Essay: Government surveillance through the internet and satellites, and how it invades our privacy as citizens?

In this month of October alone, there have been a reported 7 terror attacks across the globe. Over the last two decades, we have seen an unparalleled level of instability across the globe. Breitbart news reported on the 14th of June 2016 that since the September eleventh atrocities, the world has seen the harsh reality of humanity and religion, we have had 28,135 terrorist attacks committed in the name of god around the world.
As Prime Minister Turnbull would say “It is the most exciting time to be an Australian. These are exciting times. But we must embark on these times, embrace these opportunities, meet these challenges, We live in a time of remarkable opportunity. We live in an era when the scale and pace of economic change is unprecedented through all of human history. The opportunities for Australia have never been greater. There are many challenges ahead though.”
Our biggest challenge as Australians, is safety and security. How do we keep safe? Safe from baseless hatred? Safe from terrorism? and Safe from terror attacks? I know you’re all subconsciously thinking it, we have to surveil. Not just physical surveillance with ASIO and AFP officers sitting in a van that is masqueraded as some flower delivery service, whilst they are watching some religious preacher who is on a no fly list and terror watch list.
We have to keep up to date with the times. It is of the essence of importance that we track the internet searches and the communications of the Australian people, because we cannot predict who is planning a terror attack without government surveillance. We have to be ready to thwart the next premeditated attack. We need to be protected by our law enforcement agencies. It is vital that our law enforcement agencies are given all the resources possible to protect, us, the Australian people.
Where do we as a society draw the line of ethics in government surveillance? How do we deem what surveillance is needed to protect us from a constant barrage of terrorism? And Where do we say, no that’s not right?
Well, every phone call you make, text message you send and email you write is tracked by the government under a new metadata retention scheme.
Big brother is literally watching us. And it’s kind of creepy. But the thing is that we already live in a surveillance state, every day we leave a trail of CCTV footage, viewed websites and a list of people who we’ve called and texted. The truth is that companies already have our metadata, websites such as Facebook, google and twitter all have this information anyway AND ITS WITH OUR CONSENT.
So, you’re probably sitting back in your chair and thinking; well, what is a metadata retention scheme?
So, the attorney general, the honourable senator Brandis proclaimed that Metadata is information about a communication (the who, when, where and how)—not the content or substance of a communication (the what).
For phone calls, metadata includes the phone numbers of the people talking to each other and how long they talked—not what they said.
For internet activity, metadata is information such as an email address and when it was sent—not the subject line of an email or its content.
Essentially, metadata is the data about your data.
Metadata is not why you googled how many chicken nuggets can I consume before becoming diabetic? It’s not about you buying 54 pairs of socks in 38 different colours on Ebay. Metadata doesn’t include the contents of your calls, so when you tell your best friend some juicy gossip don’t worry about some old law enforcement agent listening to the juice. Rather the metadata retention scheme is about trends, it’s about how many people are researching how to make narcotics or a bomb. Or who those people are.
You’re probably thinking; ech…. why is he telling me about this? Am I supposed to care? Am I supposed to be fearful that the government is surveilling me? Should I feel that my privacy is being invaded? Should I not google peculiar things or questions?
Well I’m going to explain the problems of big brother watching us. And why you should not be fearful or feel neither worried nor censored.
The worrying factor is that law enforcement agencies can access metadata without a warrant from the courts, they can invade our privacy without us even knowing.
Although the governments metadata retention scheme is purposed to stop a seemingly constant barrage of terror attacks, the metadata laws have been received as an earnest threat upon the Privacy Act of 1988, by some members of the public.
The metadata retention scheme applies to all Australians, all of our records are kept and our activity is seen by law enforcement agencies. People often think, wow I’m being watched, I should stop looking up weird things on the internet and saying strange things to my friends on the phone. Well, if you decide to look up how to make a bomb or how to join isis, you will be tracked and red flagged. If you plan a terror attack you will be caught. None of us are doing any of the things that I just mentioned, well I hope not.
The law enforcement agencies have crime to fight and terrorism to thwart, they are not interested in stalking us.
Do not live in fear, do not feel like you are being watched. Because you personally are not being watched, because you’re probably not doing dodgy shit online or speaking to some sketchy dudes. But don’t stress boys, your mum won’t see your browser history.
Our data is being stored by the telecommunications companies and there’s no promises that It won’t be hacked into and used illegally for the wrong purposes. If the taxpayers don’t pick up the tab on this government initiative, our telco companies will be forced to charge even more than they already are to fund this scheme. AND WE WILL HAVE TO PAY!!!!
My Friends, Technology indeed has not gone too far. Although the metadata retention scheme may invade your privacy slightly, we need government surveillance through the internet and satelites. It is what will keep us safe, it is important that we embrace government surveillance, as it is a vital resource for our law enforcement agencies and will help keep us and our families safe at night. Although, we need to make sure that the right legal channels (such as a court order or warrant) are used when the law enforcement agencies need the content of the messages and emails of Australians. It is not ethically wrong for our law enforcement agencies to watch what we are doing as it will prevent us from being held hostage in a café, stabbed in endeavour hills, beheaded in public, run over on mother’s day and killed on Anzac day. Ladies and Gentleman, we need a Metdata retention scheme to protect us from a PROBABLE terror attack, we the Australian people need safety and security.