Topic > The legality of the NSA - 1052

After the revelations Edward Snowden turned a critical eye on the NSA many people questioned the legality of the acts. The NSA claimed that their work was legal and had prevented many terrorist plots. However, evidence of only four plots was found. Even though the acts were based on the law, they still angered a large number of citizens. Many citizens do not care whether spying is legal, believing it is morally wrong. Government surveillance organizations have become extremely powerful and are able to access large amounts of personal information; these capabilities intrude into citizens' private lives and must be limited. The NSA collects information in various ways. Some information is captured during transmission and then decrypted. Most decryption is not done with methods used in warfare, but the NSA instead undermined cryptographic standards and then used weaknesses it had implanted in the standards to decrypt intercepted information. Aside from interceptions of transmissions, some information is taken directly from company servers. The first revelation dates back to June 2013, when it was discovered that Verizon had provided the database of all its calls to the US government. However, this information was not made unknowingly as Verizon was fully aware of their decision. Many other companies knew that information was being taken, but had no choice in the matter as a secret court was issuing orders to reveal information without the use of a proper warrant. Both companies were forced to comply and keep secret the fact that this information had been disclosed to the company's customers. In addition to taking information through court orders, the NSA also took information directly from the businesses... means of paper... searched, and from the persons or things to be seized." Therefore, a warrant cannot be issued on a location or a general population. Examples of this are neighborhoods, a person and their friends, people who are in a building, or people who have used a service. Of course, legal or not, the NSA is unlikely to stop spying, and if it does there will always be some organization dedicated to spying on people, be it a government agency or non-government information thieves. A change in law, while unlikely, will stop a single government. Any other sovereign government can easily do what the NSA did for its own gain and cannot be forced to comply with another country's laws What can be done to prevent privacy incursions is, instead of blocking a government with a change in law, modify the security measures used by companies that store the information.