Let's DISCUSS: Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden – Isolated, American Privacy

Edward Snowden is quickly becoming a household name. Snowden is a 30-year-old man, a former technical contractor for the United States National Security Agency and a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. In spring 2013, Snowden leaked details of several top-secret U.S. and British government mass surveillance programs primarily to Glenn Greenwald of London’s The Guardian. A series of exposes, published by The Guardian in June-July 2013, revealed programs such as government interception of U.S. and European telephone metadata and internet surveillance programs. These leaks are said to rank among the most significant breaches in U.S. history.

Was anyone surprised? Snowden was simply validating everything United States society should have already known about its government. The controversy is only controversial because the American people choose to pretend that they were ignorant and had no idea that an invasion of privacy by the American government was possible. As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss. I quite agree. Deep-down, the American people, probably the British, as well, knew there was a possibility that the government was watching. But, as long as the “whistleblower” wasn’t going on the record with top-secret, inside information, it wasn’t really happening.

On June 14, 2013, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. Some call him a hero, others refer to him as a traitor. Can a man really be classified as a traitor when he was trying to protect the rights of his fellow Americans? Snowden explained the leaks by saying, “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sorts of things… I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded.” Members of U.S. Congress widely viewed Snowden as a traitor, and several senators and representatives joined them in calling for Snowden’s prosecution.

Former CIA and NSA chief General Michael Hayden said, “I am convinced the more the American people know exactly what it is we are doing in this balance between privacy and security, the more they know the more comfortable they will feel.”

Former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, said, “He’s obviously violated the laws of America, for which he’s responsible, but I think the invasion of human rights and American privacy has gone too far… I think that the secrecy that has been surrounding this invasion of privacy has been excessive, so I think that the bringing of it to public notice has probably been, in the long term, beneficial.”

Snowden will, most likely, be caught. He will be prosecuted for allegedly “spying” on the American government. What we have to remember, is that although he may have been a traitor to the U.S. government, who obviously didn’t want the American people enlightened to the possibility of phone and internet surveillance, he was a hero to the American people.

Fellow whistleblower, William Binney, said Snowden had, “performed a really great public service, to begin with, by exposing these programs and making the government, in a sense, publicly accountable for what they’re doing.”

The United States needs to be held publicly accountable for what they are doing. Snowden was allegedly spying on U.S. government. If his allegations are true, the U.S. government is spying on its people. Espionage!

Sources: The Associated Press, The Guardian guardian.co.uk, CNN.com