Edward Snowden, the People’s Hero

Abstract

Edward Snowden, an employee of the national security agency (NSA), made history after he made a discovery of a secret surveillance program conducted on the citizens of America and Europe by the American government. After the discovery of working together with a journalist from top media houses in America that is the guardian and the Washington Post, Snowden decided to leak the information; he had acquired on the surveillance program. The need for this leak was to shine a light on the citizens. to show how their government was accessing their data without their consent, which was against the law. This paper will try and deduce the benefits that the NSA leak by Snowden brought change and benefits to the people.

1.      Introduction

The national security agency (NSA) for a long time had been conducting surveillance on the citizens of America and Europe. This program was known as PRISM, and the surveillance was done by obtaining personal information of the citizens, data the sent, or shared through their phones or computers such as messages, emails, photos, videos, and phone records (Snowden, 2019). According to the law, it is a criminal act for anyone to access someone else’s data without their consent or an order from the court, and that is what NSA was doing as the program was a national secret. It is true to say that Snowden was a people’s hero as he helped put an end to the invasion of their privacy by the NSA without their consent, which was illegal.

2.      Background

In June 2013, Snowden gave the journalists he was working with access to the documents he had, which were evidence of the existence of PRISM. The journalists started publishing articles and reports about the program exposing it to the public. On 9^th June 2013, Edward Snowden, the man behind the leak, appeared on a video interview with the Guardian journalist where he gave a clear definition of the program, its activities and how it invaded the privacy of the citizens (Snowden, 2019). This action by Snowden gave credibility to the articles the journalists wrote on PRISM as he was a credible source of information.

Through the revelation of the PRISM program, it also exposed other surveillance programs that were spying on the citizens without their knowledge, such as the Boundless Informant and the BULLRUN programs (Verble, 2014). The NSA claimed that the PRISM program was formulated to prevent terrorist attacks on America and to enhance security by tracking messages and emails that seemed suspicious. The public was angered and disappointed by the government, which led to protests and demonstrations. To the government, Snowden was labeled as a traitor who committed espionage crimes on the country, which he will be charged with if arrested, but on the other hand, Snowden is a hero to most of the people as he did something that no one else could do.

3.      Research methodology

In this project, qualitative research will be carried out to find out the benefits that came with the leak by Snowden on the citizens. It will involve using other scholar material on the subject and interview a few citizens on their thought about Snowden and what he did. The focus of the research will be to clearly outline the feelings of the citizen on the government spying on them and if they believe Snowden to be a traitor as the government claims.

3.1 The research question

Did the government have the right to spy on its citizens through the PRISM program, and did Edward Snowden do the right thing to expose the program?

4.      Findings

According to the government, Snowden was a traitor of the country who exposed the countries confidential information to the world, exposing the security of the nation. While on the other hand, most of the citizens who participated in my interview 90% of them felt that the government had no obligation of spying on them as invading their privacy all In the name of national security and that Snowden did the right thing in exposing the program. The remaining 10% felt that it was not the right thing to do as it could have endangered the country’s security systems. The view of the majority was that Snowden was a hero to them no matter what the government said or labeled him.

5.      Summary

The reason that made Snowden be labeled as a hero is that after the expose or leaked happened, the government has formulated new laws that protect the privacy of personal data and information. It also increased awareness of the government of America on the need for transparency, following the rule of law and accountability to prevent resistance and to destabilize the peace of the country. It also gave the citizens a new knowledge of how to encrypt their messages to avoid an invasion of their privacy.