"And I feeeeel like...somebody's watchin' me" by Jake

In recent years, security (surveillance) , as well as technological advancements, have coincided with the protection of human rights. They overlap and, most of the time, oppose each other. Thus, it has become a controversial topic. Instances of one being instigated and the other violated, are immeasurably high. One instance is the growing drone issue. They are easily accessible everywhere you look. They have cameras and can be accessed from up to a couple miles away. The personal drones are getting more advanced every day. This issue is also in the military. Many treaties have been brought up due to the missile-carrying-pilotless aircraft. Since Obama came into office, there were 563 drone strikes in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, according to the Bureau of investigative Journalism. These strikes, as well as dealing with terrorist organizations, also hit schools and communities, ending with an estimated three hundred and eighty-four to eight hundred and four civilian deaths which is “necessary collateral damage”, according to the former POTUS, Barack Obama.

An issue that cannot be overlooked when this subject is brought up, is mass surveillance. The idea of you being watched through the camera on the computer you’re reading this from, is pretty scary. That is the idea behind Mass surveillance. A basic human right is the right to do whatever you want along the lines of legality in privacy, even if it’s just dancing in your living room with grandma on Thanksgiving, because her favorite song came on. Privacy is privilant to freedom. The root of this, lies at the NSA and other intelligence agencies . They have many conspiracies surrounding them, but it is the actual protocol that has people worried. The NSA fails to say they do not survey the American People, according to the ACLU. This causes discourse within the citizens of United States. The possibility of illegal surveillance, brings people to not trust the NSA. 

Another source of uncertainty is WikiLeaks. This is the same group that gave us Hillary’s emails and the name of the Russian hacking groups, during the election, New York Times says. Our government network was infiltrated by Russia, who, in recent years was not the most trustworthy. That is not a good sign, in my own, personal opinion. I believe that our internet should be more free and not controlled and monitored, to the point of me not being able to look up a picture, without them knowing every letter I type. I do not want to be watched through a camera or be stalked by the government.

  

There are many more examples of these human rights violations, but these are some of the most important. The main reason that this is an issue, is that people have to make a choice. You can be illegally watched over by the government of your country and protected by them, or have your unprotected privacy. I’m in favor of the privacy of the people and the fact that, what you want to do in the privacy of your own home,while being totally legal, is up to the you. The government should not have the power to watch over us like an eagle, but instead, stay back and only show up when they are actually needed. In the words of Edward Snowden, “I can't, in good conscience, allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom, and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building”.

Citations

Armstrong, Paul. “Technology Vs. Human - Who Is Going To Win? An Interview With Gerd Leonhard.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 18 Aug. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/paularmstrongtech/2016/08/17/technology-vs-human-who-is-going-to-win-an-interview-with-gerd-leonhard/#5d97b0e49cdb.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/politics/fbi-drones/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/26/mass-surveillance-threat-human-rights-council-europe

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-01-17/obamas-covert-drone-war-in-numbers-ten-times-more-strikes-than-bush

https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/documents-confirm-how-nsas-surveillance-procedures-threaten-americans-privacy

Sanger, David E., and Scott Shane. “Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/us/obama-russia-election-hack.html?rref=collection%2Fnewseventcollection%2Frussian-election-hacking&action=click&contentCollection=politics®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection.