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Has government spying helped keep us safe?

Has government spying helped keep us safe?
50% Say Yes
50% Say No

  • Government spying has helped keep us safe.

    Governments are able to thwart terrorist plots by identifying their plans. By spying on those who are suspected of planning terror, the government can protect innocent people. There should be limitations to how much information the government can collect, but in general, some civil liberties need to be lost for the greater good of national security.

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  • Government helps nothing.

    Not at all. The government spying has done nothing beneficial for our country and we need to be just as alert of danger as before. I think if anything it just causes us to be more concerned and the government should try harder to prevent danger because their methods now arent working.

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xatoo says2013-10-31T14:49:11.653
It's hard to know of any actual examples as they're of course secret in nature I guess? Feel free to instruct me to any statistics though as I would be curious. I'm inclined to believe it likely has though, at least to some degree, helped keep us safe. But the problems lay within the methods used, (ie. The mass collection of every ones communications, with or without reasonable suspicion and prior cause of terrorist activity, your private communications are being stored enmass in datacenters around the world. And to say "Well, we'll never actually look at it until we have a warrant" isn't good enough. I thought the constitution protected against unreasonable search and 'seizure', the same seizure of all your digital activity taken place already. It's not OK for me to install a spy camera inside your bathroom, record your doings, then say "Hey! I haven't watched it, I'm just saving it for later when you might warrant further investigation."

The NSA also bypass the fact they cannot monitor Americans directly themselves without a judges authorization, through utilizing the GCHQ in the UK in order to do it for them, as they aren't bound by the same constitutional inconvenience.