As we progress into the digital age, privacy has fast become one of the most challenging rights to maintain. Various methods of social networking allow us to track people in real time, and vice versa. With recent revelations that our federal government has access to very personal information about its citizens through the NSA and metadata mining programs like PRISM, the Obama administration must now make an effort to regain the trust of the American people. Even with recent announcements regarding changes to the program, the question still remains – can the American people ever trust institutions like the NSA again?
Essentially, the effects of Obama’s proposed reforms are extremely limited, due to a variety of reasons. A Pew Research/USA Today poll found that nearly 50% of respondents haven’t heard anything of his proposed changes, and unsurprisingly a majority of respondents still oppose the NSA’s collection program, PRISM.[1] The Obama administration is in a uniquely bad situation with this issue, as it is far from the average American’s top issue. Thus, the attention that the population is paying to the intricacies of the program, and how they are in fact carried out, is minimal. The sound-bite resulting from this scandal, being that “the government is collecting Americans’ phone numbers” has significantly more sticking power.
The fact that most American’s don’t know that most of the data collection capacity the NSA has came from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, both passed before Obama stepped into office, means that there is a serious and widespread lack of information on this issue. Unless they aggressively change the story, we won’t see much difference in public opinion on this topic.
While we definitely do not support the government keeping a database of metadata about Americans, this privacy issue is not something that will go away if we abolish the NSA. In fact, the review of the NSA commissioned by the president found that currently the agency has not accessed the database in any way that has violated the rights of Americans.[2] The real concern, they found, is really about what a corrupt figure in power could do with that information. In that case, the real problem is the private companies that currently stockpile this data and sell it to private companies. If the government was taken out of the situation, metadata concerning the personal lives of most Americans would instead continue to be kept by private companies and sold for multiple uses, namely targeted advertising. While it is important to fix these problems in a way that can balance privacy rights and national security concerns, the privacy question is rather misdirected.
Americans were not the only ones outraged about the federal government’s spying activities. A chorus of voices from the international community has spoken out against these practices. However, the legitimacy of this shock from the international community is questionable. Although international outrage has been noticeable, we have a hard time believing that we are the only ones who spy on other nations, and that other nations have not used our data. In fact, the Five Eyes Alliance – an intelligence sharing agreement between the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada – has existed since the 1940s.[3] It has only transitioned into the digital age. [4]
Again, the problem may not necessarily be that this is all coming to light, but instead the fact that thanks to things like the Five Eyes Alliance, USA PATRIOT Act and FISA, these surveillance tactics are completely consistent with our current laws. As passionate as some legislators seem about reigning in the NSA and PRISM, these things will continue to happen and no substantive progress will take place as long as the language of our major national security laws remain the same. With our Congress experiencing paralyzing levels of gridlock, these crucial changes may not happen for some time.
Shakeir Gregory
Northeastern University College Democrats
[1]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/20/poll-majority-oppose-nsa-obamas-address-had-little-impact/
[2]http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2014/01/obama_s_nsa_reforms_the_president_s_proposals_for_metadata_and_the_fisa.html
[3]http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/2010/ukusa.shtml
[4]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/world/europe/for-western-allies-a-long-history-of-swapping-intelligence.html?_r=2&&gwh=CCD899205B08C002B379C82BBCF45F53&gwt=pay
