Edward Snowden is an American computer
professional, former Central Intelligence Agency employee. He leaked and disclosure
information about the American government monitors the citizens and foreign
people. He also disclosures American government monitors a telecommunication
company in China as well. They can access the phone records and crack
passwords. His words involve many organizations and governments. When he
disclosure the top-secret information about the NSA and CIA’s activities, he was
working as a contractor at NSA.
According to the “A Conversation on Privacy”,
Edward Snowed mentioned that privacy is the right of every individual. As he
said, people become more protected and concerned about their privacy recently. The
Internet is neutral, it was designed to communicate with each other, and it can
be quickly accessed, which is free open to everyone. However, there should be a
balance between individuals’ privacy and government issues, and what they can
access should ensure the safety and security of citizens. Although America is
an open society, most documents can be accessed and searched, the American
government still monitors their citizens’ privacy. If the government can use
those data to prevent a terrorist attack, there won’t be incidents like in
Paris.
According to the article “The NSA denied Hillary
a secure BlackBerry”, we can see that the FBI didn’t admit they possess the
necessary decryption keys about the wiretap of users’ communications. We know
that FBI wants Apple to decryption an iPhone 5C, but in order to protect
customers’ privacy, Apple refuse to do that. It confirms that a report said
that the FBI pushed tech companies to reveal source code. The ZDNet reports
that the US government requested the tech firms to hand over the proprietary
source code.
In this article, it said that the Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton asked in 2009 to get her blackberry cellphone more
secure, which can be difficult for hackers to turn it into a remote spying
device. But NSA denied her request. And they thought Clinton knew her
blackberry was not secure at all, but she still used that for sensitive emails.
There is no evidence that she carried her insecure blackberry into sensitive
meetings.
In the Edward Snowed’s case, part of people
said he is a hero. Based on his revelation, they begin protecting their privacy
more careful. Others think Snowed against his work and break the law. He shouldn’t
reveal the related top-secret information to everyone in the world, it is their
work and duty to monitor their citizens. As far as I can see, there should be a
balance between individual’s privacy and laws. The government should give
individuals’ a safe place to ensure their security, on the other side, citizens
still need to protect their privacy. For the Apple/Blackberry and FBI case, I don’t
think FBI has any mistakes to ask Apple to unlock a terrorist’s phone, but pushed
tech companies to reveal the proprietary source code against tech companies’ rights,
and they won’t be able to comply FBI’s demand in some ways.
Just to clarify, Snowden didn't reveal this information to everyone; he gave it to journalists to decide what to reveal. Just like the Panama Papers, journalists are left to decide what to reveal and how to write it so others understand the extent of the bad, illegal deeds. Snowden only broke the law because other whistleblowers never got the message out and their rights were trampled upon by those who controlled the rhetoric, no matter how much they lied about it.
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