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Domestic Surveillance: the Effect of Education on Public Opinion

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Domestic Surveillance: the Effect of Education on Public Opinion DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OPINION Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Urity, Mounica Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 01/10/2021 18:02:02 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613754 DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OPINION By: Mounica Urity ____________________ A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelor’s degree With Honors in Management Information Systems The University of Arizona MAY 2016 Approved by: ____________________ Suzanne Weisband Department of Management Information Systems Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Background Information ................................................................................................................. 5 Surveillance Programs .................................................................................................................... 6 Stellar Wind ................................................................................................................................ 6 PRISM ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Blarney ........................................................................................................................................ 8 XKEYSCORE ............................................................................................................................. 9 Surveillance Concerns .................................................................................................................. 10 Invasion of Privacy ................................................................................................................... 10 Metadata ................................................................................................................................ 11 Surveillance Abuse ................................................................................................................... 12 Ineffective National Security ................................................................................................... 13 Public Reaction ............................................................................................................................. 13 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 15 Research Questions .................................................................................................................. 15 Sample ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Preliminary Analysis ............................................................................................................. 16 Further Analysis .................................................................................................................... 18 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 21 References ..................................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 1. FISA Orders and FISC Court Orders ............................................................................ 26 Figure 2. Details about PRISM ..................................................................................................... 27 2 Figure 3. PRISM Programs Timeline ........................................................................................... 28 Figure 4. Degrees of Separation.................................................................................................... 29 Figure 5. Upstream Collection ...................................................................................................... 30 Figure 6. Changes in Search-Term Volume after PRISM Leak ................................................... 31 Figure 7. Changes in Web Search Volume after PRISM Leak ..................................................... 32 Figure 8. Survey Responses about Current Events ....................................................................... 33 Figure 9. Survey Responses about Password Behavior ................................................................ 34 Abstract In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed thousands of classified documents that revealed a mass surveillance program run by the United States’ National Security Agency. The most shocking detail in the leak is that the United States government spies on its own citizens and collects terabytes of data every day. In the three years since the Snowden revelations, the media has covered these programs constantly. In addition, many civil rights groups have protested the surveillance programs saying they are unconstitutional and are flagrant privacy violations. However, much of the general public does not understand the programs or how they are affected by surveillance. This paper will investigate how much people know about surveillance programs, if they are concerned about their online privacy, and see if there is a relationship between the two. Introduction The history of intelligence1 and surveillance in the United States began well before it became a nation (Andrew). George Washington even wrote that “gaining intelligence…was one of his most immediate and pressing duties” (Andrew). However, the early Republic had a large distrust of standing armies that dates back to its colonial days. Due to this, intelligence was seen as “a necessary evil” that was only utilized in wartime (Tidd). This was the prevalent view until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; it changed America’s perception of intelligence being a “necessary evil.” The next major milestone in US intelligence is the Cold War that led to the creation of the National Security Agency (Tidd). The NSA continued to grow at a steady rate until 9/11. After which, the NSA’s workforce grew by a third and its budget doubled (Priest). 1 Intelligence: information gathered and prepared with the express intent of helping officials make and carry out decisions (Warner) This growth continued unchecked until Edward Snowden, a NSA whistleblower, revealed classified documents about their global surveillance programs (Harding). While he was not the first whistleblower, he made the biggest impact. Even though mass surveillance programs affect everyone, many people still do not know the full extent of these programs or understand why being educated about them are important. This paper will investigate three main questions: how much people know about surveillance programs, if they are concerned about their online privacy, and see if there is a relationship between the two. Background Information In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a NSA contractor, started revealing more than a million classified documents about the domestic and global surveillance programs conducted by the National Security Agency (Strohm and Wilber). It all started in 2012 when Snowden anonymously contacted journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras about many secret government programs that were a part of the US global surveillance system. When he contacted these two journalists, he knew that he might never again be able to set foot in the United States and that he could be tried as a traitor. But he felt that the public needed to know that the government was abusing and violating the law. Moreover, he felt it was up to the public to decide if the government should continue to participate in those programs (Goetz and Heilbuth). I want to note that this paper is not going to investigate the legality or morality of Edward Snowden’s actions, nor is it a political statement about the government’s actions. The focus of this paper is to investigate people’s knowledge about these programs and their opinions about domestic surveillance. Surveillance Programs The following sections are not an exhaustive list of the surveillance programs conducted by the NSA. I will discuss programs that were released in the Snowden Leak that have the largest impact. In addition, as this paper is about domestic surveillance, the discussion will be centered on how these programs affect people on American soil and American citizens. Stellar Wind As mentioned before, after 9/11 the National Security Agency gained a lot of power and money. This is in part due to Stellar Wind, a secret system that allowed intelligence agencies to collect the information of anyone, including monitoring the phone calls and emails of millions of Americans, without a warrant under the pretext of fighting terrorism (The Guardian). Prior to the Presidential
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