Data Mining!

What is an ethical democratic citizen's response to this question of securtiy vs. civil liberties as adetailed in the program?

"The reality is that privacy has become an illusion". said in the fourth video, "National Security Letters and Data Mining". This is vey true. On the internet, anything you do or submit can be found and it really never goes away. The NSA (National Security Agency) and President George W. Bush are taking advantage of our freedom and privacy and using the internet and phone calls to gather information from United States citizens to keep the country safe from another terrorist attack like 9/11.

A bill in consideration in November would have allowed the nation's intelligence services to "monitor foreign-to-foreign communication involving suspected terrorists" without a search warrant. According to Donald Kerr, who is principal deputy director of national intelligence, "privacy can no longer mean anonymity, instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communtications and financial information".

But the one question you have to ask yourself is, is this right? People who agree with it, argue that it is for the Nation's own good, to keep everybody safe. People who are against this, would argue that it is going against some major rights to privacy. An ethical democratic citizen, i think, would support this idea. They would say that this is about the nation as a whole and not the individuals privacy.

As for me, i think the government is going too far, too soon. If they have a really good idea that someone is a terrorist or a threat, then go ahead, tap their phones and emails and such. But only when you have enough information to almost prove them a thret. So i guess i disafree with this whole thing. I guess i'm just not an "ethical democratic citizen".



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