Cesiah Prado Dr.

Adomou Period 4 Persuasive Essay As soon as we reach the years of pre adolescence, the most sacred thing to us is our privacy. When we get older, privacy seems harder to obtain. Everyone seems to know every fact about us. In the era we live in today, privacy could soon be the one hit wonder song we loved many years ago. The FBI is one of the reasons why we might have to say good-bye to privacy. They are demanding access to our private information in order to prevent any threats to our nation. Some people will argue that giving up a few privacy rights is a small cost for making sure that our country is safe. However, we should not be so quick to give up our privacy rights in the name of national security because it makes it simple for the government to intrude and abuse their power as they strip citizens of rights for reasons that may not be justified. The intension of the United States is not to control our thoughts, but people will not feel comfortable with the FBI having access to their private information because they will feel paranoid of being accused with a crime. In his Washington Post article, Barton Gellman revealed an internal National Security Agency audit that identified 2,776 incidents of broken privacy rules from April 2011 to March 2012 that involved unauthorized surveillance of Americans. To avoid those types of violations, President James Madison introduced the fourth amendment in 1789 which prohibits searches and seizures without a court order. This amendment was one of the first privacy rights we were given. Even if the government has suspicion of a terrorist plot, they cannot violate their own law that they created and enforced on us because the fourth amendment will always be there to protect us from unreasonable searches and seizures from state or federal law enforcement authorities.

There is no reason to give the FBI access to citizens private information upon suspicion of a terrorist threat if an Act of Congress has already been signed into law by the President of the United States. In her CNN article, Rebecca MacKinnon discusses the USA PATRIOT Act that was passed on October 23, 2001 by President George W. Bush after 9/11. The act allows the FBI to have roving wiretaps, searches of business records and conducting surveillance of individuals suspected of terrorism granted they have a warrant. The idea of having information on the citizens isnt necessary when an act of congress already allows them to investigate a situation if they believe there are any threats. They are being unfair in demanding more power because citizens will start to see that they are abusing the power that the government has allowed them to have. Insisting for more unnecessary information will completely shatter the privacy we have left. Those who agree with giving the FBI access to their private information might say, Go ahead and look, Ive got nothing to hide. However, everyone is guilty of something and some would prefer for the public not to know certain things about them. These people need to understand that allowing them to obtain their information means that the FBI will know every single thing they have seen, said, and done. They will probably know about the time that you broke your mothers expensive perfume, of course the government will not care about that if they are investigating you for a crime. Although they will know about the phone calls and emails you have sent, that could or could not be misleading. The point is that a person would not completely share their things with the world because if they were asked, they would think twice about having nothing to hide. Privacy laws exist to protect us from intrusion. We can always voluntarily give up our information because after all, that is part of our privacy rights. Although, it is not wise to give up

our right to keep information to ourselves. With existing privacy rights, the government has already violated these laws in order to protect us. Taking away those laws would mean no pin number for your debit card or password for your personal accounts, which would make it easier for hackers to get your personal data. In times of chaos, we might be asked to give up our phone records, bank records, and then our travel records. Would we get them back? If we do give them our records, little by little our privacy rights will soon slip like water through our fingers. If we are not careful, the FBI will have access to everything and we will not even be able to have an opinion.