Edward Snowden, the former CIA and NSA contractor who leaked classified information about the National Security Agency's wiretapping program, spoke at a Tech convention (SXSW) in Texas today via google hangouts. He had fled to Russia after leaking the NSA programs, and this was the first time he directly communicated with American citizens since then. Snowden strongly believes that people need to protect themselves from these government surveillance programs. He argued that tech companies must provide the public with encryption tools to block the NSA from looking into their private internet usage. Although tech geeks can easily protect themselves from the NSA by using complex encryption tools, the average person cannot. Snowden states that these average users should have the same protection as the tech geeks, and that tech companies need to provide them for the general public. He believes there needs to be both political change and a technological change. While the government hasn't made enough change to protect the public's privacy, he thinks tech industries can help fix the problem.
Ironically, at the same tech convention, other sessions were teaching entrepreneurs how to collect private data about users of their products, and using it for revenue. While Snowden speaks for American civil liberties, tech industries may be lured by the profit they can make by looking into private data.
The obvious question is, is this right for Snowden and Tech industries to do? Should this be seen as denying the government from protecting the country, or should this be seen as a righteous act of protecting civil liberties? Some say that the NSA has blocked many terrorist attacks through its surveillance programs, while others argue that the NSA is simply infringing on civil liberties by calling the act "national security." I personally think that it would be extremely dangerous if the general public has access to blocking the NSA, because then terrorist can easily bypass our national security. Also, should Snowden be involving private industries to fight the government's national security programs? Should tech industries use private data to profit?
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2 comments:
Obviously this is a controversial issue with no clear-cut answer. Part of me says that, for the sake of national security, government surveillance is ok. But then another part of me is pissed off at the whole violation of this principle that I should be able to enjoy my life with as much privacy as I'd like. Logically, if you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't really care if someone sneaks a peek at your cyberlife every once in a while, but again the principle of it is frustrating. When you consider the scale of the surveillance you can't help but think Big Brother is taking over, but I think it's a necessary evil. I'd rather feel safe and surveyed than at risk and unacknowledged.
Do tech industries not already use "private" data to create revenue? Many people's social security numbers are sold and can be easily accessed on the web for as little as $1. There is obviously a very fine line between feeling safe and feeling violated in this case. I agree with Quinn, if we don't have anything to hide then this wire-tapping shouldn't be a huge issue. But what about the frequency of these wire taps? What is their nature? Is the government constantly following every activity of every American on the internet? Or, as Quinn said, are they only sneaking a peek once in a while? If the government is consistently monitoring every google search, email, and Facebook message, I believe it would be a violation of privacy.
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