...EDWARD SNOWDEN TRAITOR OR HERO Regarding the Edward Snowden case there is a an very interesting ethical problem. Just to give us a bit of background context ; Edward Snowden was an employee of the CIA and NSA, who revealed details of several monitoring programs and American mass britanniques. For some peolpe he was considered like a hero because he has brought to light confidential information that deserves to be in the public domain and for other a villainous traitor because those put in danger his country, it is important to ask whether his revelations comes under the ethical or the legal fact. Ethical : We know that most people would feel betrayed by Edward because he released personal information about them but it was in order to prove that the US Government is recording the communications of its citizens. But it is Ethic to help other isn’t it ? Ethics are moral principles that guide the way a behaves. It issued by a business is a particular kind of policy statement. A code of ethic issued by a company is some kind of policy statement. A properly framed code is, in effect, a form of binding legislation within the company for its employees, specific sanctions for breaches of the code. If these sanctions are absent, the code is just a list of piety. The heaviest sentence usually dismissal unless a crime has been committed. Focusing on ethics, for those who feel that Snowden did was morally acceptable, calculating almost everyone has to weigh the benefits and...
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...organization of wrong doing. However, should a person who exposes wrong doing be punished? Or should they be praised and thanked? Two most recent, possibly the biggest, whistle blowing events include two individuals with high rank within the US government. The question was, should these individuals be punished for their actions? Being portrayed and explained by the mainstream media most people would say "Yes, lock him up!". With a little research, however, one might not find it necessary to punish these individuals so severely. One might even find this move, patriotic. Bradley Manning is an individual convicted of Espionage and sentenced to thirty-five years in federal prison for the largest disclosure of secret government documents. Manning was a Computer Intelligence Analyst with the United States Army. From the seat of his computer work station in Iraq, Manning had access to SIPRNET(The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network). This is the private computer network that the government uses to transmit government files around the world. With a few key strokes, Manning had access to countless "secret" government files. When these files became too much to bare, Manning felt that the public needed to know the truth in order to make formal decisions for themselves. When he made this decision, Wiki leaks was the source to whom he leaked the information to. Within a couple of months, however, he was turned in to the proper authorities, trialed and convicted. Edward Snowden...
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...Introduction Edward Snowden was born on June 21, 1983 in North Carolina. He was a high school and a community college dropout, who eventually obtained a GED. He was medically discharged from the Army Reserves after breaking both legs in an accident. Snowden studied computers during his two short stints at a community college in Maryland. Soon after, he began working for the National Security Administration (NSA) as a security guard and then secured a high paying IT position with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a federal contractor. Eventually he landed a job on a classified program back at the NSA (Edward Snowden Biography, n.d.). Accordingly, to gain access to clandestine programs and highly classified information, Snowden was granted...
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... The individual who performs an act of hacktivism is said to be a hacktivist”. Edward Snowden is an “American computer professional, former CIA employee, and former government contractor who leaked classified information from the U.S. National Security Agency in 2013”. Hacktivism has been looked at from two separate points of view. Some individuals perceive it as positive, while others negative. Edward Snowden serves as a whistleblower...
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...Whistleblowing and the global impact. Table of Contents ESSAY Introduction The importance and understanding of whistleblowing The notion of whistleblowing Whistleblowing – an act of good will Whistleblowing – an act of revenge The role of the government Government whistleblowing How Snowden formed society Introduction Whistleblowing, an act of certain controversy, has provided material for many a discussion. It has filled our newspapers, televisions and radios on a daily basis, since Wikileaks went public with its first act of exposing illegal activity. ‘Whistleblowing’ is a dynamic process involving at least three social actors; the wrongdoer, the whistleblower and the recipient, each of whom takes actions in response to the other’ (Near et al., p 509, 1996), while accepting the associated dangers and risks. Current events relating to Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning have sparked intense debate throughout the world regarding policy changes, creation of new laws and the conduct of government and corporations. It is widely agreed that whistleblowing exists and happens on a daily basis. Scholars have examined the topic over the years narrowing it down to ethnical divergences or even to how the act of wrongdoing can impact a whistleblower. The importance and understanding of whistleblowing Age has a significant impact...
