisfying to both organizations. Additionally, it
should ensure that none of the agencies can view the other’s data (Ciriani et al., 2). The reason
behind this view is that such forms of data collection are data, and there is a possibility that the
collected information could get used against the citizens instead of protecting them.
I am of the opinion that both organizations come to a common point that will bring
solution to their different ideologies. On one side, the National Security Agency holds that its
fight against the foreign and the domestic enemies is through the prevention. This kind of
prevention comes through the surveillance of its citizens in the effort of identifying possible
terrorist operations of terrorism as well as terminating them before taking place. On the other
hand, Stand Against Spying holds that should not own the capability of carrying out mass
surveillance on its citizens since the act is not only illegal but also unethical.
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The common concern between the two opposing agencies is the safety of their citizens.
The two organizations have a common interest of betterment of their citizens. The NSA’s
primary objective is ensuring the safety and security of American citizens which in my opinion
they attain such objective through various ways they own, although means going against the law.
On the part of the Stand Against Spying, its objective is to fight for the privacy of the American
citizens. It aims to uphold the right of every individual such as exclusive privacy without
encountering any kind of compromising whatsoever.
The development of an information bypass stands as the only solution to this embedding
issue. It can take place by instructing technology organizations to formulate a detour that will
enable the government to have access to individual or group information. However, it should
ensure that none among the two agencies gets hold of the same complete information. In the end,
the NDSA will have no total control of data it is having currently. On the other hand, the Stand
Against Spying will have to abort its mission of having the mass surveillance getting declared
illegal by the US government. Any information deemed to be a splitting aspect among the two
agencies will get intercepted at the bypass point, and ensure that it reaches none of the two sides.
This kind of idea gets deemed feasible since bypass development is unheard of, and has
previously undergone creation (Ciriani et al., 5). As a result, the creation of a particular bypass
should not be a difficult task for technological firms. Regarding the aspect of fragmentation as
well as encryption, the fragmentation technologies are available to enable the efficient analysis
of data.
The proposed solution is amicable for both NSA and the Stand Against Spying agencies.
The proposed solution makes it possible for the NSA to attain crucial data which will enable the
protecting of Americans against any form of insecurity. Vital information bits are of use in
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finding solutions to insecurity without sacrificing the citizens’ privacy. On the other hand, the
approach is also workable for the Stand Against Spying as it prevents the National Security
Agency by encroaching in the rights of the individuals. It is everyone’s wish that both the
National Security Agency and the Stand Against Spying come together to resolve the issue
between them. Lack of this kind form of compromise makes it challenging to provide the needed
type of safety to the citizens.
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References
Ciriani, Valentina, et al. "Combining fragmentation and encryption to protect privacy in data
storage." ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC) 13.3 (2010):
22.
Edward Snowden. n.p.: Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010-, 2010. University of South Florida
Libraries Catalog. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
Franklin, Benjamin. "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Speech to the Pennsylvania Assembly (1755).
Jacob, Leah, MA. "National Security Agency (NSA)." Salem Press Encyclopedia (2016):
Research Starters. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
"Mission & Strategy". Nsa.gov. n.p., 2017. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.
.
"Where Do Your Representatives Stand on Illegal Surveillance?” StandAgainstSpying.org. N.p.,
2017. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. .
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