The United States of Fear
Civil liberty is defined as “The rights of people to do or say things that are not illegal without being stopped or interrupted by the government.”[1] During this period in time, our privacy and civil liberties have seriously been put in jeopardy. The government has been taking our personal information like never before, but a common response from an average American is, “But I have nothing to hide.” People categorized in the “Nothing to hide” group believe that it doesn’t matter if the government takes away their civil liberties, because it won’t effect them if they’re not doing anything wrong. The main point to this issue in our government is not the punishment aspect, but the personal privacy aspect. Someone against these actions of the government once made a point asking to the nothing to hide people, “Why do they have curtains on their house?”[2] The common response is personal privacy in your own home. How does that personal privacy differ from our privacy through text messages, online searching, our license plates, etc.? One main reason people don’t care about the lack of privacy through technology is because they cannot see it, out of sight out of mind. “Who would not be embarrassed if all of their most intimate details were exposed? Fences and curtains are ways to ensure a measure of privacy, not indicators of criminal behavior. Privacy is a fundamental part of a dignified life.”[3] Although you may be doing nothing illegal behind your curtains in your home, you prefer to not be watched, and this is a prime example of why we don’t want our government taking away our civil liberties. It is extremely unconstitutional.
Even though you think you may not have anything to hide, you definitely have something to fear. “Living under the constant gaze of government surveillance can produce long-lasting social harm: if citizens are just a little more fearful, a little less likely to freely associate, a little less likely to dissent – the aggregate chilling effect can close what was once an open society.”[4] Through the invasion of the government it is possible that we can lose aspects in our form of democracy. Another point is how oblivious we are to what really goes on in our secretive government. We don’t always know exactly what to fear because there are so many secrets are kept from us. We can’t confidently say we have nothing to fear, or nothing to hide. “We need to know more about what information the government is collecting about millions of innocent Americans. We need to know more about the secret legal interpretations that the government is relying on to monitor our communications. And we need to know more about what the government does with the trillions of bits of electronic data it is amassing in its files. We need these answers because, even if we have nothing to hide, that does not mean we want to live in a society where nothing is private.”[5] As citizens with rights, we should definitely fear our unforthcoming government that we have today.
[1] Merrian-Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20liberty (March 19th, 2015)
[2] The Chronicle Review, http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/ (March 22nd 2015)
[3] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)
[4] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)
[5] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)
Civil liberty is defined as “The rights of people to do or say things that are not illegal without being stopped or interrupted by the government.”[1] During this period in time, our privacy and civil liberties have seriously been put in jeopardy. The government has been taking our personal information like never before, but a common response from an average American is, “But I have nothing to hide.” People categorized in the “Nothing to hide” group believe that it doesn’t matter if the government takes away their civil liberties, because it won’t effect them if they’re not doing anything wrong. The main point to this issue in our government is not the punishment aspect, but the personal privacy aspect. Someone against these actions of the government once made a point asking to the nothing to hide people, “Why do they have curtains on their house?”[2] The common response is personal privacy in your own home. How does that personal privacy differ from our privacy through text messages, online searching, our license plates, etc.? One main reason people don’t care about the lack of privacy through technology is because they cannot see it, out of sight out of mind. “Who would not be embarrassed if all of their most intimate details were exposed? Fences and curtains are ways to ensure a measure of privacy, not indicators of criminal behavior. Privacy is a fundamental part of a dignified life.”[3] Although you may be doing nothing illegal behind your curtains in your home, you prefer to not be watched, and this is a prime example of why we don’t want our government taking away our civil liberties. It is extremely unconstitutional.
Even though you think you may not have anything to hide, you definitely have something to fear. “Living under the constant gaze of government surveillance can produce long-lasting social harm: if citizens are just a little more fearful, a little less likely to freely associate, a little less likely to dissent – the aggregate chilling effect can close what was once an open society.”[4] Through the invasion of the government it is possible that we can lose aspects in our form of democracy. Another point is how oblivious we are to what really goes on in our secretive government. We don’t always know exactly what to fear because there are so many secrets are kept from us. We can’t confidently say we have nothing to fear, or nothing to hide. “We need to know more about what information the government is collecting about millions of innocent Americans. We need to know more about the secret legal interpretations that the government is relying on to monitor our communications. And we need to know more about what the government does with the trillions of bits of electronic data it is amassing in its files. We need these answers because, even if we have nothing to hide, that does not mean we want to live in a society where nothing is private.”[5] As citizens with rights, we should definitely fear our unforthcoming government that we have today.
[1] Merrian-Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20liberty (March 19th, 2015)
[2] The Chronicle Review, http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/ (March 22nd 2015)
[3] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)
[4] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)
[5] ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/you-may-have-nothing-hide-you-still-have-something-fear (March 22nd 2015)