From the readings and in your opinion, is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Should the US government pardon him for any possible crimes or should they pursue extradition and prosecution for treason?
I personally think Edward Snowden is neither a hero nor a traitor in the conventional sense. If anything, I would take a stance that he is somewhere in the middle, with the needle slightly pointing to the hero side. I feel what he did was ethically and morally right. The government was clearly violating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution against illegal search and seizure, and the only reason that they were getting away with it was by not letting the common man know. By letting the world know, he made an attempt to right this wrong, which makes his actions (on paper at least), morally right.
All that being said, there was a little flaw in his implementation of letting the people know. Because he gave every document to the press, he put our national security on the line, because along with the evidence of government over-reach, there was also information on how the NSA surveillance was conducted against legitimate targets. As the article in The Diplomat states: “society has not appointed journalists or newspaper editors to decide these matters, nor are they qualified to do so”. Ironically in trying to take away some undue power from one source (the government), he gave as much (if not more) undue power to another source – the press. This certainly tarnishes his legacy; however, his end result of informing the American people in my opinion partially justifies his means. Hence, I would view him as a flawed hero.
What exactly did he leak and how did he expose that information? Regardless of the legality of his actions, is what he did ethical and moral?
Edward Snowden leaked information on illegal government over-reach. He was a defense contracter with Booz Allen Hamilton at the NSA, which gave him access to the secure artifacts that he would later leak to the press. He first leaked information on how the NSA reached out to Verizon, the cell service giant and through a secret court order to hand over phone information on over 10 million Americans on an ongoing daily basis. He followed this by giving his sources in the press, mainly The Guardian and The Washington Post, information about an online surveillance program known as Prism. Through this program the NSA was spying on the online communication of American citizens by, according to the BBC, “[tapping] directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo”. He also gave The Guardian and The Washington Post information on how the British surveillance agency ,the GCHQ, was using Prism to spy on their citizens by tapping into the servers of the same companies.
To repeat the answer to the previous question, I certainly believe that what Edward Snowden did was ethically and morally sound. In a free society, government over-reach can be a huge problem. The constitution, and the Amendments and the Bill of Rights all exist to protect us from governmental tyranny. By doing what he did, he fulfilled his duty as an American, and more importantly as a global citizen.
Ultimately, is what Snowden did beneficial to the public or did he harm the security of the United States and its allies? Personally, how have these revelations impacted you (or not) and your views on government, national security, encryption, and technology in general?
Ultimately, I feel that what Snowden did was indeed beneficial to the public overall. I don’t think that his actions were without consequence – as there was a leaking of important government secrets that hurt our national security interests. However, it was more important that the American people knew that their government was monitoring them at times illegally.
Personally, this saga certainly affected my view of security. It certainly increased security’s importance in my mind. This saga also helped me realize the importance of citizen engagement in the government and ensuring that my rights as an American citizen are protected.
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