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...someone a chat message, it stores your IP address of where the message was sent from, essentially telling Facebook, marketers to whom your information is sold, and the other person where you are. B. Background: The project that I have chosen is to make the viewer aware that they are vulnerable on the internet, even if they think that they are not, introduce my role model who I strive to be like one day, and explain how this all fits into the career path I have chosen. C. Edward Snowden nowadays is referred to as a “whistle-blower” because he leaked secret government documents that essentially proved that the government has been spying on its citizens for years, illegally collecting data, text messages, phone calls. But I argue that what he did made people more aware that the internet is not safe, and it kick started a movement to better hardware encryption technology, which is the field I would like to get into, or integrating seamless encryption into other existing software and technologies. D. Edward Snowden became a martyr because he shared the truth with the world that the government was spying on them, he lost his freedom because of it, I want to make encryption commonplace in his honor. E. Most of what will be talked about is the information collected by the NSA, the leaked secret documents, government created malware, and how I want to be someone who makes a difference in the world by making encryption seamless. II....
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...Edward Snowden was single handedly responsible for the largest hack in the digital age. He proved the National Security Agency was performing large scale surveillance on United States Citizens and other nations through Verizon telephone records, Google, and Facebook. In a world where a majority of Americans have a life online, this news of surveillance shook the world. And a 29 year old ex-spy for the Central Intelligence Agency and low-level contractor for Dell, Edward Snowden, was behind the leak. He has been named many different names, from hero to traitor. But what is he really? On the scale from traitor to hero, he falls in the middle, closer to the heroic side. The knowing population is divided in its stance in knowing who really is...
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...Revolutionary’s, Rioters, Anarchists and Whistleblowers. What sets them aside from everyone else? Would Antigone be classified as a rebel or a martyr or Lysisrata stoic...? In present, we have presidential nominee Bernie Sanders and whistleblower Edward Snowden among a long list of people voicing their concerns and exposing the truths of our government’s current state. Has America become so desensitized that even when all these truths have been exposed the masses still do nothing? Has one lost their social responsibility to this nation, people or the world? Antigone defied her uncle king Creon and buried her brother against the king’s wishes. Edward snowden broke the law, and showed the people the government breaking the law. How do they compare with one another; Antigone followed her moral compass believing it was wrong to leave her brother out to rot and bake in the sun, so she morally gave him burial rites. While Snowden ignited a social awakening by leaking out highly classified documents that exposed the NSA as spying on Americans and foreign countries. Is it the government’s authority whether to decide if these actions are correct or a violation of civil liberties? In the end, Antigone died achieving her moral duties. Snowden is a political refugee in Russia, and most people still...
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...Review of Issue Edward Snowden’s actions of disclosing valuable and classified NSA documents raise a number of ethical issues. Some people claim that Snowden did not do any wrong since he disclosed the wrong thing that was going on. However true that may be, this paper argues that there are better channels in which he could have used to let the cat out of the bag. Many are questioning if our government was betraying citizens because of the monitoring activity, and never revealing it. There was an absence present that lacked a legitimate procedure of informing citizens that they may be conducting unethical and unconstitutional activities. With the government’s activities set aside, the fact that he chose to reveal the classified information without following the right procedure will earn him the title of a whistleblower. A...
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...question is, how do these words correlate? The answer is simple. If we did not have security, the idea of privacy would cease to exist. In the United States, we have the freedom to communicate freely, but if we wish to keep that freedom we must accept that the government may watch over us more closely from time to time. Regardless, I believe that the government respects us when it comes to our privacy. In an article posted on The Los Angeles Times website, columnist Andrew Liepman writes about the Snowden scandal and where he believes the government should draw the line between privacy and security. In May 2013, a former CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and NSA (National Security Agency) employee named Edward Snowden deliberately disclosed classified information involving the top-secret United States and British government surveillance programs to the media. Liepman, a former CIA officer and deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, makes it clear that anyone following the Snowden, “saga,” should be made aware of two very important things. One being that, “many things need to be kept secret in today’s dangerous world, the line between “secret” and “not secret” is fuzzy rather than stark, and if the goal is security, the harsh truth is that we should often err toward more secrets rather than fewer.” Two, the government goes to great lengths to keep the lives of American people private. It was quite easy to see which side the author was leaning towards. I, on the other...
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...Technology Too Powerful? The year was 1997. The date, August 4th. Skynet, a military computer system used as a global defense network, was activated and given command over all computerized hardware and systems belonging to the United States military. The system also had control over military bombers and the US nuclear arsenal. Skynet was created to eliminate human error and respond quickly to enemy attacks. The system taught itself and by August 29th, gained artificial consciousness. The operators panicked after realizing the capabilities of Skynet and attempted to shut it down. Skynet viewed this as an attack and responded. It’s reponse was the extermination of the humans. Nuclear missiles were launched at Russia and Russia responded with a counter-attack. Over 3 billion people were killed that day. The humans were enslaved by Skynet’s army of machines but started a resistance movement. Today, we are still at battle attempting to over power the machines and regain our world. (The Terminator, 1984) The year today is 2015. We are all living outside of enslavement from machines and our world has not been destroyed by nuclear weapons. What you just read was the basis for the 1984 movie, The Terminator. Technology had been made too powerful, gained self-awareness, and took over the world. Thankfully, that is not our world. However, will it be in the future? Technology may not have progressed as fast and as far as the movie thought that it would by now, but it’s getting better by...
