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“Spying on the Home Front” is not nothing new, but the government has gone too far in collecting information of a numerous amounts of innocent citizens. Towards the end of the documentary, it was stated, that after all the data mining and information gathered from hundreds and thousands of citizens, none were found to be related to terrorism.  How many rights are we going to lose till we are totally safe? Sure, security is very essential to our communities, but to what extent will the government go to assure our safety?

I am totally against the search of innocent citizens without a warrant or probable cause. A while back I was searched by police as I was walking home with a friend. Policemen came out of their vehicle, they aggressively searched us, made us empty our pockets and took our ID’s. They realized I was a college student from the ID in my wallet, and eased up and stopped treating us like potential criminals. They apologized and said that they were just trying to keep us and the neighborhood safe. So I replied, “In order to keep me safe, I have to get searched?” It was ridiculous. This just related perfectly to the “Spying on the Home Front” because it was stated, “treat everyone like a bad guy to begin with, if we collect the right stuff  and connect the right dots we will find the real bad guys.”

Innocent citizens will definitely be caught in the shuffle as technology is not perfect. Social Media networks, for example Facebook can be a great example of the positives of technology and also the negatives it may hold. For example, as said in class, Facebook holds the information of millions of users; their daily activities, interests, dislikes, friends, families and even location. Facebook is a great innovation as it can connect many people around the world together. But this technology in the wrong hands, for example used to spy on citizens can be very harmful. No Facebook account cannot be deleted (only deactivated), so your data is definitely stored and can be subjected to be used for surveillance. It is our duty as American citizens to open our eyes and understand that even if we are totally innocent, the spying, invasion of privacy and gathering data is not only targeted towards potential terrorists and suspects, but it is aimed at all citizens, even us (process stated in documentary to rule out innocent/suspected).

Yes, terrorism and getting attacked is horrific and a fearful thought, but we can’t let fear get in the way of our overall freedom. The freedom that was fought for us, and the rights and the constitution that helped built this great country. Technology can be used positively and improve security without violating our rights; giving too much power to one entity such as the FBI or overall government, or even one individual can be harmful. We are the people, and this is our country; if our constitutional rights and freedoms are violated, then the terrorists have definitely won, as without our rights and freedom, Our Country Will Be Lost.