US Public Split Over NSA Surveillance 美国公众对隐私被监视看法有分歧
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2013年(七月)
US Public Split Over NSA Surveillance 美国公众对隐私被监视看法有分歧
一个互联网隐私团体已经要求美国最高法院调查政府在过去的七年的监视通话记录。民调显示,美国人在这个问题上有分歧。
The American public is split over whether the National Security Agency, or NSA, should continue phone and email surveillance to stop terrorists.
Some say the concerns are overblown; others maintain that what people do in the privacy of their homes and on the Internet should be their business and nobody else's.
A recent Quinnipiac survey shows a reversal in public opinion. Three years ago, Americans overwhelmingly supported anti-terrorism actions over civil liberties. Pollster Peter Brown says a slight majority now think those efforts are eroding 1 freedoms.
"That’s a really big change and it’s significant,” says Brown.
But other polls show a majority of Americans - 58 percent - support the government’s collection of telephone and Internet data. The basic questions are these - is the surveillance relevant to a terrorist investigation 2? And, does the government monitor actual conversations and emails, or just look at who's involved?
Some argue it is not content but just metadata that is being collected by the government, and that it is not accurate to classify these activities as surveillance.
Others insist that people should decide for themselves whether to regard these efforts as surveillance or not.
Gary Schmitt studies security issues for the American Enterprise Institute. He supports NSA actions.
“It’s a difficult task because you have to collect an immense amount of data to stay ahead of the terrorist.”
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in Washington decides how far the government can go, and the NSA must first make its argument in this court before listening to phone calls involving an American.
This, says Schmitt, prevents overreach.
“There are these kinds of layers of scrutiny 3 that they go forward and the court again has the final say into whether there’s enough info relevant to particular case to a particular person.”
But the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC 4) says the court went too far when it made the Verizon Communications company provide its phone records on all Americans. EPIC filed an emergency petition to the U.S. Supreme 5 Court to stop the NSA’s surveillance.
Alan Butler is EPIC’s attorney.
“Our contention 6 is it’s not possible that all call records of all Americans held by Verizon are relevant to an investigation.”
It’s not known if the Supreme Court will take up the case. In the meantime, Americans will continue to debate whether NSA surveillance goes too far.
- The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
- Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。
- In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
- He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
- His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
- Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。
- I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
- They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。
- It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
- He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
- The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
- The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。