According to The Washington Post, the "National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI are tapping directly into the
central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting
audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection
logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets." These new revelations came on the heels of a report late last night that the federal government is secretly collecting vast amounts of data from Verizon phone records.
The documents that the Washington Post has received allege that “[c]ollection (occurs) directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers:
Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube,
Apple.” The court approved program is called PRISM.
The NSA and FBI were created to protect our country. I became homeless for a period of time because of the terrorist attacks in New York City on 9/11/2001. I will never forget the American heroism I witnessed from New York's Bravest and Finest that day.
I believe that our government should have the offensive capability to protect our citizens from future terrorist attacks. The alleged breadth and depth of our surveillance capabilities does not surprise me. It is possible that without these programs a dirty bomb may have already been detonated in the middle of a large American city and/or a similar large scale 9/11 style attack may have occurred.
As a society we need to determine how to properly balance the safety of our country with the personal privacy of our citizens because the decisions we make today will determine our future. Are the proper checks and balances in place to ensure that the government does not abuse its power? This question needs to be answered sooner rather than later.
I want future generations to experience life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness without losing their personal privacy.
Copyright 2013 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
