Explanatory synthesis(read the prompt) - Essay Example

The recently proposed or established acts like the Homeland Security Act, the USA Patriot Act, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act etc have initiated hot debate. Many people consider that national security should be placed above privacy of individuals, ignoring the fact that after that America is slowly being converted into a police state. However, civil privacy and personal rights are much more important and the Government must focus on enhancing security without compromising with the privacy of the common man.

The fear of being attacked again, the continuous security breaching threats have put America under immense pressure and made it more vigilant, such that the Government is pulling all stops to convert the country into a total surveillance state. Most state authorities now employ cameras to keep a track of things and snoop on its citizens. I believe that this is in fact not fair at all, because such surveillance cannot only be abused but also can give false results. Christian Parenti in the article DC Virtual Panopticon, discusses on the issue and reveals how the “police in Detroit and DC have used CCTV to stalk personal foes, political opponents and young women” which in itself is a threat to the security of citizens.

Another much publicized electronic surveillance instrument- the facial recognition system is not close to what had been promised. In “trading liberty for Illusion”, Wendy Kaminer informs us that the facial recognition system used “never identified a single individual contained in the department’s database of photographs.” Some may have the opinion that electronic surveillance are an efficient method to keep track of potential threats but time and again the system has failed and the surveillance cameras have been used not for the purpose of security at all.

Another crucial point about such electronic surveillance is that the chances of the camera operators keeping eye on minority civilians only rather than focusing on everyone with equal vigilance is increased. Wendy Kaminer said that it is a true fact that the security officers are bound to  “focus disproportionately on racial minorities or while away the hours peering up women's skirts”. Therefore, it is clear that even though electronic surveillance have been supposedly adopted and installed as a national security measure and keep the citizens from any harm.

Yet, the ways in which the system is being abused by the security officers themselves establishes the fact that such technological measures that have been adopted are in no way enhancing security but are successfully destroying the freedom of the civilians. A similar breach of civilian privacy is the tapping of phone lines. The USA patriot Act brought in the use of wiretap warrants that allowed the USA police to engage in wiretap surveillance against anyone who was under suspicion. Therefore the Government could easily intercept the electronic communication of just about anyone they liked.

Though the electronic Communications Privacy Act was brought into force to safeguard the citizens from such interceptions, the ACT did have loopholes. However, many people like Joshua Quittner, believe that a little loss of privacy is not a high price for security and that most people are too paranoid about their privacy. In the article “Invasion of Privacy”, Joshua Quittner wrote that at first he couldn’t “get worked up about privacy: my right to it; how it's dying; how we're headed for an even more wired, under