A classic example of a Political Advertisement directed against the NSA
Counterarguments
Before moving on, one must realize that emphasizing the counterarguments of this point of view is a must. Whether it’s through a costly and inconsistent timeline, possible Constitutional infringements, or through just plain vagueness, the NSA is being attacked daily through unfair and false statements.
For instance, any common privacy-phile may argue that the NSA’s costs greatly outweigh its successes, and that it is not ethical to potentially trade millions of peoples’ privacies (and billions of taxpayer money) just to prevent a single attack. The rebuttal to this popular fallacy is obvious yet simple. This question can be reworded into: Would you rather choose millions of dollars/peoples’ information, or millions of innocent peoples’ lives? Choosing not to gather surveillance ultimately results into a weaker security of the nation, and possibly many correlating deaths of innocent civilians.
Moving on, another counterargument that is worth addressing refers to the legality of the surveillance. A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union stated, “FISA…now stand(s) in clear violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment in the view of the ACLU and many others.”(ACLU 3). The Fourth Amendment states that the government may not search or seize a person’s belongings without a general warrant. There is a controversy whether or not this amendment pertains to the NSA. Civil Rights leaders argue that it does refer to the NSA, but in that case, their argument still has many holes in it. The NSA may not have a warrant in collecting intelligence, but it is legally backed up by both the FISA and the USA PATRIOT Act, allowing intelligence gathering to continue.
Lastly, the vagueness of the NSA may intrigue people, and incline them to question whether or not the facts are indeed fiction. They may argue that the NSA only claims that it does not target citizens, but there is no solid evidence to support it; the controversy is very one-sided. As mentioned above, a process called “minimization” greatly reduces the amount of incidental privacy intrusions. By sifting out useless information and focusing on the important ones, the NSA can fully do its job and function properly. Besides, why would the NSA want to waste time when it could be focusing on top threats throughout the world?
For instance, any common privacy-phile may argue that the NSA’s costs greatly outweigh its successes, and that it is not ethical to potentially trade millions of peoples’ privacies (and billions of taxpayer money) just to prevent a single attack. The rebuttal to this popular fallacy is obvious yet simple. This question can be reworded into: Would you rather choose millions of dollars/peoples’ information, or millions of innocent peoples’ lives? Choosing not to gather surveillance ultimately results into a weaker security of the nation, and possibly many correlating deaths of innocent civilians.
Moving on, another counterargument that is worth addressing refers to the legality of the surveillance. A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union stated, “FISA…now stand(s) in clear violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment in the view of the ACLU and many others.”(ACLU 3). The Fourth Amendment states that the government may not search or seize a person’s belongings without a general warrant. There is a controversy whether or not this amendment pertains to the NSA. Civil Rights leaders argue that it does refer to the NSA, but in that case, their argument still has many holes in it. The NSA may not have a warrant in collecting intelligence, but it is legally backed up by both the FISA and the USA PATRIOT Act, allowing intelligence gathering to continue.
Lastly, the vagueness of the NSA may intrigue people, and incline them to question whether or not the facts are indeed fiction. They may argue that the NSA only claims that it does not target citizens, but there is no solid evidence to support it; the controversy is very one-sided. As mentioned above, a process called “minimization” greatly reduces the amount of incidental privacy intrusions. By sifting out useless information and focusing on the important ones, the NSA can fully do its job and function properly. Besides, why would the NSA want to waste time when it could be focusing on top threats throughout the world?