Welcome to the Information Age, where information is a click away, technology conquers our lives, and news spreads like wildfire. In this era, all of our data is collected and catalogued. All of our visited web pages, online pictures, emails, and other online activities are tracked and imprinted onto our digital footprint. Does it sound mysterious, ominous, and even scary? Now, we can put a name to the man behind the curtain (at least, for those residing in or holding citizenship with the USA): the NSA.
Here are the facts (for those who don’t regularly follow the news): In May 2013, US former technical contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of the US government using a top-secret mass surveillance program called the National Security Agency (NSA). This system allowed the government to track not only the online presence, but also the phone calls of all American citizens as a method to protect American citizens from the threat of terrorism. It is rumored the NSA is also tapping into China mobile carriers, but there has been no concrete evidence so far. The leaked information about this program caused massive controversy and uproar about human rights and privacy in places scattered across the globe.
The nature of this event naturally led to a polarization of opinion on Snowden (the whistleblower) and ultimately, the division of people for and against NSA.
Although this new issue of "privacy invasion" is unsettling, the way in which the public reacted is also somewhat ironic. People are at ease with being felt down at the airport for terrorist safety precautions, yet they are infuriated when they learn that the government has been tracking their phone calls and online presence for the same purpose. Perhaps the pinpointed event of 9/11 has caused people to be more acutely conscious of the dangers of potential airplane hijacks.
However, few people know that because of the intact NSA system, more than 50 terrorist attempts were foiled. There’s no doubting the benefits ofthe NSA – it provides an underground route of overseeing terrorist communications and signal intelligence that gives the government an amount of leverage. Without this form of monitoring, the US government ishelpless in detecting terrorist movements, forced to resort to unreliable methods such as interrogation and infiltration.
Still, the flaws of this system cannot be overlooked. NSA appears to be another active step towards the Orwellian future of non-privacy. Every transaction we make is potentially documented without our knowledge. The whole thing is still a mystery. It doesn’t help that the US government didn’t disclose any information about the NSA to its citizens. It doesn’t help that the US started a wild goose chase for Snowden. It doesn’t help that this event caused a majority of US citizens to feel violated and insecure. This blind-siding hurt the trust and credibility (or what’s left of it) that the citizens had for their government.
Now here comes the big question: How big of an impact does this have on us? Quite frankly, it’s not a big deal. As individuals, we can now go about our days with a conscious awareness of Big Brother watching over us. Most content of phone calls and emails is untouched – simply because the majority of your information is not very interesting. Bottom line is, as long as you’re not involved with any suspicious terrorist-related actions, then your life should go about unharmed.
So welcome to the Information Age, and we hope you enjoy your stay.
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2013 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Becky Yin, a student at the International School of Beijing.
About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.
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