I don’t
suppose that there is anyone In the developed world that hasn't heard about Snowden. In May 2013 Edward Snowden abandoned his work in NSA, traveled to China
and told journalists of The Guardian the story about his work for NSA.
The story about the Prism system shocked the world. It turned out that
the US government listens to almost every phone call and reads every email send
across the world wide web.
Government officials defended themselves
telling in every TV station in USA that it is the only way of defending their society against terrorists, that they have to know what they are planning in
order to prevent another 11th of September from ever happening
again.
The
confession of Edward Snowden caused extreme emotion. He was momentarily called
a hero by one side - especially by the Anonymous group
, and a traitor by the
other side
compared to traitors like the
Rosenberg family (they sold many US secrets to the Soviet Union).
It is bound
any doubt that his decision to leave everything he has achieved so far was an
act of courage. But I personally can’t look at him as a clearly good person. I
find it quite confusing that he presented himself as a fighter for human rights
and at the same time he asked for political asylum in countries like China,
Russia, Cuba or Venezuela, countries that are known worldwide for breaking the
most basic human rights on daily basis. What’s your opinion about Edward
Snowden? Is he a hero of your story or do you have mixed feelings like me?
The other
issue is the Prism system and the level of government incursion in our privacy.A few weeks ago we heard that the US government is listens to almost everybody’s
phone calls (even such an important people like Angela Merkel and even the Pope
himself). That means that no one is safe, no matter how high he’s position in
the society is. And now the question arises. I think that the losing some part
of our privacy is inevitable in our times.
Even more we are freely giving some part of our privacy. We post tons of
information on social portals like Facebook etc. But this is a matter for another
discussion.
Back to the
original issue. How much of our privacy are we willing to sacrifice and exchange for our safety? It is beyond
doubt that terrorist are a great threat to the western world, to our way of
life. In my opinion good intelligence is our best defense against them. We demand
from our governments that they protect us, that they will strike them first, or
in the worst case prevent them from performing another attack. On the other hand we
are outraged when we hear that the governments (not only the US government,
everybody listens to everyone these days) read our emails and listen to our phone calls.
Of course all of us will say that the
invigilation of the Internet is OK when it is directed against bad guys, but
how to distinguish one from another? Where is that thin border between normal
government peacekeeping actions and brutal incursion in our private life?
What’s your opinion on this? Or maybe you agree that we have to sacrifice a
part of our privacy in exchange for security?
Comments
Seriously though, I believe I already expressed my opinion on this matter in a previous presentation (I believe it was Armand's). So, if I am not doing anything wrong the government won't take any actions against me. In other words, I won't feel any effect from the fact, that I am being spied on. Most probably I won't even think about it and will be able to live my life how I want to. So, it doesn't change anything for me AND it allows the government to find people that could be a threat to the country, so also myself. Why would any sane person be against all this? I don't think that the government will go around and tell my personal secrets to my friends only to embarrass me, so really I don't mind being watched if that means I don't have to worry about threats.
As a general opinion I’m glad that everyone here thinks that it’s natural and inevitable that we are constantly under watch and until you don’t do anything wrong there is nothing to worry about.