Big Brother Is Watching You

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Since SHAMROCK and ECHELON, the amount of surveillance programs in America has only increased and become better at gathering together information. Even outside of these programs there are technological surveillances such as “biometrics, the use of data extracted from the body, such as an iris scan, digital image, or fingerprint; identification (ID) cards with embedded programmable chips (`smart cards'); Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), often enhanced by facial recognition software; and communicational measures, such as wiretaps and other message interception methods including Web-based surveillance” (Lyon). Despite the different means of gathering information, every single mass surveillance has had one common goal: national security. It was only until after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001 when national spying increased. Shortly after the attacks, the US government launched the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program in order to "revolutionize the ability of the United States to detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists" (Rosen). Even with this and many other programs in place to defend a nation’s security, how can we know it is working effectively? According to the NSA, a declassified infographic claims that the mass surveillance programs have stopped 54 acts of terror in total, 13 of which were planned to happen in North America and 25 were planned to happen in Europe, but the evidence backing this up remains to be declassified (“U.S. 'Homeland' Includes Canada And Mexico On NSA Map”). Admittedly, it is practically impossible to stop 100% of terror attacks before they happen, but why did these all-encompassing, all-knowing programs allow the recent attacks in Paris and Belgium to happen? If the NSA has been collecting communications from all over the world in the name of security, why did the 2013 Boston Bombings, 2015 Charleston church massacre, or London 7/7 bombings happen? In the United States alone, there has been 18 acts of terror since the beginning of this decade that these mass surveillance programs and the ones behind them have not been able to prevent.

Though not enough evidence has been released to firmly establish the impact that mass surveillance has, there is enough known about the projects themselves for citizens to be rightfully concerned, and I believe that Banksy wanted to capitalize on this with his work. In the ever-changing world that we live in, I believe that Banksy wanted anyone who views this piece of art to think about and even question the state of the world that we live in. It is because of these secret projects that the line between safety and freedom is blurred, and taking this a step further, must a citizen sacrifice one to guarantee the other? Another question that this piece raises is whether privacy is a human right or a privilege that a nation allows? Most would answer that it is a human right, but does that matter when a government will hover over citizen’s lives regardless? Do our answers to these questions even matter to a government? Most of all, what can be done about these programs? What has been happening with mass surveillance has left many citizens stuck between the idea of safety and the ideas of privacy and freedom. It is up to the individual to decide what is more important to themselves, what to do about that, and the consequences thereof.

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Works Cited

Brown, Alex. "Derivative-Consent Doctrine And Open Windows: A New Method To Consider The Fourth Amendment Implications Of Mass Surveillance Technology." Case Western Reserve Law Review 66.1 (2015): 261-292. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Lyon, David. "Technology Vs 'Terrorism': Circuits Of City Surveillance Since September 11Th." International Journal Of Urban & Regional Research 27.3 (2003): 666-678. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Rosen, Jeffery. "Total Information Awareness." New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2002. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .

Snowden, Edward. "NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I Don't Want to Live in a Society That Does These Sort of Things'" Interview by Glenn Greenwald. www.theguardian.com. N.p., 9 June 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. .

U. S. Constitution. Amend. IV, sec. 1

"U.S. 'Homeland' Includes Canada And Mexico On NSA Map." Huffington Post Canada. Huffington Post, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Art. 11, sec. 1