Tursynai Alikhanova

Big Brother Is Watching You

First of all, government surveillance should be stopped. People have to fight for their rights to be free. According to the Pew Research Center, where Americans were asked about surveillance, national security and privacy, 74% said that there is no need to sacrifice liberties for the sake of safety, while ten years ago the number of people against government invasion was 60%. After Edward Snowden revelations in 2013, the debates against surveillance heated up all over the world. One of the main victories is that U.S government let the Patriot Act expire. “Ending the mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights” (“Edward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance”, 2015). According to the interview given by Mr.Snowden to HBO channel, the mass surveillance has started after terrorist attack in 2001 in New York, however it yet haven’t stopped any single terrorist attack in U.S and the major reason of surveillance nowadays is political stability. Especially in nondemocratic and authoritarian systems. Snowden leaks also impact on American views about anti-terrorism policies. It cannot be justification anymore, 37% of Americans think policies have not gone far enough to adequately protect them, but have gone too far in restricting the average person’s civil liberties (“ Terrorism Worries Little Changed, 2015 ”).