Surveillance is the act of watching someone closely mainly to prevent crimes. While may be used to stop a terrorist attack beforehand, government surveillance has ethical issues as it is not always used in the right context. It is the antithesis of every nation’s constitution, which promotes freedom of privacy. Furthermore, it directly violates citizens’ rights and freedom of speech, and is used to retaliate against political enemies of the government using imprisonment or other sanctions. Government surveillance can have adverse effects on anyone’s life as it can be used to harm an individual’s reputation by exposing their personal information. In the digital age, terrorist’s use of the internet has increased to such an extent that all their…show more content… The internet serves as the main source for recruits, funding and information, so limiting their access to the internet can prove effective in countering terrorists. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the question if government surveillance is necessary to counter terrorism. To do this, first techniques employed by the government for surveillance will be delineated. After that, the ways terrorists use the internet to spread their messages and agenda will be described. Then to present an alternative point of view, effective alternatives to government surveillance will be discussed. The paper will conclude by giving an analysis of the success of government in countering the terrorists using surveillance.
To answer the research question, first an overview of methods of government surveillance will be provided. Over the years great advances have been made in the field of surveillance technology. After the tragic events that took place on 9/11 in the United States, surveillance has become the common grounds for preventing terrorism. Research is being conducted to find better and more efficient ways to acquire