Five Eyes Burgers and Fries

     As American citizens, most people have heard of the National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and other fancy government acronyms. My question here is what do we actually know about these agencies outside of how your favorite true crime show depicts them?
One of the most famous cases regarding the NSA happened only in 6 years ago in 2013 when Edward Snowden, a CIA contractor leaked a multitude of highly classified documents the NSA had on American citizens that he found disturbing. Without this leak, the average American would not know that the government collected certain pieces of information about them at all, let alone that that information could legally be shared with other countries.

     How is this private information shared legally you ask? Great question!! It is through an intelligence alliance called Five Eyes, mainly between five countries- Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and of course the United States. This intelligence sharing began with the UKUSA agreement that was signed in 1946 and was later extended to include Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These nations collect data through global communication monitoring and signal intelligence (i.e., electronic intelligence and foreign instrumentation signals). In regular English, this means the government can monitor emails, fax, telephone, and internet communications of their citizens AND its all legal AND can be shared with other nations too.

     This intelligence sharing can be beneficial insomuch that there is a common understanding that one government will not target another's, citizens or persons. It has also created a uniquely open and close relationship between these countries where they can lean on each other or ask for advice when needed. These pros may be beneficial in some ways, but countries in the past did not property minimize identity information before sharing it with other countries, giving them full access to our private information that we may not even want our own government to have. Not only is private information shared among Five Eyes, but there are also 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes and 41 Eyes involving other countries in intelligence sharing.

Let's Talk about Sex (Education)

Should the first amendment also allow people not to receive basic sex education?

 Education is the root of gender inequality and if we continue to treat girls like they are lesser in the education system how can they learn to be any different in their own, and men's eyes. When we do talk about things related to sex, people always get uncomfortable and are meek to share their opinions or ask a question they may have because we live in a society where the idea of sex is everywhere but the conversation about sex is nowhere.  I came to realize that gender is a huge factor in politics but not in the way people think, it doesn’t change whether you voted trump or Hilary but instead if you have a focus on how your personal life is affected by your political life or are just thinking about your political life outside your home. If a piece of legislation were passed to instill a comprehensive sex education, it wouldn't be the same as a travel ban in the sense that it would affect a bunch of people all at once. Instead, it would slowly and steadily hinder the progression of harmful gender norms, STD and HIV rates, teenage pregnancy and sexual assault. The personal life is connected so deeply to gender, public policy and politics that if you look to the root many of the issues spoken about right now like gun rights, freedom of speech and separation between church and state you can see that these are all first brought up out of personal preservation and wants.

Everyone has sex, everyone is susceptible to getting an STD and it is up to our lawmakers and educators to decide that the overall well being and safety of humanity is paramount to preaching chastity.

You agreed to what now??

     Social Media. Everyone is on it, everyone cares about it, but how much good is it really doing for us as a global society? I would argue that social media makes lonely people feel sociable while making sociable people feel lonely. More than just the emotional connection we feel to social media weather is makes us happy or sad is the idea of social media making us safe or not. In a recent Pew Research Center study on Facebook and Americans, it was revealed that 74% of Americans do not understand how Facebook collects their personal interests and traits or how they use them- so let me explain.

     Do you remember that thing you just liked on facebook? The thing about the thing that you wanted to buy two weeks ago in Walmart that you forgot about until a Facebook ad so kindly reminded you? It may seem like a wild coincidence, but there are layers of things happening behind your screen that made that particular advertisement appear to you. Facebook is allowed to remember every page, picture, or video you have ever liked (other advertisements included) and uses this information to target people with ads they think they would want, or rather that they can make more money from. More than this they can also look at your location and demographics to give you advertisements for things close to you like a fun, creepy stalker ex-boyfriend that follows you around based on your snapchat location. No one wants this boyfriend right? So then why does he keep showing up everywhere you look?

     With 51% of American Facebook users saying they are uncomfortable with this compiling of information, Facebook could lose a lot of revenue if people decide to take action against allowing their personal information to be sold. The information is sold solely for the benefit of corporations trying to make more money off of the average American who does not have time to research the harms of personal data collection in the name of better advertisements. Creating a Facebook account is often done by children as young as 13, which means from the age of 13 through the rest of their lives Facebook and other social media can make money off of people without their knowledge.

     This is not to discount the benefits of social media or to encourage people to deactivate their accounts, but rather to assure that people have a full understanding of what they are signing up for with every new profile they create. There is only one you in real life, but hundreds of you are living online through every profile you create. Assuring those profiles accurately describe you, while not revealing too much personal information is a hard line to tow, but not an impossible one.