In The Wake Of All The Leaks By Edward Snowden

Current statistics show, “the US National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans… on an ‘ongoing daily basis’” (BBC News). They also spy on the internet traffic on the most popular websites such as Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, and YouTube in search of any possible “threats” against the United States. Many people are not only angered because the government can track the nation’s communications, but also because the uses of high-tech surveillance technologies that are owned by the government are not entire known. The NSA uses their surveillance technology to monitor many people’s lives. This surveillance takes away people’s privacy but is necessary in our time because many terrorist organizations
like Al-Qaeda and ISIS threaten the United States. The country needs a way to prevent attacks such as those on the Twin Towers and the Boston Marathon; however, the privacy of many people is invaded. Although it is impossible, the NSA wants to know every potential threat that comes into the United States. What they do not realize is that the biggest threat towards America could potentially be their own creation.
Many recent advancements in surveillance technology allow the NSA to use improved methods of gathering an incredible amount of information. For example, the Department of Homeland Security uses customized drones that identify people who are carrying guns and have cell phones equipped to track criminals’ positions. Steven Kurlander, an attorney in New York, says, “We are in the midst of a new age of privacy deprivation, where it's almost impossible to run away and hide, to gain total solitude, or even attain basic privacy from the outside world.” (Kurlander). Kurlander notices how the amount of privacy Americans have decreases because of the infinitely growing amount of personal information that is being collected on social media and by national security organizations. This is accompanied by a mistrust for the government that brings much controversy into the country.
Gary Schmitt, a writer for the Weekly Standard, says in his article concerning privacy being taken away by the NSA, “In the wake of all the ‘leaks’ by Edward Snowden of the National Security Agency's collection programs and the resulting debate over those programs, one constantly hears from elected officials about the need to strike the right balance between privacy and security.” (Schmitt).
Schmitt sees the need for a balance between national surveillance and personal privacy because much of what the NSA has been doing is exposed by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who faces charges for making “revelations [which] have brought to light a global surveillance system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.” (Washington Post). Because Snowden exposes the secrets the NSA was hiding, he starts the conspiracies of what else the NSA can be hiding. Some fear that the government will give its agencies too much power over their individual rights and that people will not have anything kept private. Recently, the war on terrorism causes the United States to take many precautions with national security. Kurlander says that, “Civil liberties are often suspended or restricted during times of war when national security takes precedence over individual rights.” (Kurlander), but people still want to know the extent to which the government goes to protect the United States. Edward Snowden believes that
“at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents” (Global Research).
At what point will national surveillance begin to be monstrous? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shows that there is a point where technology becomes too advanced and harmful towards humanity through the creation of the "monster" and its effects on Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who is driven by the search for knowledge. The NSA’s surveillance on America’s people can be compared to Frankenstein's search for knowledge because there is no possible way to know everything. Like Frankenstein's expansive research into the natural world, the NSA is trying to find all known and potential "threats" against the United States, which only takes away from our nation’s privacy and adds to the growing mistrust of our government. Frankenstein tells Robert Walton, an explorer, after he is rescued from the cold, "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." (Shelley, 6). In the novel, the quest to gain knowledge is displayed as monstrous in how Frankenstein’s creation is enraged because everyone fears him. When Frankenstein first looks at his creation after it came to life, he thinks, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart,” (Shelley, 39). The creation causes no harm to anyone until disgust, fear, and hatred are shown towards him by Frankenstein. Even though Frankenstein’s goal is to create the monster for scientific research, he never thinks about how terrifying and ugly it actually is. The creation asks Frankenstein when they first speak with one another, “Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” (Shelley, 65). Because the maltreatment he receives from Frankenstein enrages him and makes him dangerous, the methods the government uses for national surveillance could also become dangerous if too many people were to fear them. The expansion of modern surveillance tactics will be feared sometime, and when people actually fear this technology, it will become monstrous.
Shelley’s viewpoint that advances in technology should be mistrusted is still relevant today because people use these new technologies to intrude in the lives of many others.
Kurlander speaks the truth when he says, “We walk Main Streets and drive thoroughfares that are monitored by cameras and speed passes. We work at computer terminals that allow our bosses to monitor our behavior and work productivity, and we use social media and search engines that can track our usage and establish personality profiles to sell and share.” (Kurlander). Today, technology that analyzes and records our personal preferences becomes increasingly popular. For example, Netflix provides suggestions to its users, and Facebook recommends friends that people have in common. Kurlander brings up, “We now also routinely spy on our families and one another too in our homes, businesses, and elsewhere, simply [by] clandestinely hiding spy cameras or affixing and monitoring GPS [global positioning system] monitors to phones, computers, vehicles or possessions.” (Kurlander). New and advanced security systems allow the owners to view footage from their micro-sized cameras. Today, average people are able to spy on each other because this surveillance technology is not only owned by the government but can also be privately
owned.
If technology continues to advance at its current rate, it is possible that its effects may become monstrous. With technology’s rapid advancement, people’s privacy is becoming depleted because modern technologies are made to collect personal information so that they may assist us in our daily lives. Although the NSA uses their surveillance techniques to counteract terrorism inside our country, they are invading our right to privacy and causing fear among many people. Frankenstein’s creation does not become a monster until Frankenstein fears it, so when this intrusion causes fear among people, national surveillance will be called monstrous.