What is Schneier’s perspective on the debate surrounding Security versus Privacy?
His premise is: Privacy is not about hiding a wrong; it is about an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.
My Response:
Jennifer: The real argument or debate is not “security versus privacy” but rather liberty versus control.
Evidence:
Adriana: Watch someone long enough and you will find
something to arrest him or blackmail him with.
Rebecca: Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign
physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still
tyranny.
Jessyka: Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of
surveillance when he said,”If one would give me six lines written by the hand
of the most honest man, I would find something in them to arrest – or just have
him hanged.”
Marissa: Someone who wants to arrest you can find something
– even in the most honest person’s life – to arrest him for.
Having that much power – to survey someone is a violation of
basic human rights.
Madelyne: Who is watching the watcher.
No one watches the people in power who is watching us.
Your partner’s thoughts:
Kahilayah: agrees with the author’s basic tenet that privacy is a fundamental right.Rebecca agrees
3. According to Schneier, what dangers does unchecked surveillance pose to those who are doing no wrong?
My response:
Privacy is an inherent human right and constant surveillance
violates the human right to dignity and respect.
Evidence:
(Adriana) For if we are observed in all matter we constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, plagiarism of our own uniqueness.
Roger: The government determines what is right and wrong and
can change the definition of what is wrong whenever they want.
Evidence:
Anton: Cardinal Richelieu believed that if one could have six lines written by the most honest man alive and within those six lines if one looked hard enough, one could find reasons to arrest or even hang that man.
Madelyne: The government can blackmail you or arrest you.
Sometimes the government gets it wrong and arrests the wrong
person who is innocent of the crimes he or she is being accused of.
Surveillance is an inexact science and can be misinterpreted – sometimes
deliberately.
Zatie thinks that everything is not what it seems and
surveillance can create a “lose-lose” situation, where both the watched and the
watcher loses.
Synthesis: (Putting together what you think and what your
partner thinks):
Anton: The government should treat us fairly.
Lily: Privacy is very important. We have survived this long
without constant surveillance so we can continue on without it.
Madelyne: It’s not fair that the government can change rules
whenever it wants. It can be
totally arbitrary.
Jazzmyn: Surveillance is not always accurate and can be
proven wrong.
Jennifer: Who watches the watchers? Sometimes people in positions of power
lie and because of their titles, they have more credibility and so people
believe them.
“In the Basic Battle Between Privacy and Security, Security Always Wins” by Cris Cillizza
1. Cillizza states that “fear is a very powerful motivator when it comes to public opinion.” Obama uses many words that suggest danger in the quote provided by Cillizza. How does Cillizza use Obama’s language to support his premise that Americans favor security over privacy? Provide evidence from the text to support your answer.
My Response:
Obama is saying that the information they are gathering is
to make the intelligence officers in the fields, the soldiers on the battle
field and the folks back home safe, and he is not going to do anything to
jeopardize that.
Evidence:
“U.S. national security is dependent on those folks ….their
missions or might get them killed.”
Partner’s Thoughts:
They should gather information. Privacy is important but so is
security.
Evidence:
Some of the words Obama uses to suggest that we are in
danger are: “…put people at risk…men and women in uniform that are sent into
battlefield….dangerous positions…easily compromised….people back home have
their backs…they are not left high and dry….put in even more danger than they
may already be….I make no apologies….as Commander in Chief…or information that
might get them killed….’
Obama’s choice of diction (word choice) are words that have
denotative and connotative suggestions of danger.
Partner’s Thoughts:
Jessyka thinks that Obama is trying too hard to be liked but
it’s not working. Some people hate him.
Jazzmyn: They should gather information; privacy is
important but so is security. Security protects us from danger but it might
also violate our freedom.
Zatie: Surveillance is important because it protects the
safety of the people.
Madelyne: How can the government investigate innocent people
but fail to capture criminals.
Jazzmyn: The
government should snoop on people who are guilty rather than on people who are
innocent.
2. Cilliza claims that “Obama has, and will continue to,
default to the desire to protect the country rather than peoples’ privacy.” How
does the statement by Obama that Cilliza provides support and/or contradict
this claim?
My Response:
"Leaks related to national security can put people at risk...dangerous situations that are easily compromised, at risk."
3. Cillizza implies that the government’s collection of data is being used to stop terrorist attacks. Does the citation from Obama support this stance. Cite evidence from the text to support your response.
My Response:
Evidence:
The leaking of the NSA surveillance puts men and
women in uniform that Obama has sent into the battlefield at risk. These leaks can also put our
intelligence officers, who are in dangerous situations which are easily
compromised, at risk as well. The
implication is that yes, the surveillance is being used to combat terrorism.
Skip to:
Optional Writing Planner: Security vs. Privacy Writing Task
Please fill in the boxes:
1. What is each writer’s claim: Schneier Cillizzi
2.What persuasive methods
Does each writer uses to
Construct his argument?
3. Provide examples from
the text that illustrate
effective methods the writer
uses.
4. What makes these
examples effective?
Do these examples appeal
To logic or to emotion?
5. Another method the writer
uses effectively is:
