Privacy

Are the above measures remaining in the USA Freedom Act consistent with the value of privacy which many Americans claim to embrace? Address the phone date collection, roving wiretaps and lone wolf surveillance individually. Explain your stance on each issue.

The above measures are very reliable with the value of privacy which many American citizens claim to embrace. This is majorly because, the measures protect the constitutional rights of the citizenns, which allows them the freedom to conduct their affairs digitally. Through the phone network surveillance, the NSA was able to infringe the privacy of the citizens simply because they could not be able to do anything without the NSA knowing. Moreover, the NSA interfered with people’s privacy and they could therefore not be able to communicate at ease because of the fear of being recorded by the NSA (Tavani, 45). Phone data collection was very risky as most people’s confidential information could easily leak, through the NSA surveillance and thus causing a lot of problems. This Act will therefore stop bulk collection of data by NSA thus making it easy for the citizens to be able to conduct their activities freely. The Americans can therefore feel free while using their phones because their rights will be granted. On the other hand, they can also share private information at ease with the fear of being known by the public.

When it comes to roving wiretaps, the freedom Act made it easy for the Americans to be able to maintain their privacy. This is majorly because, one can be able to conduct different activities without the fear of being tracked. Risking the privacy of people in order to safeguard their lives is not safe at all (Tavani, 46). The surveillance systems should therefore come up with ways through which they can be able to combat terrorism other than having to interfere with the privacy of other people. Lone wolf surveillance may not be necessary, because if a suspect is known, then he or she is supposed to be taken to court and charged before the court determines if he or she is actually guilty or not. This will make sure that the suspect does not get away and hence not interfering with one’s privacy even though he or she is not guilty.

Do privacy issues need to be reassessed and possibly recalibrated in light of the ongoing threats from terrorists?

Privacy issues should be reassessed and rectified due to the problems associate with terrorist. This is majorly because, in order for the NSA to be able to deal with terror threats, it will need first to safeguard the lives of the American citizens, before dealing with the terrorists (González, 78). The American citizens’ privacy rights must therefore be granted to them in order to protect their information leaking. The NSA should then look for possible ways of tracking terrorists other than interfering with the privacy of innocent people.

Since terrorists are using electronic means to organize their attacks on America should we allow them protection in order to maintain privacy?

Terrorists should not be allowed protection so as to maintain their privacy simply because, allowing them protection would only lead to serious threats in the country. Terrorists contact details should therefore be screened thus being able to track their movements (Mulvenn & Nugent 67). Moreover, since terrorists use the social media to pass information, their social media accounts should be barred from being accessed by the Americans. This move would therefore see the country living peacefully and free from any terror attacks.

Discuss your opinion of Apple’s stand regarding the court order. Should they decrypt the date in the terrorists phone in order to allow the government the opportunity to find other potential terrorist who were communicating with the San Bernardino couple?

According to my point of view, Apple was right not to decrypt the date in the terrorist’s phone. This is mainly because, apple as a company, should maintain its privacy in order to make sure that its software systems do not get hacked into (Jacob & Timothy, 78). The government should therefore look for alternative ways of obtaining the terrorists information, either by communicating with the service providers in order to obtain such information. Moreover, the government seemed reluctant to look for ways of getting information concerning the terrorist thus it asked apple to decrypt the phone’s date.

Apple would be risking its privacy by decrypting the phone and thus making its services vulnerable to hackers (Jacob & Timothy, 79). Furthermore, the company was not involved in any terror relate issues and thus asking for the decryption of the phone was going against the company’s rights. The company’s rights do not allow it to provide its private information to other parties.

Is there one particular ethical theory from chapter 2 that stands out to you as you answer these questions? Explain.

There is no ethical theory which stands in chapter 2. This is mainly because, judging from my point of view, I think apple did the right thing not to grant the government its private information by decrypting the terrorist’s phone.

To what extent does the following expression, attributed to Benjamin Franklin affect your answer to this question: “They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

In order for a person’s safety to be guaranteed, his or her privacy should not be risked. Benjamin Franklin’s expression clearly explains why one should not allow his private and confidential information to be exposed in order to be secured. This consequently means that, for one to be safe, his private information should remain private and thus create no room for information leakage. The NSA system has major problems and thus they must obtain a person’s private information for them to be able to provide security to the person (Kibert, 46). Hence the NSA cannot provide security to a person because it must fast interfere with his or her private life before finally safeguard his life, and this in other words means that the NSA is going against the rights of the citizens while pretending to safeguard their lives. In order for the NSA to be able to provide security to the Americans’, it needs to first maintain their privacy before moving on to safeguard their lives.

Work Cited

Tavani, Herman T. Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Print.

González, Wenceslao J. New Perspectives on Technology, Values, and Ethics: Theoretical and Practical. , 2015. Internet resource.

Mulvenna, Maurice D, and C D. Nugent. Supporting People with Dementia Using Pervasive Health Technologies. New York: Springer, 2010. Internet resource.

Jacob, Susan, Dawn M. Decker, and Timothy S. Hartshorne. Ethics and Law for School Psychologists. Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley & Sons, 2011. Internet resource.

Chishti, Susanne, and Janos Barberis. The Fintech Book: The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2016. Internet resource.

Kibert, Charles J. Working Toward Sustainability. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012. Print.