BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
what we were doing online, then why
a specific amount of this data before they
would we follow any laws or regulations,
have to delete it. That is why the NSA does
if we were guaranteed privacy, with the
a massive database search for keywords,
government or police not being able to
and then deletes all the other data that
prove or do anything about our actions.
does not contain the relative keywords.
It would inevitably lead to online crime,
Conclusively, your emails to your friends,
downloading pirated content, distributing
your silly posts you post on Facebook, or
child pornography, stolen credit card
even your underage drinking plans with
numbers, and so on.
your buddies aren’t likely to be relevant to national security. Even if your data does
Now, let’s be honest here, we’ve probably
happen to appear on a screen at the NSA,
all heard of, or maybe even participated
they would quickly delete it and move on.
in the common High School shenanigans
Now the US and UK governments were
that go along with growing up. You know
established with citizens privacy in mind,
what I am referring to - that phase when
which is why they are revising these
a teenager wants to rebel against society
programs to greatly restrict their scope of
or push the limits. There are many cases
monitoring. This includes improving how
where high school students communicate
data searching, collecting, and processing
over the Internet for illegal activities like
is handled, in addition to making sure it
dealing drugs or planning to go out for
abides by the US constitution and protects
a few drinks with friends. Nonetheless,
average citizens privacy. For now, the NSA
both of these instances could lead to a big
has the capability to watch your every
problem if the information or proof gets
move on the Internet. So, the next time
into the wrong hands. However, before
you think of doing something you might
you do anything drastic, let me explain to
later regret, remember, Big Brother is
you why a one-time spur of the moment
watching.
decision of yours isn’t likely to find its way onto an NSA agent’s computer screen. According to statisticbrain.com 5 billion Google searches, 400 million tweets, 200 million snapchats, and 144 billion emails are sent per day, and that’s just 3 websites worth of data! This means that it is almost impossible for the US and UK programs to monitor everything that happens on
ILLUSTRATION BY: JENNY KIM
ROAR
the Internet because they can only store
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