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Edward Snowden Hero Or Traitor Essay

1097 Words5 Pages

Hero or Traitor Edward Snowden is a thirty three year old American Computer Professional who had been working for the N.S.A. (National Security Agency) as well as the C.I.A. (Central Intelligence Agency) until 2013. In June of 2013, Edward made a life changing decision by choosing to leak National Security Agency (N.S.A.) documents in Hong Kong to The Guardian and The Washington Post regarding top secret government surveillance. Not only did this leak raise debate over National Security and online privacy, but also raised the debate on whether or not Edward Snowden is a hero or traitor to American citizens. There is no doubt that Snowden should resemble a hero to American citizens. In order to understand why he should be seen as a hero, one …show more content…

operations called PRISM. PRISM is a computer program which is used to monitor private web data from companies like, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, Youtube, and others. Although this program is used to monitor foreign communication, analyst only need to be 51% sure that the material they are monitoring is foreign communication in order to access the information. The first thing PRISM violates is the collection of phone call records in order to search for possible terrorist abroad, and the second is the surveillance of online communications to and from foreign targets in order to detect suspicious behavior. Even though PRISM is doing a good thing by detecting terrorism, it is also violating American’s right to privacy by analyzing private phone records and online data without approval of the citizens. Snowden has revealed questionable activities of the government who those in power refuse to reveal to the public. Edward has jeopardized his life in order to share with the Nation what he thinks all citizens should know about the secrets our National Security Agency is hiding from us. For these reasons, Edward Snowden is a

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Similar to Assange and Snowden, Ellsberg can only be considered heroic for his actions of releasing Pentagon papers amidst the Vietnam War to inform the American public about the real ongoings of the war. US Citizens have a right to information therefore the US government must respect that right and tell them exactly what is happening during the war, even its negative, embarrassing, aspects. The Vietnam War was arguably one of America’s greatest military failures and part of the reason it was such a failure was because of President Nixon and Defense Secretary McNamaras’ repeated lies that things were going well, that America was making “progress” in fighting communism in Vietnam. Ellsberg really changed the course of the Vietnam War, by helping Americans realize it was a lost cause and that the US government and military were lying to the press and thus violating the First Amendment of the Constitution.

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Edward Snowden sparked huge sensational news stories and debates over the groundbreaking revelation of the massive surveillance program that was authorized by Congress and the president of the United States of America. It was formally presented as the USA PATRIOT Act by Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The PATRIOT Act was approved by a large bipartisan majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The PATRIOT Act soon went under the radar as the US went into war in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, Edward Snowden forced up the issue of civil liberties and national security once again when he released documents specifically pertaining to the National Security Agency out to The Guardian.

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For example, Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency for eavesdropping on Americans and people around the world, despite the possibility of being arrested and charged with heavy crimes. " So, what did the leaks tell us? First, they confirmed that the U.S. government, without obtaining any court warrants, routinely collects the phone logs of tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of Americans, who have no links to terrorism whatsoever,"(Source 3). The question is who is truly at fault? The government for doing that or Snowden for ratting them out to the public about

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505 Words | 3 Pages

Through this phenomenon, muckrakers and whistle-blowers have come to the forefront to provide the people with the information that is so often gated away. No other person in the world is more famous for this in recent memory than Edward Snowden. Snowden, former NSA associate, leaked thousands of documents pertaining to the surveillance of American citizens. This broke numerous laws and turned Snowden in a criminal. This transgression was deemed so horrible by the government that he had to flee the United States if he valued his freedom.

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As Mr. Cusick stated, what Edward Snowden failed to disclose or fail to see was the whole picture. He was not privileged to see how some aspects of information fit with others. With or without this understanding, Snowden painted a grim picture of NSA’s practices regarding the privacy millions of citizens. By doing so, he severely damaged the nations intelligence gathering capability and put the lives of many at

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249 Words | 1 Pages

I don 't think of Edward Snowden as a hero or a traitor. I do think what he did was bad he informed the general public of what the federal government is doing and the people have the right to know. If my best friend 's girlfriend was cheating on him and I told him about it does that make me a traitor? that 's an over simplified comparison but the point is that we as people of the "free world" have the right to know. The federal government should not have the ability to monitor your activity without a warrant without a just cause.

