Hush, keep it down. The government is listening.
It was revealed last week that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone records from millions of Verizon customers.
Then, in a move that shocked many, former NSA employee Edward Snowden publicly identified himself as the source of the leak.
His reason for the leak — so that the American public could be more informed about what is going on in the government — has cast him as a hero in many people’s eyes.
Snowden’s leak revealed an NSA practice that has been legal for over a decade.
While the acquisition of private phone records is justifiable in a court of law, the Daily 49er editorial board is concerned about the lack of transparency the government has provided on this issue.
For better or worse, living in a post-9/11 society has brought an end to much of our personal privacy. Phone calls, as made clear with the NSA case, can be monitored by the government, given sufficient cause.
While the Daily 49er editorial board is split on the issue of wiretapping, we believe that Americans should be more directly informed about whether their calls are being monitored by government officials.
If monitoring phone calls has saved American lives, we want to know.
If sacrificing our personal privacy has saved lives, we need to know.
In 2013, advanced intelligence-gathering techniques, like wiretapping, are needed to gain better information about domestic and global threats. The old-fashioned way of obtaining intelligence is not only inefficient but outdated.
We understand the NSA’s need to collect phone records in order to combat terrorist threats.
Unfortunately, it appears that the NSA’s seizure of phone records has gone too far. Without informing the public about the depth of its search, the NSA is losing much of its credibility.
Regardless of how we feel about the NSA leak, though, we understand that the NSA’s actions are legal.
In the aftermath of 9/11, many in Congress rallied behind the controversial Patriot Act.
We believe the Patriot Act, which allows the government to monitor phone calls in order to gather intelligence, needs to be more clearly defined.
Real change, not finger-pointing, should result from this scandal. We, as Americans, have the right to know — especially if we’re being watched.