As Americans, we sometimes have a false sense of security. We expect our phone calls to be heard only by the person on the other end of the line, and an occasional little brother listening through another phone.
We expect our mail to be delivered to the person to whom it is addressed.
We expect our e-mail to be read only by the intended recipient.
As a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, some of our freedoms have been eliminated, leaving citizens subject to random wiretapping in sweeping anti-terrorism investigations.
This is already pretty frightening. However, recently some in the law enforcement community have decided that our freedoms are a little too expansive on the Internet.
We are aware there have been thousands of charges against people for illegal music downloading, and many child predators have been arrested through instant messaging and chat rooms.
However, the government is trying to gain access to all of our Facebook information, Blackberry messages and Skype video and messaging data, which are all often encrypted.
With the advancement of technology, sometimes things may slip through the cracks of the FBI or CIA organizations.
The Internet used to give U.S. citizens an easy outlet for freedom from censorship and wiretapping.
We currently have a reasonable expectation that our Blackberry messages remain in our message box, not on an FBI supercomputer in Washington, D.C.
The government should be there to protect our nation, but without spying on us without our consent or knowledge.
Without any privacy, we could turn into a country like China or Russia, where the government controls every action that citizens make.
As a free country, citizens should not be subjected to such invasion.
We already have to give up our right to privacy on the telephone and through the mail.
The Internet, texting and instant messaging should not be subject to indiscriminate government spying.
Do we really want the government breathing down our necks every second of the day, knowing everything we do?
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.