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781 Words | 4 Pages

With Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, this issue was brought into relief. Was he full of moral superiority over a gray issue, or was he "that most awkward and infuriating of creatures-- a man of conscience," as John Cassidy wrote in his article "Why Edward Snowden is a Hero." Because, while Jeffrey Toobin wrote in "Edward Snowden is No Hero" that Snowden's leak was cemented in grandiose narcissism over an issue American citizens should have already digested, wasn't it after his leak that there arose an uproar over the NSA activities, which inevitably placed a modicum of agency back in the hands of the American people? I still wonder whether my perspective would be the same had Snowden released files which did more lasting harm to national security. But in that case, would that activism now be violent, instead of

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Mr. Snowden however has been on the run since 2013 from the very country he used to call home. Mr. Snowden knew the consequences he would face, but even at that he still payed the price. Snowden sacrificed his own right to live so that his fellow citizens were aware of what there government was doing. Although many people criticized him as being a traitor, many other people saw the good in his intentions. According to biography.com “…more than 100,000 people signed an online petition asking President Obama to pardon Snowden…”, but even at that, he would still be charged.

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1280 Words | 6 Pages

Snowden, who was a computer systems contractor, worked for the National Security Agency and revealed to the public how the American Government was spying on its own citizens and foreigners. Snowden was committed to the truth which allowed him to reason and understand the difference between what is right and what is legal. Snowden was convinced that the truth requires an individual to do the right thing and not necessarily what is legal. However, doing the right thing could sometimes require an individual to break the law.

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A few weeks later, these documents were released by The Guardian, and Edward Snowden was the reliable source. Now, people all over knew that the United States Government was spying on its own people through messages, internet searches, browser history, smart T.V’s and many many more. This case is ongoing, as he seeks asylum in other countries. This newfound information raises the question, is Mr. Snowden a traitor, or did he save us all by “blowing the whistle” to warn us about the unconstitutional collection of our private possessions protected by

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604 Words | 3 Pages

What the NSA does is unconstitutional and is an invasion of everyone's privacy. Most of the people that the NSA spies on have never committed a serious crime in their lifetime. The NSA uses many different devices and systems to get their information and to spy on us. They use mobile phones and many phone apps such as Angry Birds and many more popular games.

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Shots Fired The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in which the sale, manufacture and transportation of intoxicating liquids was made illegal was a period in American history known as Prohibition. Prohibition was not the first and certainly isn’t going to be the last time alcohol consumption and the government collides. Today, many Americans are posing the question- should the minimum legal drinking age be lowered to eighteen or should it stay at the age of twenty-one? In 1984, the national minimum drinking age in the United States became twenty-one years old.

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

He is known for his part in leaking top secret NSA documents leading to revelations about the US surveillance on phone and internet communications. Snowden is now seeking asylum in Russia. He does not have the documents with him anymore as he has handed them over to First Look Media set up by Glenn Greenwald. The US government believe that the documents will never be returned to the NSA which leaves them to wonder what will be the next story to be revealed as not even the government can get access to the documents. Snowden actually tried to leave digital breadcrumbs when taking the documents so that the government would see what documents he looked at and what ones he copied and stole.

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1471 Words | 6 Pages

The main issue in the Snowden controversy is the conflicting rights of private individuals and the US government with regard to the use of telecommunications and the internet. There are ethical issues surrounding this controversy and the most applicable ethical approach for this case is “Ethics by Rights Approach”. As a background, the reason why US government had declared Edward Snowden a traitor is his involvement in the leaking of about 1.7 million confidential US documents, 15,000 Australian intelligence files and 58,000 British intelligence files from the National Security Agency (or NSA) to the public. These confidential information were acquired by the NSA through the PRISM program by collaborating with big internet companies such

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Biomedical Science fascinates me because of the complexity of the human body. Human beings depend on intelligence and immense curiosity to exist, making humans the most advanced organisms on the Earth’s soil. It astonishes my mind when learning about the large scale of different reactions taking place every second of our lives. A Biomedical scientist plays an important role in medical society. Because of the work of biomedical scientists, doctors and nurses can both diagnose and treat patients effectively.

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