NSA spying

I will first present my case, and in the next round I will refute my opponent's case as this is the guideline that he set forth for this debate. First, a few observations. The government exists to protect and maximize the social welfare of the governed. As such, the resolution should be evaluated based upon the success of the government"s attempt to maximize the welfare of society as a whole. Moreover, to best evaluate this standard you should prefer real world impacts to theoretical or hypothetical ones because it allows us to actually compare the benefits and costs. Contention 1: Domestic surveillance by the NSA prevents terrorist attacks before they happen. The NSA is a key factor in our nation"s security, and since the tragic events on September 11, 2001 they have been cracking down security and have ensured, by any means possible that they are keeping America safe. According to Brad Plumer of the Washington Post, since 2001, the amount of terrorist attacks in America have decreased by 80%. Terrorism in the USA has gone down tremendously because of the NSA"s contribution. According to Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman of the Associated Press, the NSA internet spying program, PRISM intercepted several key emails that led to the stoppage of the Al-Qaeda planned attack on the New York City subways. The same NSA internet spying program that prevented the subway bombing, also stopped an attack on the New York stock exchange. According to Bloomberg News the NSA was able intercept a series of telephone calls, and emails between the plotters. They arrested the men behind the potential bombings and saved lives. Contention 2: The large collection of data from domestic surveillance of the NSA allows for data mining. The NSA is collecting massive amounts of both metadata, phone call information, as well as content through a program called PRISM. Data mining is a field of computer science focused on analyzing data and discovering associations and/or variations and anomalies that would be impossible for human beings to recognize, either due to the volume of the data or simply because nobody was looking for it. This allows for previously unknown data to be discovered such as information on terrorists. Data mining has proven to be effective in several areas such as Marketing, Financial, Business and Government. Unlike humans, computers are precise and use math, a definite form of logic to find patterns that are by definition, impossible for humans to find. The SAS explains that data mining is key to finding hidden criminal behaviors. Emily Badger similarly gives an example of how data mining used by researchers were able to catch a kidnapper within half an hour of kidnapping a 10 year old girl. This is one of numerous situations in which data mining has been previously proven to be effective. The purpose of the NSA collecting this data is to use this concept of data mining. In order to prove the NSA not useful, data mining must be proven not useful. Contention 3: Tor Network and Child Pornography A major issue facing society today is illegal activity hidden behind the security of the Internet. Recently, using its advanced hacking and software tools, the NSA was able to infiltrate the Tor Network, also known as the Deep Web. The TOR network is a series of routers that work like the internet. However, sites hosted on Tor network servers cannot be searched through Google or common search engines. These sites allowed users to access illegal services - money laundering, drug trading and assassination. Many of these sites were hosted by an organization called "Freedom Hosting." These sites include the TorMail e-mail client as well as LoliCity and PedoEmpire, common hotbeds for child pornography. However, they are still accessible. Sites like LoliCity, which hosted over 100 gigabytes of video and pictures in 2011 and now contains more than a million such files, offer a place to upload and distribute any such files. Attempts to shut down this organization, which was launched in 2008, had largely failed until nvow. Recently, the NSA was able to gain access to this server, using exploits provided by Verizon and the FBI. It was able to shut down Freedom Hosting, which hosted the majority of child pornography websites. Approximately half of all sites on the Tor Net were shut down or infected by this attack. By doing this, the NSA is preventing the abuse of thousands of children all over the world. In addition, studies by Gail Dines, published in the UK Guardian, state that "rape of a prepubescent child followed"habitual" consumption of child porn". By stopping the proliferation of child pornography, the NSA is reducing violence in our communities. In addition, shutting down Freedom Hosting closed down many illegal money laundering and drug trading businesses. These activities harmed many, not only through fraud but through the harmful effects of drugs as well as the relatively high rate of drug transactions that go badly and end in a murder. Contention 4: Weapon Trafficking Additionally, in order to clarify the term domestic, I offer the following evidence. According to a leaked official document of the NSA, most of the data traveling through the world goes through U.S. servers, in specific, 90%. I would like to ask my opponent two question: When did the American government "send guns to the mexican drug cartels"? (Do you have a source for this?) Also has the constitution been wrong before?