Guzman 1

Lillian Guzman

Ms. Alcaraz P6

English Composition

21 May 2018

Government Surveillance: The Argument For

Have you ever received help from people watching you? If people had not been watching

you, you would not have received the necessary help. Surveillance is the “act of observing or the

condition of being observed” (The American Heritage High School Dictionary Fourth Edition).

Pervasive means ‘in massive amounts’. Government Surveillance in pervasive amounts is

controversial. For this reason, some countries choose not to have pervasive government

surveillance. However, technology keeps advancing. As a result, so does surveillance.

Government surveillance benefits a lot people because it keeps people safe, reduces crime, and

provides evidence for court cases.

Government surveillance helps keep people safe. Maya Wang, the author of “China’s

Dystopian Push to Revolutionize Surveillance”, states that China wants to “build a fortress city

with technologies,” (Wang). A fortress keeps people safe by keeping out dangerous people. The

fortress what Wang mentions is meant to keep criminals out of the lives of everyday citizens. Its

priority is safety. Furthermore, having advanced surveillance would allow the government to

“enable facial recognition,” explains Wang. This would allow the government to know where

everybody is at all times and would enable the government to know where certain criminals are

and it would help to keep people from going missing. Government surveillance keeps the public

safe.
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Selective government surveillance and censorship keep people safe. Many people argue

that government surveillance and censorship do ​not ​keep people safe. For instance, the main

argument of “Government Surveillance and Academic Thought Policing Are Taking Us to 1984”

by the Foundation Free Education is that government surveillance is useless. This is seen when

the article states, “... there is little evidence that … surveillance and security programs… have…

caught… terrorists…” (Foundation Free Education). However, John R. Quain refutes this by

saying that surveillance keeps people safe. For example, according to him, surveillance is

“necessary to protect intellectual property rights, prevent cyber espionage, fight child

pornography, and protect national interests… from hackers,” (Quian). In other words,

surveillance from the government and protection for the general public have a direct connection.

If the government keeps a close eye on, and monitors, its citizens closely, crimes could be

prevented and people could be protected. Government surveillance is essential to protect people.

There is more violence and criminal activity in countries that have little surveillance,

such as Mexico. The authors of “Mexico ramps us surveillance to fight crime, but controls lax”

state, “Only 3 percent of Mexico requests last year were reviewed by a judge…” (Bernstein,

Murray). Mexico’s laws aren’t very strict with surveillance or with protecting its citizens’ private

information. When people request information on a person, it can easily be obtained. Without the

government being strict and monitoring everything, there is more opportunity to commit crimes.

Furthermore, the authors state that, in Mexico, there are no records of people being arrested due

to government surveillance (Bernstein, Murray). Other countries have a pervasive amount of

surveillance. Therefore, criminals are easily detected and arrested. Mexico doesn’t have strict

surveillance policies. As a result, not many people have been caught because of surveillance,
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explaining the lack of arrests due to government surveillance. In addition, the authors write, “‘ I

see how organized crime wins the battle against the Mexican state because they’re better

organized than we are,’ [Lozano] said,” (Bernstein, Murray). Many of Mexico’s citizens have

requested an increase in government surveillance. Javier Lozano helped draft a new law to help

increase government surveillance. Crime rates are still high due to the Mexican government

neglecting to solve its problems, such as low government surveillance which leads to more

organized crime. Moreover, the authors say that corruption is everywhere in Mexico because its

surveillance is weak (Bernstein, Murray). The laws and regulations regarding government

surveillance and government protection of private information have very loose interpretations.

The policies have loopholes and security programs are easily bypassed. Because the government

is lenient, its citizens are at risk of losing private information. Because some countries have little

to no government surveillance, they have more violence and crime.

Government surveillance is beneficial and necessary because if can provide evidence for

criminal court cases. Greg Lee, the author of “Surveillance Poles to Combat Crime in Santa

Ana” documents when Officer Otto Laufer states, “It provides evidentiary value if a crime

occurs,’” (Lee). The Santa Ana PD officer is talking about surveillance poles which watch public

streets. These surveillance poles listen and watch (by recording) everything around them. If a

crime were to occur, but there weren’t any witnesses, the surveillance poles provide recorded

evidence which can be taken to court. Furthermore, Lee explains, “When the help button is

pushed, the dispatcher can see and hear the person in need,” (Lee). If a person is in need, they

can simply press the button to receive help. The dispatcher will then respond, and seeing the

person in trouble. This can help identify people, such as criminals or victims. With a positive
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identification in a place, a lawyer would be able to use the recorded information in a court of

law. In addition, “Six cameras on every pole transmit to the department operations center,”

reassures Lee. Having six cameras on each pole in town provides a watchful eye. The poles may

keep track of any individual’s whereabouts. Therefore, you may use those locations to pinpoint

an individual’s whereabouts at anytime of day, which can be crucial evidence. This evidence

could be crucial because it could either prove or disprove that someone was lying about where

they were -- information that is critical in a court case. Government surveillance provides

evidence which may be necessary in court cases.

Government surveillance is beneficial. It benefits citizens of a country because it keeps

them safe, reduces crime, and can provide information needed in a court case. It is important to

be safe because nobody gets hurt. Reducing crime is important for the same reason, and also

because it increases the number of good people (because bad people are disappearing). In an

emergency, it’s good to rely on government surveillance as evidence that something occurred. A

call to action would be to start implementing strict laws and more government surveillance. A

safe, functioning society is always better than a crime-infested dangerous society.