English 1 Assignment:

Mario Rivas

Professor Rowley

English 1

28 May 2015

Concern over Citizen Privacy

Because of the recent Edward Snowden leaks detailing how the government spies on the US using the NSA, citizens have concerns about wether or not a citizens information is private or not anymore. Our smartphones have developed the capabilities to track all and record all of our data, wether it’s location data, or who we have recently contacted over the phone. Citizen privacy is becoming more and more transparent due to government agencies illegally spying on US citizens without their consent. Laura Poitras’ documentary “Citizen Four” offers actual footage of Edward Snowden confirming the fact that the NSA uses wiretapping techniques to illegally spy on US citizens. Major telecommunication carriers, like AT&T and Verizon, allow the NSA to intercept their customers phone calls and their internet communications. Admittedly, these spying practices do not negatively affect the common citizen, but allowing the government to use the NSA to spy on American citizens gives the government access to too much power.