Is Mass Surveillance Ever a Good Thing Research Paper

Is Mass Surveillance Ever a Good Thing - Research Paper Example The benefit of mass surveillance exceeds its negative. The research will focus on mass surveillance and outline its impact on both the government and the citizens. According to Reuters (2013), mass surveillance can be traced back to the First World War were vital information was sourced from both the enemy territory and within a given country. This was to assist the country achieve a given objective in the war. The cold war period increase and the importance of mass surveillance with its aim being monitoring activities that could expose countries secrete policy. Traditionally mass surveillance was used as a tool to counter any move by an enemy country. Traditional ideologies used the concept to attain military and political supremacy. Over the years, technologies have evolved and gadgets that are more sophisticated introduced to aid a given country in mass surveillance. Surveillance has become a modality in modern day government (Ericson & Haggerty, 2006, 4). The ideology is traced back to the world war eras and the aim is to ensure a country protects its own interests. Sovereignty of a nation could be jeopardized if a country fails to gather enough information needed to protect the interest of a given nation. The United States of America has invested heavy in mass surveillance. The driving point has been on the 2001 attack’s impact. The question has been on how to avert future calamities similar to it. New models have aided the country in their quest to counter terrorism. Bush (2006) attributes the effect of mass surveillance to national security. Different security organs relay on public information to ensure a successful plan that would protect national interests and at the same time secure a country from external attacks (Fussey, 121). Strategic planning involves designing models that would prevent an attack and at the same time source information that