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Maryanne Martini

Padgett
English 102
March 24, 2016
Privacy in the Twenty-First Century
Inquiry: Should the Federal Government be more concerned over the privacy of American
citizens or should our privacy be taken away to ensure the safety of the country as a
whole?
Proposed thesis: In todays digital age, the privacy of United States citizens should be a larger
factor than the federal governments surveillance of data.
"EDITORIAL - Apple vs. the FBI." Record-Journal (Meriden, CT) 29 Feb. 2016, Main: A04.
NewsBank.
The central claim in this article written by a writer from the Record-Journal, is about the
aftermath of the Edward Snowden leaks that have changed the way that Americans look
at the government. Before the Snowden leaks American citizens had no idea they were
being spied on by the government from their cell phones. The writer analyzes how since
Americans have received this unsettling news that people have become less trustful of the
government and their true agenda. The writer discusses the argument between Apple and
the FBI that is about unlocking an iPhone of a terrorist after Apple changed their security
systems and saw the NSAs spying, in the writers words, as a marketing opportunity.
This change in the system that protects the security of every person with an iPhone made
it nearly impossible for hackers and the FBI to get into the updated iPhones. The writer
then discusses how Apple has refused court orders to unlock the iPhone because Apple

is fighting to protect the civil liberties of its customers. The writer makes sound
arguments about how new legislation is needed to clarify this murky area that is
brought upon by the twenty-first century. This source is a recently written article in a
Connecticut town newspaper. I found this source from the NewsBank database after
researching articles about national security limits.
Policinski, Gene. "Where are privacy, national security limits in new Digital Age?." Hays Daily
News, The (KS) 28 Feb. 2016, A: 04. NewsBank.
In this news article by Gene Policinski in the Hays Daily News, the argument is about
how the main values in the First Amendment are at stake in this new digital age that is the
twenty-first century. The main example in the case is about Apple versus the FBI in
which the writer says is the first step in figuring out where new boundaries that protect
core freedoms will exist in a wireless, digital age. Policinski argues about government
control and how while this case might pertain to terrorism there have been instances in
the past where the government has abused its power for no reason. He is referring to the
Edward Snowden leaks that have started the controversy on how far the government
should be able to go in a digital age where every move can be tracked. The government
should not be able to access every person who has a piece of technologys information
and there should be laws that directly address this issue. This source came straight from
the NewsBank database that is found on the librarys website. The article also cites many
court cases through the years that have battled with freedom of speech directed towards
computers and scripts and laws that have been taken to the Supreme Court.
Chideya, Farai. "The Big Issues Of The 2016 Campaign." FiveThirtyEight. N.p., 19 Nov. 2015.
Chideya argues in this article about how there are many differing opinions in the
upcoming presidential election over Privacy and Data Security and how it should be

handled. This article comes from a longer article about other problems that have been a
big debate such as education and healthcare. The article explains the relationship between
the intrusion of privacy of cellphone metadata and the Patriot Act. The article also
discusses what has happened since Edward Snowden released the classified information
from the surveillance program. The U.S. Senate has passed the Cybersecurity Sharing Act
which the writer shows disapproval of because it did not solve any of the trust problems
that the American citizens now have with the government. The writers use of quoting
political power figures creates a broad sense of opinions and adds to the depth of the
article. The article is from a news website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics,
and economics which is a good source when looking for different views of a topic.
Vogue, Ariane De. "Court Rules NSA Program Illegal." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d.
The source comes straight from the news website CNN that is owned by the Turner
Broadcasting System and known for its twenty-four-hour news channel and website. This
article was written on May 7, 2015 after a federal appeals court ruled that the telephone
metadata collection program is illegal under the Patriot Act. The writer writes briefly, as
it is a news article, about the back story of when the metadata collection program was
started after the September 11th attacks on the United States. The writer, Ariane Vogue,
writes that the Court did not address the larger question of whether the program is
constitutional. This argument is backed up when Vogue explains the long-secret phone
program citing the official court documents that explained what the program entailed.
While this phone program was reportedly only used for counter-terrorism investigation
one might be concerned over the fact that the government can see who American citizens
are calling, the length of the call, and the person who originated the call. This is a trusted

source because it comes from a news website that is trusted and Vogue writes many news
articles that are associated with politics and the government.
Perez, Evan, and Tim Hume. "Apple Opposes Order to Hack Gunman's Phone." CNN. Cable
News Network, n.d.
The source comes from a news article that I found off of CNN which is a website with a
twenty-four-hour news cycle so the article has been updated twice since it was first
published. It was first published on February 18, 2016 after Apple opposed a judges
order to help the FBI break into the iPhone of a suspected terrorist from the San
Bernardino, California attacks. There are two writers because Evan Perez wrote the initial
article and Tim Hume wrote the updated version of the article. This is common for a news
website like CNN for there to be two writers because it is such a big corporation. The
writer cited Apples CEO, Tim Cook, about his reasoning against complying with the
court orders to unlock the iPhone of the reported terrorist. The writer is reporting on facts
leaving out bias on the subject, but for a research paper facts are the best kind of
argument so it is a helpful source. The most important part of this article for my research
paper is when the writer discusses that the reason Apple is not helping the government is
because it will open a back door to getting information off of anyone who has an
iPhone. The code that Apple would have to create could get in the wrong hands of a
hacker or another terrorist that could be far worse than not knowing what is on one
suspected terrorists iPhone. This source is reporting to the people who would be effected
by this back door way of handling breaking into an iPhone.
Bagley, Andrew William. "Don't Be Evil: The Fourth Amendment in the Age of Google, National
Security, and Digital Papers and Effects." Albany Law Journal of Science & Technology
21.1 (2011): 153-192.

This source comes from the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology and this
particular writer is Andrew Bagley. I researched the Journal and it is well known and a
writer who is published in it is a well-certified writer. Bagley discusses the Fourth
Amendment law and how concepts of the law have different expectations of online
privacy. While this is a broad statement, the writer focuses in on the legal issues that have
arisen following the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program. The writer also discusses
Congress push to change the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that needs to be
updated in this new digital age. I think that this source is interesting because the writer is
interested in the third party online privacy service providers that companies like
Facebook and iTunes use. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act needs to be
updated because companies like Facebook and iTunes need specific guidelines to follow
when making these privacy agreements. The article cites many news websites that
reported on the topics and books that are focused on the law around the Fourth
Amendment and public-private companies.

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