#8 Five Eyes

Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance composed of five countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The formation of this alliance is a result of World War 2. Over time this alliance has evolved into an extremely powerful coalition sharing intelligence signals to bolster national security.

There is both a positive side and a negative side to the alliance. Positively, the alliance provides the involved countries with 24/7 access to intelligence. Which gives them a leg up to enhance their ability to combat potential terrorism, cyber threats, and any organized crime. It also allows for efficient investigations, giving authorities information quickly. For national security, it aids in identifying and addressing threats to security to ensure the safety of the country and its citizens. Negatively, the alliance raises flags in the realms of privacy concerns, misuse of data, civil liberties, and the chilling effect. Increased surveillance means individual's private lives are picked apart and recorded which violates privacy rights. The collected data poses a risk of being misused either by individuals or the authorities which can lead to discrimination and even becoming a target for the government. The collection of data excessively can raise civil liberties, this creates a society where citizens are constantly on edge due to feeling they are being constantly recorded and restricted. Lastly, people do not like being constantly recorded and when they do they change how they act. The chilling effect involves when one knows they are being recorded so they may censor what they say and do to avoid being in trouble or documented. This raises a flag in freedom of creativity and expression. When whistleblower Edward Snowden unveiled the mass surveillance alliance he was charged with violating the Espionage Act and fled to Russia. He shined light on the extent of data collected by them which sparked debate on the right balance of security and individual rights. This caused an uproar.

Segmentally, the alliance has greatly impacted all sorts of people including myself. The prominence of surveillance technology can depend on social, economic, and demographic factors. Rich people have the means to afford counter-surveillance measures that mitigate the impact and exposure of their privacy. Poor people are not able to afford protective privacy measures which leads to negative surveillance effects. Older generations are not always fully up to date with new privacy and surveillance agencies and effects leading to exposure of their information without always knowing. For young people, we are more adapted to surveillance. In this new era, everything is being recorded and saved on a cloud somewhere which also makes us more aware of protecting our privacy rights. The effects on males and females are slightly similar. Males experience less intrusive surveillance nor do they tend to express much concern about privacy violations due to their "manly" persona. Females however are at higher risk of their privacy being exposed and being harassed. Females also express concern about privacy breaches constantly. Gay individuals are concerned about their privacy being breached and exposing them which would make them potential targets for harassment. Straight people face way less targeted surveillance in relation to sexual orientation. And lastly, the grand majority of people can benefit from surveillance and not be bothered whilst minorities can face increased surveillance and feel they are being racially targeted.

The impact of alliance has impacted me personally along with my family, friends, and my generation as a whole. For me personally, I am signed up for so many websites and social media apps and mistakenly my privacy has been exposed everywhere. I have gained increased awareness of this and have been censoring what I share on social media. I also have begun questioning my government because they are the ones who run these alliances and I'm concerned they misuse my data. For my family and friends, it is quite similar they are concerned with the impacts. For my generation, we have grown up being recorded and shared online. We are learning ways to counteract the constant surveillance whilst being active in advocating for better privacy laws and more transparency in surveillance practices.