Todays technological capabilities take surveillance to new
levels; the government can and does utilize methods to observe all the behavior
and actions of people without the need for a spy to be physically present. The
main uneasiness behind wiretapping is that the government collects, and keeps
forever, a large amount of information about individuals in the U.S., including
citizens.
I chose Aristotle for my Final
Project. Aristotle believed “government should govern for the good of the
people, not for the good of those in power.” Aristotle had a different
approach to privacy. He distinguished a difference between the public (polis)
sphere of political activity and the private (oikos) sphere associated with
family and domestic life.” When applied to privacy, Aristotle would be on the
side arguing that the governments wiretapping on "ALL" people is wrong. The government are
gathering information about citizens without our knowledge. So, Aristotle would
feel that what the government was doing was wrong, because it wasn’t in the
polis, or political community, that they were getting this information.
Some can argue that having a loss of privacy is necessary if we
are to protect our country from terrorist attacks. On the other side, I will
argue that giving up basic privacy right, which are the bedrock of our
government, is a high price to pay for being protected. The ethical dilemma
lies in not just the legality of wiretapping, but in the question of whether
our private and public freedoms are being run over by a zealous government, all
in the name of national security.
Good job.
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