Tuesday, May 25
Yi Lin/How far should a state have a right to monitor the actions of people within its borders?
A state has a right to monitor the actions of people within its borders to ensure peace and stability of the state. The state has a right to monitor the actions of the people who have harmful intentions such as doing things or spreading untrue messages which will create fear and suspicion among the people of the state as it concerns the welfare of its people. For example, a private school student was convicted in 2005 for spreading racist remarks on the Internet. The Singapore government can monitor the blog posts of Singaporeans on the internet to see if anyone is spreading remarks which racist or spreading the terrorists’ ideas. However, the state should not monitor the actions or the people when it violates their privacy. For example, the state should not view the letters, hand phone messages and emails that people send to their friends or relatives as the state should respect the idea that the documents are not meant for any third party. This is unlike what the people post on blogs or forums which are meant to be seen by the public. Therefore, the state has a right to monitor the actions of people within its borders as long as they do not invade their privacy.
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I agree that the state are able monitor the the actions of the if the people harbour ill intentions and they must not monitor the actions of the people when the state violates the people's privacy. However, I feel that the limitations can be more general and not be too specific such as looking at messages to their friends. Maybe the limitations should be that the state should not keep close monitoring on the people when they are at work or school which also violates the people'privacy. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said. However, how would the government know if the letter is a personal one or one that spreads the wrong ideas such as terrorist attacks etc?
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