This past Friday, I went with a friend to see “Citizenfour,” a documentary by filmmaker Laura Poitras about former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. It was a compelling film about a problem that is now contagious at the government level.

More than anything else, the film breathes transparency to a society obsessed with security. By understanding the process that Snowden, Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald went through in order to leak this information, we are able to better comprehend the aftermath that unfolded in June 2013.

While the film itself is important, one leaves the theater with a certain level of disgust. Let it be known that such behavior on the part of the CIA, NSA and even the FBI is nothing new. Spying on people’s private affairs has been a reoccurring part of our history for many decades.

The movie details how J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, made it one of his mission to spy on movie stars, politicians and prophets, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr., just to name a few. Over the last 70 years or so, this spying has evolved into what it is now.

Today, if we as American citizens buy an iPhone, iPad, a television or a computer, then what we are essentially doing is throwing the key to privacy out the window.

Privacy used to be subjective and anecdotal, regardless of your financial wealth or social status. People could choose what they did and didn’t want private. But this is no longer the case. Privacy settings are now controlled by corporations.

For example, upon making a Gmail account, one has to abide by a certain set of security standards in order to create a password. Whether it is a minimum of seven characters or it deals with case sensitivity, it is important to understand that such guidelines are created by the company which provides the service.

The constant typing-in of your birthday when your password is incorrect or answering security questions has become a way for companies to acquire personal information and data about individuals. And this data is checked over and over and over again for accuracy.

But perhaps the Gmail example is too common. Take the most recent software updates Apple put out for its iPhone. When someone is texting a friend on an iPhone and he or she hits “details” in the top right-hand corner of the screen, it takes the person to a page with location options. The first option is “Send My Current Location,” and the second invites you to share your location. The notion that a corporation is providing that option is rather sickening.

Why should you or I believe that Apple can’t already access our locations? Even the next option – “Do Not Disturb” – begs the ridiculous question of why anyone should feel obliged to tell someone, let alone a device, that they do not want to be bothered.

As far as heightened security is concerned, whether it be Transportation Security Administration in airports or cameras outside every business and shop in town, no one should be surprised by any of this. Ever since the passage of the Patriot Act following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the intelligence community has continued to spy on innocent Americans, using terrorism as its justification. In most cases, it won’t spy on you directly. Rather, it will spy on corporations – Verizon, AT&T etc. – and tap into their phone records while succeeding at invading the privacy of millions of citizens, according to the film.

If this is all in the name of safety, then since when do we as a people feel more secure when we’re spied on? Why are we safer as a society if there is a part of our government watching our every move? If the NSA monitors us, then who monitors the NSA?

The digital and social media age has become a hub for collecting data where the term “delete” no longer means anything. Privacy used to be a right and now it is a privilege. The motto of the NSA reads: “Defending Our Nation. Securing The Future.” I do not see how one can effectively defend a nation while systematically doing away with some of its core principles. Whistleblowers like Edward Snowden have come out of hiding for a reason. They understand the importance of privacy in a society dedicated to liberty, and that’s the way it should be.

Isaac Simon is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].