Research Paper On Edward Snowden

Whether it is calling someone on your phone or online shopping on the computer, people are more connected than ever to the internet. However, a person might be oblivious to the fact that they are being watched using these technologies. The NSA (National Security Agency) is an intelligence organization for the U.S. to protect information systems and foreign intelligence information. Recently the NSA has been accused of invading personal privacy through web encryption, tracking, and using personal information for their own uses and without permission. The surveillance of the NSA produces unlawful invasion of privacy causing an unsecure nation.

Ever since the American public was made aware of the United States government’s surveillance policies, it has been a hotly debated issue across the nation. In 2013, it was revealed that the NSA had, for some time, been collecting data on American citizens, in terms of everything from their Internet history to their phone records. When the story broke, it was a huge talking point, not only across the country, but also throughout the world. The man who introduced Americans to this idea was Edward Snowden.

NSA claim that the data they gather is to ensure they succeed in preventing any terrorist attacks following 9/11, declaring it is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack and therefore they need access to the entire haystack. They argue that this data is vital and has been used to preclude fifty-four terrorist schemes in the recent years. Following investigation, it was proven that only four of these mentioned plots were in fact real. Eventually the deputy NSA director, John Inglis, admitted to there being a total of one plot prevented from the piles of public data stored. The CIA and NSA also stated that much of their information gathered was by default and denied that it was being used for anything or was being picked apart by professional coders and hackers working for the

The NSA (National Security Agency) was established by order of President Truman. The decision followed the development in breaking German and Japanese codes during WWII that contributed to allied victories and successful missions. The NSA was a means of continuing code-breaking work of the post-war era (The NSA 2016). Henceforth, the agency’s focus has shifted from individual suspicion to a large systematic practice of collecting mass data. Pressure to reduce fear of attacks has led the federal government to increase surveillance to combat terrorism. In the last decade, it has become increasingly normal for civil liberties to be eroded and government agencies to spy on citizens to collect and store their personal information.

Edward Snowden is a controversial topic to discuss. Some consider him a patriot, while others deem him a traitor. To properly make that choice, one must know the complete backstory and all of the facts. Snowden leaked government secrets to the public. In my opinion, Snowden is not a traitor, I believe we have the right to know that the government is spying on us.

“I think it’s ridiculous for a citizen of a country that views his government’s duty to protect me, protect all of us from evil, from harm, from terrorists, from foreign powers meaning ill — to classify a body of government that is designed to figure out what might hit us next and prevent it, throwing them into an evil bucket is just thoughtless,” Max Levchin, PayPal’s co-founder told the press regarding the NSA spying scandal1. Pandemonium struck once a man leaked to the world that the NSA was spying on people through their electronics. The people could only imagine what kind of information had been seen by the government. However, this was being done to protect them from terroristic threats. Honestly, there is no legitimate reason to be afraid of this. The NSA should be allowed to spy on the technology and social media of American citizens.

The United States has a set of political institutions empowered to, among other things, defend the nation's common good. Defending the common good requires espionage and other forms of state secrecy. In the post-9/11 world — a world in which we know that terrorists, acting independently from governments, will do everything in their power to inflict maximum, indiscriminate harm on the United States and its citizens — defending the common good will require a degree of domestic as well as foreign surveillance. [The Week]

The National Security Agency does not have any restrictions on the use of data, and former Obama administration officials said the agency collected data from both Americans and foreigners. The data links phone numbers and e-mails directly or indirectly to a person or organization that is of foreign interest. Almost all information about the National Security Agency’s operations is hidden. The limitations concerning Americans was decided in secret. The Justice Department and the Pentagon allowed for the National Security Agency to create contact chains including the timing, location and other details of calls and e-mails, but not the content (James Risen, Laura Poitras).

Headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA), employees a multitude of employees consisting of computer scientists, analysists, linguists, voice interceptors and mathematicians. (Factory, T.S. Nova, 2009) The scope of what happens behind closed doors at the National Security Agency is mind boggling. The average citizen could not even begin to apprehend the complex work these professional complete in a normal work week. The employees at the National Security Agency monitor terrorist by intercepting and interpreting phone calls, e-mails, webmail, monitors social media and website sites. Nova’s program “The Spy Factory” explores how safe is our county when it comes to terrorism. Nova brings up some interesting facts that are chilling and make you think, are we really safe in America?

Snowden along with two others, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, are just a few of many people who have released documents changing our views on the government. All of these men leaked top secret documents hidden from the world by the NSA. They all showed what the NSA is really like.

A number of the operations the NSA does are clandestine and obscure by the overall population. They are given this sanction by the administration to guarantee insurance of the US from terrorism and different dangers. The office regularly utilizes tame approaches to gather data on remote knowledge including electronic frameworks irritating, tapping phone records, and subverting through subversive programming. Mass reconnaissance of the United States is likewise a practice utilized by Security Agency, gathering and putting away all telephone records of all American subjects.

Edward Snowden, was a former US(NSA) contractor, now lives in Russia after fleeing the United States via Hong Kong in May, having revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence.

To wrap it all up Edward Snowden is a traitor. He has violated the trust the CIA, NSA, and his bosses had in him to keep this information a secret. This means he has put us citizens in danger. Some might think that his spreading of this information is heroic. However, now that this information has been released there is a greater possibility that it could fall into the wrong hands and families would be put in danger of terrorist attacks. Now he is on the run and the U.S. government must catch him before he and the information he leaked are captured by terrorists and America’s

Have you ever thought that the government may be watching you? Well, you’re not wrong. Back in 2013 an NSA analyst named Edward Snowden leaked more than 1.7 million classified NSA documents saying that they were watching the American public in search for terrorists with a program called PRISM that was put into place after the 9/11 attacks. The public may not know this but congress deemed this legal to find terrorists planning future attacks on the U.S. After this leaked information was released to the public by Edward Snowden, Snowden flew to China in search for asylum and then to Russia for asylum since China denied him it. He had to do this because if he went back to the U.S. he would be hanged for treason.

GCHQ probably has the largest network interception program anywhere in the world and is called TEMPORA and is his first full interception of the world, and this includes additional content metadata throughout.