The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on the American people every hour of every day. The purpose of this machine is to filter out information from emails and and phone calls that the government considers to be relevant to harm national security. Athens Drive High School is putting in cameras in every hall to account for security.

“We monitor the cameras twenty-four/seven… they’re always on,” said Officer Ide.

Ide is a school resource officer who has been working at Athens Drive High School since February 2016.

Mass surveillance has been an issue since 9/11. Since then, the National Security Agency (NSA) has taken measures to ensure public security, including a dramatic increase in surveillance. They will be surveying everything from security cameras in public places to the private emails of the average civilian.

While the NSA supports the strong government monitoring, the American people have their concerns about it. They know everything about an individual from political affiliation to sexuality.

The NSA has been accused of warrantless wiretapping of phones, abusing the power to see everything and violating people’s Fourth Amendment rights by the leader of the free world, President Donald John Trump as said in one of his tweets: “How low has President [at the time] Obama gone to [tap] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”

The Fourth Amendment protects civilians from searches and seizures without probable cause. The NSA could track a vehicle’s position via GPS for months without anyone knowing.

The NSA gives information to concerned third parties, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. With this information, the local authorities can go out and arrest perpetrators for illegal activities online. Even if said activities are on school grounds on crowded Wi-Fi networks with Virtual Private Network.

Not everywhere in Athens Drive has cameras. Some stairwells and outdoor locations don’t have cameras. In the 2016-2017 school year a student could eat outside during lunch with a pass. In the 2017-2018 school year a student can not go outside during lunch to eat anymore.

They are not allowed to eat outside anymore due to the administrators not being able to keep track of everything going on outside.

Others appreciate the new use of cameras in every hallway and stairwell.

“They’ll catch more kids skipping and doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” said Francisco Amaya, senior.