Is it ever OK for government to monitor us? Your Say Interactive
Some of the best reader comments from the Web
It turns out that revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden two years ago that the U.S. government was spying on Americans was only a small part of a much larger story.
Nearly a decade before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government had been using a secret program to monitor billions of Americans' calls. It surveilled phone calls made by U.S. citizens to as many as 116 foreign countries — including Canada, Mexico and several countries in Central and South America — according to a Paste BN investigation. The program dated back to the George H.W. Bush administration.
Revelations of government spying caused some Americans to change their approaches to technology. A quarter of Americans who were aware of the National Security Agency surveillance program changed their behavior on email, search engines, social media, cellphones, mobile apps, text messages or landline phones, according to a Pew Research Center Survey conducted between 2014 and 2015.
Not surprisingly, while most Americans think it's acceptable for the government to monitor terrorism suspects (82% say that's OK) and foreign leaders (60% think it's acceptable to monitor them), the majority (57%) think it's unacceptable for the U.S. government to turn surveillance equipment on its own people (see more in the graphics below. To see the graphics on mobile, visit the full Paste BN Opinion site).
We asked our readers what they thought of these new revelations. Below find answers from social media in response to our #tellusatoday question, along with the national conversation. Graphics detail national answers to a few of the tougher questions: When, if ever, Is it OK for the government to monitor us? Have you changed your behavior on your phone, Internet technology? Take a look, then give us your opinions.
Other public views:
Although some readers expressed concerns about this data collection program, the majority of Americans say they aren't worried about the government monitoring their digital behavior.