Surveillance: When does it become Big Brother-like?

The question of where the line is when it comes to infringement of an individual’s rights and liberties is one that is revisited, and revisited, without a clear answer. In fact, there may never be one. A recent examination into the NYPD’s department surveillance of Muslim students and mosques raises the question of whether one’s fundamental democratic rights are impeded with targeted surveillance of a particular group.

In response to the appeals to the Department, “Gov. Dan Malloy of Connecticut said, “I think New York has a reasonable right to be protecting itself.” At the heart of the issue is, what constitutes as “reasonable right”? What about the dignity and freedom of an ethnic group? Don’t they also have a reasonable right to protect themselves against ostracization and again, as my previous post suggests, the recurring unjust discourse? I again question the right of the state to target a certain group of people and justify stigmatization and surveillance in the name of security.

Source:

http://hudsonvalley.ynn.com/content/top_stories/576612/holder-to-investigate-nypd-surveillance/