DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OPINION

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.