Perceptions on Government Surveillance

Alan Delgado, Henry Bulmer, Josiah Rand

“I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom

and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly

building.” -Edward Snowden

“The Patriot Act closed dangerous gaps in America’s law enforcement and intelligence

capabilities, gaps that terrorists exploited when they attacked us” -George W. Bush

Overview

I. Background on Government Surveillance

II. Areas of Study

III. Description of Survey

IV. Demographic Findings

V. Alan’s FIndings

VI. Josiah’s Findings

VII.Henry’s Findings

VIII.Recommendations for Future Research

IX. References

Brief Look at Government Surveillance

- The 4th Amendment

- The 4th amendment provides protection from “unreasonable searches and seizures” unless there is a search warrant based upon probable cause.

- Also provides an implicit right to privacy which is generally agreed to be “the right against undue government intrusion into fundamental personal issues and decisions”.

- The Patriot Act

- Includes the internet under pen register laws meaning “dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information” or emails and other online means of communication are available under court order not a search warrant (Kerr 2003).

- Allowed for seizure of stored voicemails via a search warrant rather than surveillance warrant.

- Expanded the use of National Security Letters, an administrative subpoena that forces citizens or groups to give information about a person. These NSLs are backed by gag orders and do not require a warrant or court order.

Areas of Study

- According to a Gallup conducted in 2003 about 69% of people surveyed supported the Patriot act. This declined to 64% in 2004.

- The aim of our research was to see if the Patriot Act was still widely supported as well as gauge support of electronic surveillance in general. We focused specifically on how support levels based off the following traits:

- Age

- Levels of Education

- Familiarity with Technology

Description of Survey

Title of Survey: Perceptions on Privacy and Government Surveillance

- Comprised of 26 questions including 5 instances of skip logic and 3 open ended questions.

- Surveys started 143, surveys completed 130, giving us a response rate of 91%.

- Distribution method was online through Qualtrics.

- The survey provided no explicit definitions of the NSA or Patriot Act but included skip logic so that participants unfamiliar with them would not be forced to give an opinion about them.

Sampling MethodConvenience Sampling

Desperation Sampling

Snowball Sampling

Non-Probability Sampling

In addition to facebook posts we also directly asked friends, classmates and colleagues to fill out our survey.

Demographic Information

Education Level -Highest - Associate (56.93%, n=78)-Lowest - Middle School/Below (0.73%, n=1)

Familiarity with Technology- Responses to “How often

are you able to troubleshoot your own computer problems”

- HighestUsually (48%, n= 60)

Highest response category was millennials (79%, n=109)

Lowest response category was greatest generation (0%, n=0)

Age and Approval of Government SurveillanceIndependent Variable: Age (question #3)

Which generation do you belong to?

a) Generation Z (born 2001-present)

b) Millennial (born 1884-2000)

c) Generation X (born 1965-1983

d) Baby Boomer (born 1946-1965)

e) Greatest Generation (born 1901-1945)

Hypothesis: Older people are more likely to approve of Patriot Act activities than younger people.

Age and Government Surveillance

Dependent Variable:

#16 From what you know, do you think the govn’t surveillance programs (i.e. via internet, drones, phones, wiretapping) violate your civil liberties?

a)Yes

b)No

c) Unsure

Findings on Age

With a P-value of 0.78, there is no statistical significance.

It was observed that as the respondents became younger, they were more likely to disapprove of Patriot Act government surveillance than their older counterparts who had higher ratings of approval.

Speculatively, it seems there is a positive direction of association because as age goes up, so does the approval rating, which coincides with my initial hypothesis that older people are more likely to support Patriot Act activities than younger people.

Hypothesis

- The higher one’s education level the more likely, he or she is to support government surveillance programs.

- Dependant Variable: Education Level

- Independent Variable: Support of Government Surveillance

Findings for Education Level

“From what you know, do you think the government’s surveillance programs (i.e. via the internet, drones, wiretapping, etc.) violate your civil liberties?”

- P value < .05 indicating statistical significance

- Positive direction of association between level of education and belief that government surveillance violates civil rights

- Between Middle School and Bachelors

Hypothesis

- People who are more familiar with technology will be more likely to be opposed to government surveillance

- Dependent Variables: Familiarity with technology

- Independent Variable: Support of Government Surveillance

Findings for Familiarity with Technology“From what you know, do you think the government’s surveillance programs (i.e. via the internet, drones, phones, wiretapping, etc.) violate your civil liberties?”

- P value < .05 indicating statistical significance

- Positive direction of association between familiarity with technology and belief that government surveillance violates civil rights

- Possibly skewed findings on socio economic status

Recommendations for Future Research

- Potential failings in our research:

- High concentration of college aged students(18-30).

- Poor responses to open ended and question including other.

- Other pitfalls associated with non-probability sampling.

- Recommendations for Future Research

- Use probability sampling, specifically true random sampling, to get an accurate representation of the population.

- Focus the questions on specific aspects of government surveillance and take an index to measure an overall view on privacy rights

Debates on government surveillance and the scope of our right to privacy are not going away and may enter the forefront of politics in the next few decades.

References

Americans Generally Comfortable With Patriot Act. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2016, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/10858/americans-generally-comfortable-patriot-act.aspx

Fourth Amendment. (n.d.). Retrieved May 05, 2016, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourth_amendment

Kerr, O. S. (2003). Internet surveillance law after the USA PATRIOT Act: the big brother that isn't. Northwestern University Law Review, 97, 2, 607-673.