Is it OK for governments to spy or monitor citizen's communications & activities?

How does the latest leak that United States is monitoring India more than its own people go with this debate?

Well. its the kind of debate where you can't choose a side. I mean, govt is right when they say that monitoring is needed for national security and it has been so in the past. But again, compromising citizen's privacy isn't acceptable. I guess it's good old time to send letters rather than emails, if you want to keep the message private!

If this is the case, then India has to introduce two more optional languages in the education system. Lucky for Indians and our ability to learn languages; probably you can write in another Indian language and converse online, or even communicate via telephone.😘

But all fails if US government hires Indians to work in these secret agencies. 😛

breaching the privacy shouldn't be acceptable. On top of that target to monitor it for one country is even looks ridiculous.

When a hacker decode the government communications and monitor them that's illegal, and when government does it on the name of national security it is liable. Why double standards?

-CB

Government does for National(People/our) security.

crazyboyWhen a hacker decode the government communications and monitor them that's illegal, and when government does it on the name of national security it is liable. Why double standards?
CB

A Hacker misuse/reuse/waste the information but the Government will not. It is for our security.

Did Government reveal any kinda our personal information in the media? A BIG NO!

With so money news on data theft and data being shared without adequate permission I think this step is a little too irrelevant

What security can our government give that they are the one and only person who is listening to our conversation

If this assurance can be given then it is worth the interference otherwise I seldom like another listening to what I talk

I think it is unacceptable for the Government to snoop in on our private conversations. The mischief doers will always find a way to be a step ahead of the state. The people who work for the Government just don't have an incentive whose strength matches that of the criminals. The Government's basic failure comes from the fact that on one side we have people who lose almost nothing if they fail and on the other we have people whose life depends on success vs failure. The snooping initiative can probably stop a few petty crimes, but not the people who are truly determined to harm.

I don't even know how smart it is to collect so much data, leaving it open to attacks from crackers.

I think when someone uses any form of digital communication to share their views,pictures,updates and practically their whole lives they are aware that this medium is open,uncensored and doesn't offer protection as such.
So it's the person who is responsible for the same,they have risked their private information without thinking about the long term effects.
A government cannot be expected not to spy on the civilians since the same networks are used by people who are responsible for causing some serious problems.

It is also important to understand that NO GOVERNMENT has the time/money/resources to check each and every piece of information,they have to use a highly sophisticated software which tracks all the information.
Sometimes it becomes very important to spy on a civilian to gather evidence and prevent crimes and we can't expect an intel agency to wait for approvals and red-tape since the bad guys don't follow a timetable.
Covert ops are something that are prevent a high-risk situation and can avoid potential damages in the near future.They're illegal but it's better than anything else out there!It's the ONLY BEST OPTION they've got especially in time-bound risky situations.

If they were legal,then they wouldn't be covert 😁
At the same time it is important that the right people are given access to the sensitive systems so that it can be used ethically.
A willing government along-with with a set of skilled patriotic experts can ensure that our country is secure and make sure that the trade-off w.r.t. privacy is worth it. 😀