12 The Classic September 2013
OPINION
For and Against: NSA Spying I don’t spy a problem Not So Appropriate by Zion Kim
by Igor Portnoi
Photo by Reuters
Let’s face it––nobody is safe on the Internet these days. There are children in Egypt who go to sleep every night listening to the sound of angry protesters and mobs outside their Hackers have gotten more ingenious over the years, and it doesn’t doors, afraid that when they wake up they might find their par- look like that trend will stop. To make things worse, our own ents dragged away by government officials. There are child sol- government has hired these same hackers to snoop through all of diers scattered throughout Africa that wake up every morning not our files and information in a violation of our basic rights. The knowing if it will be their last. These people would give anything National Security Agency, or NSA for short, has been monitoring to know that they will be safe. And what life-threatening situation Internet traffic not only in America but in many nations around the world since around 2005. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they do we Americans face? People reading our emails. In 2001, President Bush issued a presidential order that au- also have phone records from nearly everyone in the country. thorized the National Security Administration to conduct war- This issue has gone unnoticed for too long, and I believe now is the time to draw the red line and rantless electronic surveillance of preserve our privacy. any American citizen’s telephone Edward Snowden, a forand Internet communications in an mer NSA employee, revealed attempt to counter the threat of terto The Guardian, a British rorism. This has raised controversy newspaper, that the U.S. had among Americans who claim that a secret surveillance system their privacy is being violated. But called PRISM set up to monijust how important is privacy when tor all communications in the it comes at the cost of our security U.S. and around the world. and protection? Snowden even had thousands Psychologist Abraham Maslow of files pertaining to what inhas observed that people have five formation the NSA held. As sets of needs that must be fulfilled the news leaked out, Snowden in a particular order to achieve the quickly fled to Hong Kong and level of comfort in life that huwas later granted asylum in mans naturally strive for. AccordThe NSA Headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland Russia. The U.S. reacted forceing to Maslow’s social hierarchy of needs, the second level is a sense of security and protection. fully and demanded the return of Snowden to the U.S., which Without a sense of security, we forfeit a basic need: to feel safe Russia was unwilling to do. Why go to such great lengths to and secure. Safety is the intent of the National Security Admin- catch someone whose crime is revealing the truth to the public? In the book 1984 by George Orwell, “Big Brother” is menistration, and our safety is the very reason President Bush gave the NSA his consent to freely investigate any American citizen’s tioned quite frequently as the ruler of a totalitarian state who electronic communication lines––to shield us from the incessant, spies on every single action. This is exactly how we can describe the actions of the NSA. America is supposed to be the land of the ever-present threat of terrorism that looms over our lives. The ugly truth is that we are not safe from our fellow Ameri- free, not the land of the watched. It would be fine if the government was actually spying on can citizens. The suspects of the Boston Marathon bombings of April 2013, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were brothers who the criminals and terrorists, but that is not the case. Thousands of immigrated to the United States as refugees in 2002. Dzhokhar reports have been filed about how the NSA targeted law abiding became a naturalized American citizen on September 11, 2012. citizens. Facebook and Google are two of the companies that Who would have suspected that an American citizen would at- have released transparency reports on the user information they tempt something so tragic in the land of their own citizenship? give up and how many requests were filed by countries. The U.S. According to Eli Lake, senior national-security correspondent for had an astonishing 11,000-12,000 requests to Facebook authoriNewsweek and The Daily Beast, the majority of convicted terror- ties in the last year, 79% of which were fulfilled. If that is not bad ists in the United States are American citizens. If we are not even enough, only a dozen or so terrorist attacks have been averted safe from our fellow Americans, can we really complain about by the NSA (numbers differ from 1 to 54). How can you justify the potential violation of our privacy by measures that are taken the use of private information from over 10,000 people when the results are minimal? The Boston bombings are one example of to protect our lives? The NSA has a responsibility to protect the lives of the Amer- such failure. It seems that while the NSA was going through milican people. Isn’t it only reasonable that we support everything lions of our personal files, they failed to notice the actions of the done to ensure that we can live our lives knowing that we are safe suspects from Chechnya, which were, according to the governand secure? Events of the past have proved that no amount of pre- ment, under surveillance for suspicious activity. It’s a shame to cautions taken are ever enough to guarantee our safety. With this know that the NSA was probably snooping through some random in mind, isn’t it in our best interest to support security measures posts on Facebook rather than attempting to catch terrorists. Do we really have to deal with a government that feels as whenever possible? Is our privacy really more important than our lives? The fact that Americans complain about the NSA having if spying on law abiding citizens is the right thing to do? The too much access to information about their lives reveals that we answer is no. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “When the people prioritize our privacy over our safety. It seems that we would rath- fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” er suffer terrorist attacks than have people read our emails.
THHS Voices Community members share opinions on the NSA’s spying scandal.
“I understand that they had the “safety of the United States” as their priority but there are boundaries that they crossed which should not have been crossed.” --Junwoo Shin, junior
“I honestly don’t think it matters. Hackers do it all the time. People shouldn’t be mad because it doesn’t impact their lives.” --Ross Bonete, sophomore
“I don’t have anything illegal to hide so it doesn’t have a big impact on me. Although I don’t agree with the invasion of privacy, I understand why it would come in handy.” --Casey Ramos, freshman
“I don’t really care because I feel it doesn’t really affect me that much. This spying has a higher purpose than regular civilians.” --Emma Noblesala, junior
From the News Section:
THHS teacher receives prestigious honor
continued from page 3 Both are experts on Dante, and Ms. Wallace had nothing but praise for their work and guidance. The students in the program were a mix of music, art, English, and history teachers. Ms. Wallace believes that they each gave and received better perspectives about Dante when they pooled their knowledge together. For instance, the art teachers shed light on the work’s artistic background while the history teachers gave insights on its history. The daily routine consisted of classes starting at nine in the morning and lasting three to six hours. The group would also travel to nearby cities that were pertinent to Dante’s life. “After travelling, I would stay up until midnight doing a lot of reading and taking notes for my classes,” she recalled. Ms. Wallace had to submit an essay and recommendations to apply for the program, and she believes the trips she organized for THHS during her twenty-four years at the school enhanced her application to the program. When asked about what she took away from her trip, she said, “I learned a lot about Florentine history and Medieval Art. I fell in love with Italy, its history, and its culture. It was truly a life-changing experience.” Ms. Wallace, who felt that the trip was “refreshing to the soul and the spirit,” encourages students to “be open to new experiences that might seem daunting at first.”
“I think it’s an intrusion on my privacy and that it’s foolish for the NSA to waste resources on everyone in the nation.” --Jordan Brandwein, senior Photography by Vincent Chu and Zach Ooi. Quotations compiled by Vincent Chu and Zach Ooi