Larissa Ibarra Franklin Quote Summary Response

A quote by Ben Franklin states that those who are willing to give up their freedoms should not be granted safety or freedom.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety", said by Ben Franklin, correctly portrays the American way of thought on security and freedom. Humans will sacrifice their privacy to a point where they have none just for temporary security. One can see how the American society is constantly allowing its government to invade their privacy. Letting the government have access their daily activities and searches in order to be protected from terrorism is almost outrageous. Most would rather have their privacy rather than temporarily be safe from terrorism, “More than 60 percent of respondents said they value privacy over anti-terror protections” (Associated). Many would rather have some parts of their life private instead of only being protected for a short period of time against terrorism. Being protected is a priority in American society, but terrorism is always updating and changing, there is almost no possible way for the government to keeps Americans safe from every attack. When the people of the United States' students start being tracked it becomes excessive, "the technology was easy to acquire, meaning people outside a school might be able to monitor a student if they obtained the student’s unique tracking number" (Chammah). The school started putting these tracking devices in the school ids for attendance purposes but with the technology so easy to access it puts the students at risk. The devices are doing more harm than good, they invade the students' privacy as well as endanger them.

However, giving up privacy can be worth sacrificing if it means being safe. In some instances letting go of some privacy can be essential to staying safe. Being protected from terrorism sometimes is more important than privacy, "A large majority of Americans say the federal government should focus on investigating possible terrorist threats even if personal privacy is compromised, and most support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity” (Cohen). The government's efforts should be spent keeping America safe and if that means sacrificing personal privacy than American society should be willing to have their telephone records tracked. Everyone wants to have their privacy but some value their safety more. Some want their everyday activities to stay private and if they give up their privacy for security but they end up not being safe, all of their sacrificing was almost a waste. Security can only be kept temporarily and privacy is not worth giving up for a short period of safety.

At first glance giving up privacy seems like a reasonable price to pay for safety. This position seems reasonable because if a terrorist attack occurs then one would be willing to have the government track them if it meant catching and stopping a terrorist. But it's more complicated than that, if the government if busy tracking and monitoring everyone and honing in on anyone that looks suspicious then anyone can look like a terrorist or threat. With all of the government's energy being spent on monitoring everyone the chances of them catching a terrorist is very slim and they can only guarantee safety if they actually catch a terrorist. Also, there will always be another threat the government can not protect its people from everything therefore giving up all of one's privacy is pointless.

   

Works Cited

ASSOCIATED PRESS. "Poll: Americans Value Privacy over Security." POLITICO. Politico, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.

                  Cohen, John. "Most Americans Back NSA Tracking Phone Records, Prioritize Probes over Privacy." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 10 June 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.

Chammah, Maurice, and Nick Swartsell. "Student IDs That Track the Students." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.