Report On The Happenings Provided By Professor Slater 's Presentation

Edward Snowden took advantage of his access the government’s vast electronic surveillance operations. Snowden had access to more sensitive information than Manning but, in his dealings so far with the Washington Post and The Guardian, he has made a key point of not releasing all the documents he had which is saving him from harsher punishment. ("What Bradley Manning Leaked.”) Many of the documents that Edward Snowden had exposed were related to our military capabilities, operations, tactics, techniques and procedures. Even a confidential Pentagon report written by military intelligence officials claims that Edward Snowden's leaks had put U.S. soldiers at serious risk and encouraged terrorists to change their strategies. ("Snowden Leaks Could Cost Military Billions: Pentagon.") However, in the middle of 2014, the NSA's director, U.S. Navy Admiral Michael S. Rogers, said that while some terrorist groups had changed their communications to avoid surveillance techniques revealed by Snowden, the damage done was not significant enough to claim it as an immediate threat or danger. Still, in February 2015, “the NSA director said that Snowden's disclosures created "blind spots" in the NSA's surveillance by revealing U.S. strategies to monitor terrorism”.( "What NSA Director Mike Rogers Doesn't

Edward Snowden is responsible for exposing these government secrets. Many call this an act of treason, but it can also be seen as an act of civil disobedience. The most peaceful nature of his rebellion, and the unconstitutional behavior that it consequentially exposed qualify his actions. Although it was wrong of him to escape the consequences of his actions by fleeing to Hong Kong, his actions were ultimately beneficial to the American public. Being spied upon by the government is a direct violation of our right to privacy, and hiding it from the public is wrong as well. From John Cassidy’s article, “Why Edward Snowden is a hero,” he quotes Ellsberg; “‘This wholesale invasion of Americans and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we are trying to protect.’” The act of bringing these facts to light is an act of trying to preserve our liberty, and that’s what civil disobedience is all about.

Edward Snowden was a former NSA contractor who leaked documents to reporter Glenn Greenwald. These documents revealed “detailed secret NSA programs and capabilities that have been and continue to be used to collect and store personal communications both within the US and abroad”. His document leaks led to many people to question their security. They have led to numerous investigations into the surveillance the U.S. is doing and violations of human rights to privacy and freedom of information. Nineteen proposals for reformation are pending in the U.S.

agents. They didn’t contain the contents of any U.S. military plans, or of any conversations between U.S. or foreign officials...But it will hardly surprise the organized terrorist groups, which already go to great lengths to avoid being monitored." (Cassidy 1). Snowden's revelations have only brought us alarming news on United States espionage upon their own people, which have individual rights to express what they wish to by the often cited First Amendment, even though they are being constantly surveyed upon sites such as Facebook and Yahoo where personal information is wholly visible by the government, even in the presence of privacy policies. Their logging of phone calls also puts many Americans at a severe risk of being targeted or put on further watch for choice words, and will not work on the intended, true terrorists to the country, as they do not use public communications system, at least not U.S. based ones. Even for the public, one will not have a phone call used for them as evidence unless it was recorded by a third party and it hints at their connection to a crime, disproving its pragmatic usage, even in higher

We all value our privacy, and we all know that privacy can conflict with other important social values. However, in this increasingly digital and technological world, we are more susceptible than ever to government intrusion of our digital communications and data. This came to light in June 2013, when former National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden revealed thousands of classified documents detailing the intrusive mass surveillance and bulk data collection of the NSA to journalists and subsequently the American public. As a result, widespread distrust and questioning of the American government’s data-collection programs grew among American citizens and bipartisan leaders who were also subject to the surveillance apparatus of the

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.

Edward Snowden released crucial information to the citizens of this country. At the time, the head of the NSA, James Clapper, committed perjury in front of Congress when testifying about the NSA surveillance program. Nothing ever happened to him. Even so, Snowden now has to hide in Russia in order to stay free, because President Obama has charged him with espionage. Snowden, performing one of the bravest acts this country has seen in its modern age, will likely never be able to return to this country until a different administration drops the charges against him.

In Edward Snowden's case, I believe that his situation will have a positive effect for the citizen's of the United States. It opened people to the fact that the NSA is indeed looking into the personal lives of not only innocent American citizens, but people all over the world.

Everyone assumes that Edward Snowden first brought to the public’s attention the actions by the National Security Agency (NSA) in the mining of public data. (The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 5, 2013). “The release of classified material was called the most significant leak in US history by Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg”. (Gellman, B., Poitras, L. 2013). This was first reported by USA Today. ( Cauley, Leslie. 2006). There was no public comment at this time and it faded from memory. Recent events by the NSA have created public outrage about this invasion of privacy and expressed incredulity at how this

After 9/11, the country was thrown into disarray and our government started to take strides trying to ensure our protection. We all knew about the new TSA and other travel restrictions, but the National Security Agency (NSA) was not nearly as transparent. The famous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who used to work for the NSA revealed the programs bulk data collection programs. Passionate debates sparked afterwards revolving around things such as privacy and the Fourth Amendment. Those in our country felt as they had their rights violated due to the domestic data collection. This is important because these provisions were meant to protect us, and they’ve barely done that while taking draining funds and our feelings of safety.

The United States government frequently, and without any court warrants, collects phone logs of millions of people. The government also has a complicated system that keeps an in depth log of information on citizens. Privacy is a very valued part of most citizens' life. The government spying on a person is some people's(namely the older generation's) absolute worst fear. With social media on the rise, many people forty and older are horrified at the idea that their children and grandchildren are putting their whole lives out on the internet for the world to see. Many have applauded Snowden for exposing the atrocities and invasion of privacy that the government has been doing. He is now a fugitive who must hide far away from his country in Hong Kong. Edward Snowden observed that the American people were being violated and even though it would forever change his life by making him a fugitive, he made sure that everyone knew about it. Most people are understanding that national security must be increased due to the alarming increase of terrorism around the world, but now innocent Americans are taking steps to make sure that their personal information can be protected from the prying eyes of Big

This leak cost the United States millions of dollars in national security because they had to recreate a new system of collecting personal information. It is safe to say that this new system is kept top-secret, but you never know who will be the next whistle-blower. These leaks also put the United States in jeopardy of being cyber attacked. Edward Snowden even had the power to hack the president’s email if he knew what it was. After he leaked the classified documents he fled to Hong Kong and then Russia.

Thesis: In the wake of the Watergate scandal, Congress passed into law the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (“FISA”) to limit the power of the Executive Branch for the secret surveillance activities. Hence, to protect citizen privacy, FISA requires the government to attest that "the objective" of the surveillance is to gather foreign intelligence information. However, the difference between electronics surveillance conducted for national security and law enforcement purposes erected a “wall” in information sharing amid the Intelligence Community. There is an ongoing debate about the lack of information sharing to

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the

The government, specifically the NSA and Obama Administration have been embarrassed by the leaks. Their aim is to bring Snowden back to the US for prosecution and have him be the next target under the Espionage Act for whistleblowers. Under the Obama Administration there have been double the amount of people prosecuted under the act than any other previous administration in history since the enacting. (Greenberg, 2014) It seems that Snowden has seen an unfairness and gross abuse of power and has felt compelled to bring these things to light for the public interest, and for the global stage. The need for change from such actions, the employment of fear to strip the public’s rights and privacies, and the use of mining centers to take all our data to whatever government end has all been shown. They (the government) is not particularly happy with the revealed truths behind their hidden programs. The fact they label it under the Espionage Act as to say Snowden has aided our enemies in breaching national security is, to the open minded and intelligent, a cowardly move, since our “enemies” already have known