Edward Snowden: traitor or
hero?
Source:https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/648888480974508032/66_cUYfj_400x400.jpg
Who is Edward Snowden ?
Edward Joseph Snowden –an American technical specialist, special agent,
ex-employee of CIA, NSA USA. At the beginning of 2013 Snowden conveyed to
newspapers, the Guardian and the Washington Post, NSA secret information related to total
surveillance of the American special services, information about PRISM project
and also X-Keyscore and Tempora. According to Pentagon, he stole 1,7 billion
secret files, most of them contained information about important military
operations of USA army, marines, air forces and fleet. Because of it , 14 Jun
2013 Snowden was charged with espionage and abduction of the state property.
After that the USA issued an international search warrant. He ran from USA to Hong Kong
and next to Russia, where he lived at the airport for more than a month. 1
August 2013 he received a temporary asylum in the Russian Federation. Now he
lives in Russia in Moskov but his exact location
is unknown for safety reasons.
What disappointed Edward in work of
special services?
During the work for special services Edward got more and more
disappointed in their actions. When he was in Geneva, he saw how CIA operatives
recruits new informants. CIA employees got drunk a Swiss banker and persuaded him
to drive home. When the banker was arrested, operatives offered him help in
exchange for the bank secret information.
“Much of what I saw in Geneva really
disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in
the world... I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more
harm than good ”
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22837100
It was the first time when he thought about disclosing
secrets of special services, but didn’t do that.
“Most of the secrets the CIA has are about
people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures
that I thought could endanger anyone ”
Source: The Snowden Files: The Inside
Story of the World's Most Wanted Man
·
He revealed fact about espionage in 60 countries for over
a billion people by government.
·
Information about PRISM program. PRISM program:
mass surveillance of the negotiations of Americans and foreigners, “listening”
telephone and Internet. PRISM allows to read e-mails, listen voice chats and
watch video chats, watch photos, videos,
other details from social media. Members of PRISM: Microsoft (Hotmail), Google (Gmail), Yahoo!,
Facebook, YouTube, Skype, Apple.
·
He handed over a copy of the court order which obliged
the mobile operator Verizon to give information(metadata of calls) to NSA every
day.
·
Edward made public the information about the British
program Tempora. Also he said that he didn’t use IPhone because Apple
preinstall soft, which allows them to spy on people.
·
He disclosed information, that British special
services spy on foreign politicians and officials.Comment of Snowden about
his actions :
“I
carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was
legitimately in the public interest… There are all sorts of documents that
would have made a big impact that I didn’t turn over, because harming people
isn’t my goal. Transparency is.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance
Questions :
1.
What do you think about him?
2.
What do you think about government hackers and
their actions?
3.
If you were him, would you disclose such information or no? Why?
Source :
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD,_%D0%AD%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4
Comments
When it comes to the Snowden it's really hard to me to judge him. No one knows his real story, but from judging from we know officially he seems like a good person.
The NSA and the other government agencies should explain people their actions, how they increase people safety and the real threats. This behavior would help people understand.
It's hard to say how I would behave. He risked his own life in favor of the people awareness. It makes him a hero.
Cyber warfare is one of the most dangerous threats nowadays, hackers and cyber security experts who work for governments can really influence fate of the world, we had an example of such actions during U.S presidential elections in 2016. However, I believe that governments hackers contribute to counter-terrorism and other actions which protect people.
Taking the circumstances into consideration I would also disclose this kind of information but I definitely wouldn’t seek for asylum in Russia afterwards.
It’s hard to judge a person who did what Edward did. He’s a hero and a traitor at the same time. I respect him for reviewing documents to not cause harm to individuals, unlike what WikiLeaks did.
If I was him, I would not disclose government top secret files and operations. Instead, I would try to build up my influence over the years to reduce the espionage from within.
Last but not least, I believe you misinterpreted or exaggerated some of the claims about PRISM. NSA had different „level of backdoor access” for different companies. Some of them (Google, Facebook) would give more access, while others (Apple, Microsoft) would give less.
I would not consider him a hacker, rather a whistleblower. I am neutral towards hackers, but since there is nothing to hide, I would not mind if someone else was brought to "clean water."
If I thought it was unfair to other people, yes. I believe that this information should be at the very beginning during the installation of the program, but we were not informed that our information can be used for personal purposes.
I believe that they should be as much as possible but they should not disclose all information, although thanks to them, a lot of good is also happening.
I would not do it, the most important thing that would make me decide to protect my closest people because I know that I would certainly put her at risk by revealing this information.
Unfortunately, the expression of truth is often difficult.
The hackers are two groups, those who work to help humanity and those who help the criminals reach their dirty goals.
If I were, I would not disclose this information, because when we sign the employment contract in a company, we must be committed to the rules governing the maintenance of the company's internal information, otherwise we have the right to not sign the contract.
On the one hand, the government wants us to be safe and invigilates us at every step, even in the network. However, this violates our privacy - our conversations, webcams. Certainly, confidence in the government does not increase.
It's hard for me to put myself in his place. For sure without a big plan I would not do anything that I would not be sure, but giving the world such information, we can change something for the better. I watched a movie about him and I recommend him to everyone.
I think that Snowden is an example of how make right decisions, when you understand that people you trust lying and betraying about what that do.
2. What do you think about government hackers and their actions?
Government need hackers to prevent terrorism, but they should check only suspects and not every message that we send online. Because you can just make a bad joke, and 1 hour after people can come to you and say that you planning violence act.
3. If you were him, would you disclose such information or no? Why?
If I did have a good plan, as Snowden had, I probably could try to do this. But I definitely would check all possibilities of how to escape from internal security services.
I consider that Edward Snowden is an incredible person. He found the courage to go against his country but to follow his conscience and honesty.
2. What do you think about government hackers and their actions?
It's a difficult question. Of course, a person should have a personal life and personal space, and it is very dishonorable to violate these boundaries. But at the same time, this control helps to protect people. It is not possible to let go the situation. Chances are that chaos and anarchy will begin.
3. If you were him, would you disclose such information or no? Why?
I don't know if I could do this. Certainly, he also thought about this step for a long time. But now his life is in constant tension. From revenge, he is protected only by the fact that his country has rivals. But even they can betray him at any time, for some agreement that is beneficial for them.