Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Snowden, the NSA contractor who leaked information
about the NSA, has been the subject of an international manhunt and a
diplomatic nightmare since he first surfaced in early June. The United States government has issued
espionage warrants against Snowden but some things still don’t add up about the
government’s case and about Snowden himself.
Let’s review what Snowden revealed. He said the U.S. government was reading the
e-mails of American citizens in the United States. He claimed that if he had the president’s
e-mail address it would be a simple matter of reading all of his e-mails. The United States government said that was
preposterous. They claim they never look
at anyone’s e-mail inside the United States unless they have a warrant. But they claim Snowden has revealed top
secret information. If what Snowden is
saying is a lie how could he have revealed top secret information? Unless, of course, what Snowden is saying is
true.
Snowden himself has some explaining to do. Why would you leave a girlfriend in Hawaii
and a family in the D.C. area, exposing them to who knows what because of your
exploits, in exchange for a life on the run?
If your primary concern was Internet freedom why did you first seek
refuge in China, a country with the world’s worst record when it comes to
Internet freedom?
If Snowden has revealed top secret information he
gleaned as an NSA contractor to Russia or China or some other American
adversary then he’s a traitor. If what
he did was expose a snooping program that went far beyond what is legally and
constitutionally allowed then he’s a hero.
Time will tell which one he is but in the meantime he may have changed
the trajectory of technology forever.
Prior to the Snowden leaks most Americans were
unconcerned about the loss of their privacy.
Staying connected, we had rationalized, came with a price. Most never realized how high that price was. Some called me paranoid when I affixed a
strip of black tape over the camera hole on my laptop. Through something known as clickjacking, a
hacker can trick you into inadvertently giving him permission to access your
webcam by fooling you into thinking you’re just clicking to play a video. Once you’ve been duped that hacker can watch
you on your webcam. Very scary. Thousands of you are heading for the electrical
tape right now.
The net effect of the Snowden leaks may be a massive
pullback from technology. Futurists have
been predicting things like tiny chips that turn everything in your house into
an Internet-ready device. Knowing just
how pervasive spying is, not just by governments but by the big Internet
companies, gives pause to all of this innovation. If you’ve ever been snow skiing you know the
feeling of the skis getting out from under you.
It’s a helpless feeling. Right
now many of us feel like technology has gotten out from under us. We’ve lost control and it’s downright
frightening.
Technology is a wonderful thing when it’s harnessed
correctly. It can make life so much
easier, so much more fun, so much more fulfilling. When it’s out of control it can be our worst
enemy. It can be used to control our
every move, to report to the government when we’re not doing what it thinks we
ought to be doing. It can literally be
used against us in a court of law.
We may be pulling back just before disaster
strikes. If we are, we probably have
Edward Snowden to thank for it.
The government needs to be able to access anyone's email and phone records. How else can you fight crime if you cannot gather evidence. Other statistics from gathered information can be used for good as well. As long as your emails are not displayed to the public, I do not see how that is a problem. Snowden is a traitor and I am not even American. Just using common sense
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I cannot abide "Marves" comments - if we lived anywhere other than America it would be different but I believe all our countrymen need to read the declaration of independence again; should still be mandatory to recite and understand before graduating school. I do NOT want to be living in total big brother country!!!!!
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