EOTO 2: Five Eyes

 The five eyes is not actually something that has five eyes. The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between five countries: United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 

It all began with the UKUSA agreement in 1946 and it still stand to this day. It was created for cooperative signals intelligence sharing among these nations. The alliance is known for its close collaboration in intelligence gathering and sharing. Its primary goal is to gather, analyze, and share critical intelligence, particularly related to national security, terrorism, and military threats. It is one of the most significant intelligence-sharing arrangements in history!

The alliance however does not just stop at these five countries. You have the Nine Eyes which is the original five plus Denmark, France, The Netherlands, and Norway. Wait it doesn't stop there either there are Fourteen Eyes, which is the Nine eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, and finally Spain. These alliances all enhance global surveillance capabilities; they also spark debates about privacy and the boundaries of national security.

You may think this is a very good alliance for us because we can find out information very easily but what does this alliance mean for civilians of these countries. The alliance does uphold national security and tackles global threats, which contributes to our safety. The price that we pay through is our privacy. The secrecy surrounding the intelligence-sharing activities of the Five Eyes countries makes it difficult for the public to know how their data is being used and whether it is being exploited for purposes beyond security.

If a country belongs to this alliance they could spy on another countries citizens and share what they find. For example, if it is illegal for a country like the United States to spy on its own citizens, it could potentially circumvent that limitation by requesting information from its Five Eyes partners. These nations can collect data on foreign individuals or their own citizens, and share that data freely through the alliance. This is how the loophole of spying came into play. Instead of directly violating domestic laws by surveilling their own people, governments can use the intelligence of foreign nations to monitor communications, track movements, and gather other forms of data without formally breaching national privacy protections. It's a way of sidestepping domestic legal frameworks while still collecting valuable intelligence.

Now this alliance is not all bad and is very helpful in many other ways. It advances our technology and cybersecurity, by allowing joint work to be done. Coordinating on issues like hacking, cyber espionage, and digital warfare enables member states to develop stronger defenses against evolving threats. It also allows for a stronger military alliance between these countries, and the cooperation contributes to regional stability, particularly in conflict zones.

I personally believe this alliance is a good thing for society but it really makes me question if I have ever been spied on.  The alliance could really come in handy if another world war starts because we would have many alliances, but part of the alliance being a thing is to help prevent anything like that from happening.