When the report was released last week that Verizon has been forced to hand over data for it's users, I was appalled. Not only as a Verizon customer, but as an American.
It is pretty obvious that I don't mind living a public life. If I didn't, I wouldn't have a blog and twitter and utilize various other social media platforms. But I have the ability to decide what I share. If I have a bad day at work, I can keep it to myself. If I'm dealing with a personal crisis, I don't have to disclose that to the world. But I have the ability to decide what information is public knowledge.
The
court order gives the NSA access to the people on the call, the location, the duration, and the time of the call. It does not force Verizon to divulge the contents of the calls. But this court order is for all customers, whether or not they are actually suspected of doing anything wrong. These customers are being spied on with no real reason for this to be allowed. Verizon was expressly forbidden to announce to its customers that this request or court order was even a concern. This data was collected for calls in and out of the country.
Finding out that my civil liberties have been violated in such a way is a disgusting feeling. To think that companies haven't been spying on us for years is a delusion that most people have given up on. We all have come to accept that companies like Google track our internet footprint in order to market to us better. Microsoft and X-Box have announced that the new X-Box will be connected to the internet constantly and will be spying on its users. Stories pop up every day about companies doing this. But for the government to be secretly gathering information (and forbidding the corporation from informing its customers of this) is a massive violation of our Constitutional rights. And while the court order does not
directly give the NSA the allowance to listen in to calls, who is to say that they really haven't been?
Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox news "I’m a Verizon customer. I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States." I can't seem to wrap my head around this statement. It is a huge violation of our rights to have the NSA gathering this information, but, on the off chance it does help, it is okay?
(And besides, anyone that's seen NCIS know that terrorists and criminals use burn phones.) Sen. Saxby Chambiliss went so far as to say "This has been going on for seven years." So I guess we should just let it go because it has been happening without our knowledge?
I've been disappointed with Verizon for a while now. And, even though they really had no say in the matter, I'm disgusted that this has been allowed to happen. This is an excessive measure that takes the way our freedom and liberties in the name of "freedom" and "security". Some politicians are saying that this is to protect Americans from terrorists and various other "bad guys." But how long before these "bad guys" turn into people that don't agree with the government? How long before it is people like you or me that oppose policies and politicians and laws currently in place?
I've given serious thought to leaving Verizon because of this policy. But the thing is, who is to say whether or not this is happening to other carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile or Sprint? They may issue a statement saying they would
never do this to their customers, but I don't know if that could be trusted. After all, Verizon was explicitly forbidden from informing their customers that this was happening. Who is to say that other companies aren't under the same sort of gag order?
Something needs to be done to stop this sort of action from continually happening to citizens. Citizens do not need this sort of surveillance. Protecting national security and protecting the status quo are not the same thing, but those in power may be unable to make the distinction.
