Government and Privacy 1

Ethan Fridley
Professor Bruce
English 301
March 16, 2017
Annotated Bibliography MLA
Working Title:
Government and Privacy
Working Research Question:

National government bodies, such as the NSA, gather extensive information on its

people by documenting e-mail and calls. While this information can further

protection from foreign threats, it is often cited as a breach of privacy. Should such

mass documentation of personal communication by national government bodies be

legal?

Working Thesis:

Despite possible threats to national security, the mass documentation of personal

communication by national government bodies should not be legal because it is an

unconstitutional breach of power that can and will result in malpractice, thus

outweighing the possible threat to national security.

Introduction:

In early June in 2013, Edward Joseph Snowden leaked nine-thousand documents to

The Guardian as well as The Washington Post, inciting an international incident that

exposed the NSA and the American government for conducting programs that

secretly documented millions of citizens emails and cellphone calls. As a result, a

global controversy over government surveillance erupted, one side supporting the

government in its attempts to protect national security and the other accusing the

NSA of a breach of privacy. Those in favor of surveillance place a heavy emphasis on

 Government and Privacy 2

the fifty international terrorist plots prevented as well as the hundreds that are to

come (Nelson, 2013). However, evidence displaying faulty statistics regarding the

prevented terrorist plots as well as several cases of misuse by government officials

causes millions of Americans to fear for their safety under the perceived

unconstitutional power. Since the clash of these two valid arguments, the

constitutionality of total government surveillance has been in question. Despite

possible threats to national security, the mass documentation of personal

communication by national government bodies should not be legal because it is an

unconstitutional breach of power that can and will result in malpractice, thus

outweighing the chances of a catastrophic event.

Annotations:

Board, T. (2017). Mass Surveillance Isnt the Answer to Fighting

Terrorism. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 12 March 2017, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/opinion/mass-surveillance-isnt-the-

answer-to-fighting-terrorism.html

Mass surveillance by government has been proven ineffective at preventing terrorist

attacks specifically in the coordinated Paris attacks of 2015.

This article explains how the government surveillance was unable to prevent the

known extremists from committing the attack and quotes French counterterrorism

experts supporting this claim. I will use the specific example as a counter to the

claim that government surveillance is effective at preventing terrorist attacks.

 Government and Privacy 3

C. (2013, September 27). NSA workers spied on their own spouses. Retrieved March

12, 2017, from

http://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/27/nsa-watchdog-details-surveillance-

misuse.html

Multiple instances of abuse of government surveillance have been cited and gone

unpunished.

This article gives specific details and numerical statistics to the number of cases of

abuse that have occurred through the use of government surveillance. It cites 14

specific cases in which information has been used for personal use. These describes

how several innocent civilians have been spied on and how the perpetrators went

unpunished. I will use this evidence to create an appeal to emotion through fear of

own personal privacy breach.

Kennedy, S. (2017). Excessive federal surveillance an abuse of power. Rocky

Mountain Collegian. Retrieved 12 March 2017, from

https://collegian.com/2015/04/excessive-federal-surveillance-an-abuse-of-

power/

The use of government surveillance should be illegal because it does not abide by

the consent of the governed who have unalienable rights, namely privacy.

This article attacks government surveillance from an ethical standpoint. It also cites

that the act of government surveillance is a basic breach of the 4 th Amendment. In

addition, it explains how government surveillance debases innocent civilians to the

 Government and Privacy 4

level of criminals as it breaches their right to privacy. I will incorporate these

arguments into an ethical argument criminalizing government surveillance.

Nelson, S. (2017). NSA Director: Surveillance Stopped 50 Terror Plots. USA News.

Retrieved 12 March 2017, from

https://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/06/18/nsa-director-

surveillance-stopped-50-terror-plots

NSA Director cites that the NSA surveillance program had stopped 50 terror plots

including some on an international level.

This article describes one of the major arguments promoting the use of government

surveillance. It gives a detailed statistic as well as specific cases of terrorism that

were prevented as a result of the NSA program. However, I will use the information

in this article to create a counterargument against government surveillance citing

contradictory information that debunks a lot of what the article states.