Government and the Internet: A threat to present society
In January 2019, I visited India to attend my cousin’s wedding. On my flight back to Seattle, I had a three-hour layover in Dubai. The check-in and the security in Dubai went by smoothly; however, right before boarding, security officials stopped me and performed another security check. They highlighted something on my boarding ticket and eventually let me go. I then glanced back at my ticket and saw that the highlighted part said “SSSS,” which stands for ‘Secondary Security Screening Selection’ — this is a list made by the CIA that targets people who could be potential threats to the United States. Although the CIA claims that secondary screening happens on the basis of random selection, files leaked by hackers Edward Snowden (former employee/hacker for the NSA,) and Julian Assange (founder of Wikileaks, a non-profit known for leaking secret information) revealed that people were added to the SSSS list based of their race and country of origin.
This form of surveillance by the government, which are controlled by a handful of powerful men, really questions my identity and human rights.
Every day, many crimes (and terrorist attacks) are prevented by cameras installed in different places such as supermarkets, banks, airports…
