"Give Me Freedom or Give Me Death" - Too Literal a Saying

Cheyne Fujimoto
ASA 2 Blog 6

Two of the articles this week highlighted supposed "problems" within the US government as domestic surveillance becomes more prevalent. I see this issue very closely related to the development of information technology; the fact that the anti-surveillance article failed to adequately touch on the development of technology was particularly disappointing. Though this is clearly a matter of personal privacy, it cannot be expected that there be no government presence on the internet. One might equate this to police officers patrolling the streets and surveying crowds to see if crime is occurring. To counteract the idea of foreigners being unfairly singled out, the government should deploy more resources so people can be observed equally. People view online activities such as web browsing, communications, and bank transactions to be private affairs, but in an increasingly connected world this is becoming less and less true. The cost of hacking a male's webcam can be as low as a few dollars (for perverse reasons, the cost of hacking a female's webcam is higher). Ultimately, it is on the basis of what we perceive as being information we feel is worth not being exclusively private that should not go on the internet or through other communications in order to protect ourselves from a threat, whether we believe that threat to be the government or cybercriminals.

If the government has a hands-off approach, the corporations that run internet service providers will have that information anyway, as will the unbridled hackers (that may include both physical and cyber-terrorists) that litter the internet. I am willing to sacrifice my internet privacy to the government in exchange for the prevention of potential acts of terrorism; it is better to be more exposed to "Big Brother" than risk the death of tens of thousands so my selfies aren't exposed to the CIA.

Question: How can the US adapt appropriately to electronic threats in an increasingly digital world?

The image above is a parody of the very real free terrorist or other illicit communications that could occur, allowing much more devastating attacks on the United States.