Some people believe that governments have the right to monitor phone calls and messages to prevent terrorist attacks, while others believe that this is a clear violation of human rights of privacy. I believe that governments should not be allowed to practice this type of surveillance under any circumstances.
On the one hand, telephone monitoring by authorities could help in reducing the rate of crimes dramatically, due to the fact that, with modern technologies and algorithms, many suspicious activities could be anticipated, alerting the responsible departments to take early actions preventing crimes. Besides that, it could aid health care system in natural disaster situations. For example, when an earthquake occurs, it is hard to detect people’s locations, or which area needs emergency aid first, so, in the presence of a monitoring system, they will be able to locate people in distress or under the rubble and send rescue teams at a faster rate.
On the other hand, surveillance is a direct violation of the human right to privacy, which could backfire on the current systems all over the globe for many reasons; firstly, authorities may use these systems in discovering politicians and decision-makers secrets; as a result, they could blackmail them and turn countries into dictatorships instead of democracies. Secondly, criminals may create or use different methods of communication. For example, they could use old ways like letters, pigeons, or coded messages that could surpass the systems.
In conclusion, government surveillance could stop terrorist attacks, although it could lead to dictatorship government. I believe that the negatives of monitoring phone calls and messages surpass their positive effects.