{"id":303,"date":"2015-02-09T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T01:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig210\/?p=303"},"modified":"2015-02-09T20:27:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-10T01:27:22","slug":"developing-an-opinion-on-edward-snowdens-leaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig210\/2015\/02\/09\/developing-an-opinion-on-edward-snowdens-leaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing an Opinion on Edward Snowden’s Leaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first started reading the article, my knowledge of the Snowden leak was very limited. I knew he had taken classified documents and made them available to the public so that the public would be aware of privacy violations; however, anything beyond that I had not given a great deal of thought. After reading and listening through the article, I was still left with a sense of \u201cDoes it really matter?\u201d All the article did was present to the reader that their privacy was being violated and that it was not a good thing; I never got any insight as to why violating a person\u2019s data privacy was a bad thing, instead, the idea that it was bad was forced repetitively down my throat. So I spent some time in introspection and browsing through different articles online and I developed a very basic and short list of reasons why it was a bad thing (beyond the idea of it violating the Constitution).<\/p>\n

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  1. I found a TED Talk that was given by the journalist, Glenn Greenwald, with whom Snowden confided his story. In it, he gives his argument to the people who argue \u201cWe don\u2019t actually need privacy if we are not acting like criminals.\u201d His response is to give them one of his email addresses and asks them to send him the addresses and passwords for all of their email accounts. He has never received one.<\/li>\n
  2. It leads the American public to believe that America is not as Democratic (yes I do know that we are more of a Republic than a democracy) as was once thought.<\/li>\n
  3. Snowden only took some of the classified documents\u2026there are many other secrets that are undoubtedly as bad if not worse than the documents he lifted.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My opinion on the matter is much more complex than this blog post (and my list of reasons) allows, but hopefully by pointing out that the article only tells us that the leaks are bad, and not the potential implications of the leaks, you develop an opinion that goes beyond the surface.<\/p>\n

    Greenwald’s TED Talk:<\/p>\n