Security vs. Privacy

With the recent revelation of the American government's extensive surveillance program, I thought about the trade-off between the search for terrorists and our right to privacy. The president once said, "...no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists… We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary" (President Barack Obama, 2007 ). However, he also said, "It's important to understand that you can't have 100 percent security and then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience -- we're going to have to make some choices as a society" (President Barack Obama, 2013).



My initial reaction to this situation was, "One would only object to being monitored if he or she had something to hide." But, then I thought about all the types of calls being made and e-mails being sent and who it is that is monitoring them. It would certainly be OK with me for the government, with a judge's approval, to monitor someone they suspected of terrorism or any other crime for that matter. Beyond that, monitoring all of us might be OK if the ones monitoring didn't know who they were monitoring. But, when a human being listens to our most intimate calls and reads our most private e-mails, and knows who it is that they're listening to, that is unacceptable. People are too susceptible to voyeuristic curiosity and reckless dissemination to be trusted with such a task. While I'm all for finding terrorists, I don't trust that someone isn't going to say about my phone call, "You gotta hear this one!" Worse would be if he followed with, "It's Trent Ruble!"

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" (Pennsylvania Assemblyman Benjamin Franklin, November 1755). Since the government has decided against this advice and is taking some of our freedoms in the name of security, why don't they start with some common-sense profiling (see You CAN Judge a Book by Its Cover) and, by all means, seal the borders.