The NSA Trade-Off
So we’ve all heard about the numerous leaks of information lately regarding the government keeping a watchful eye on us. The NSA and agencies like it seem to be having some trouble keeping their spying efforts secret these days and it’s got a lot of people talking. Many people feel as though their right to privacy and all sorts of other freedoms are being violated, while others, be they fewer, think these efforts are essential in keeping us safe from potential terrorist attacks. Either way, I’m sure everyone can agree on one simple fact: it’s costing a lot of money.
How is the NSA intercepting emails, text messages, social media messages, and phone calls supposed to keep us safe? Well, whether or not you agree, their reasoning is pretty simple – if people are communicating to plan a terrorist attack via any of these mediums, and the NSA can intercept their communiqué before said attack is meant to take place, they can put a stop to it and potentially save innocent lives. Simple idea, right? Only problem is that the NSA doesn’t know who is a terrorist or a criminal and who isn’t, hence spying on people to begin with. So they have to do things like screen messages, scan phone calls, and utilize other controversial and borderline-illegal methods to find the right people to keep tabs on, and that idea upsets most Americans.
Okay, so now that we’ve gone over all the common-knowledge stuff, what’s the trade? Well, it starts with a personal stance on the whole issue. I personally don’t care if the NSA is watching me. I don’t care if a computer scans one out of every thousand texts I send, I don’t care if every time I use certain keywords during a phone call my line is monitored for a few seconds to make sure I’m not plotting anything, and I don’t even care if a spy satellite sees me in the shower every now and then. I don’t care because I have nothing to hide. My sense of privacy isn’t so delicate either that the idea of someone overhearing an intimate conversation or reading a dirty text is going to send me into a full-blown fit. Also, even if someone is nervous about the feds seeing a nude pic they’re sexting to their mistress, how often do you think an NSA agent is sitting at his or her desk personally sifting through billions of communications, only to come coincidentally across a 1080p image of the sexter’s wang and yell for his or her NSA buddies to come and check it out so they can laugh at the wang’s expense? The notion is just ludicrous and the insecurity childish. Not to mention, with the way society is headed with social media, people are pretty much already exposing their naked bodies and darkest secrets to the public every time they log on.
So this trade I’m supposed to be getting to? Well think about this – the NSA and other spy agencies are funded by whom? The US government, mainly. And from where does the government get its money with which to pay for this spying? The taxpayers. So essentially Americans work and pay through their noses in taxes to have their private lives intruded into by the government. Well what if some of us would like to opt out of that program? I’d personally be willing to turn over telephone records, text messages, and whatever other correspondence the NSA would be interested in for the money back that it would cost for them to retrieve the information their way. Going under the radar and spying on people isn’t cheap; you need manpower, computers, internet, networking, system maintenance, satellites, and all kinds of other mumbo jumbo. However much it’d cost the government to have a single person monitored for the rest of their life, even if it’s not much money, would be nice to get back, wouldn’t it? Sure, seeing as they don’t assign agents to everyday, individual people the cost might not be so much. But get a city willing to come together on giving up some information, proving they aren’t terrorists, and it could take a pretty big chunk out of surveillance costs. The money saved could then be split up between everyone in the city or put towards citywide programs from which the citizens could benefit. The efforts would still be utilized and effective, but they’d be lesser in depth and obvious criminals wouldn’t be exempt because there’s no way they’d incriminate themselves by turning in conversations about dealing drugs or building bombs. And, over time, if enough cities, states, and regions decided to volunteer harmless information, maybe all of the money saved could be put towards big things that could really help a lot of people, like free or ultra-affordable healthcare, affordable education, lower interest rates, and so on. I don’t know about anyone else, but if I had the opportunity to receive any one of those things at the meager cost of the NSA seeing me on the toilet, I’d go for it in a heartbeat.
I’m sure all of that sounds like a pretty big long-shot, and it’d require not only a huge change of heart in the American public but also one in the federal government, causing them to be fair for once and actually give something back to the people. But it’s pretty interesting to ponder, isn’t it? And that’s what I generally aim to do – make people think; keep the neurons firing.
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