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...Contrary to what many people may think, online private data and cellphone meta-data is susceptible to snooping by not only government agencies and corporations, but also hackers willing to risk a prison sentence. In 2013, NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden revealed previously unknown details of global surveillance programs run by the United States' NSA in close cooperation with three partners: Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The documents leaked by Mr. Snowden revealed details about the NSA secretly tapping into Yahoo and Google data centers to collect information from millions of accounts worldwide. The shocking evidenced released by Mr. Snowden reveals that lawmakers and politicians should take greater control over how and why they are using their surveillance technologies, and question whether or not the fight against terrorism justifies the use of these surveillance programs on citizens as well. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that there be continued innovation in internet security in order to create services and products which can counter-act the use of these programs on ordinary citizens who don’t want their data accessible to anyone but themselves. Spying agencies are able to cripple the civil liberties and the right to privacy of citizens, therefore it is imperative that the government protect the rights of citizens through reforms on Surveillance Acts, but it is also equally pertinent for citizens take initiative and push for new reforms and innovation...
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...Matt Ceaglio Mrs. Biggs Government February 18, 2015 Patriot or Traitor? The United States offers us citizens with great amounts of freedoms. Every person United States citizen who lives in this country looks forward to their rights that they have been given. Don’t get me wrong, we U.S citizens are not literally free, we have many restrictions along with limitations especially involving the freedom of press and speech. A man by the name of Edward Snowden was accused of leaking information to our government, giving them the accessibility to see what we are doing on our phones, with our internet, and other social media websites. This has brought up many speculations weather this is harmful to the citizens of the United States or if it is actually protecting us. With this being said would this be considered a crime or the use of one of his freedoms? Many people get the freedom of speech mixed up with the ideas of threating someone physically and socially. In Snowden’s defense he is being considered of committing a crime that involves him violating secret information that he was trained to withhold. On NBC News he stated that he is a very patriotic man, who was also a trained spy. His explanation made me see that he is a person who cares about the public’s interest, he showed that buy having the opportunity to express that thought his freedom of press. Yes he did illegally steal confidential information but should he really be getting in trouble for something the government...
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...Cristal Zeas Professor Rogoff FYE 1320 April 1, 2014 Sharing is Caring In present day society, individuals dedicate their time to social media on the internet and electronics, towards updating statuses, rebloging pictures, favoriting videos, reading up on current events, and staying connected in general. It’s only been 25 years since Tim Burners-Lee invented the world wide web and it’s no secret that it is one of the most progressive and influential invention of our time. Dave Eggers, in his current book The Circle, foretells his version of what can happen with the growth of technology and social media and pushes our current standard of being virtually connected from the main social networks Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Tumblr. In this book, focusing on the ninth threshold of social networks and the technological self, we notice the influence of technology on societal construction and deconstruction of privacy and the nature of democracy impacting humanity’s digital life. Set in an undefined future time, Eggers’s novel tells the story of Mae Holland, a young idealist who comes to work at the Circle, an immensely powerful technology company that has conquered all its competitors by creating a single log-in for people to search, shop and socialize online. The company demands transparency in all things; two if its many slogans are “secrets are lies and privacy is theft.” Anonymity is banished; everyone’s past is revealed; everyone’s present may be broadcast live in video...
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...could affect any one by going over a classic case of an Eastern Airlines pilot .As well as considering how an individual can protect him or herself from becoming the victim when trying to blow the whistle. Under what circumstances, if any, is whistle blowing morally justified? Some people have said that whistle blowers are horrible people. I for one think that they are not. There are many good things that come from whistle blowing… Such as freedom of speech, and the closure of knowing what is happening out side of everyone’s basic life. Edward Snowden was known for “blowing the whistle on the NSA for wire tapping into our phones and e-mails” this was a major controversy for the people of America. Instead of Snowden being rewarded for what he did he was arrested. Later he was released there was a short press conference with him and he told the reporters that no one should be arrested for telling the truth. What the NSA did was horribly wrong in my eyes the people of America should have the rights to privacy, and the rights to the freedom of speech. Another major whistle blower was Julian Assange he developed the web site wikileaks. Wikileaks had information that has been held out from the people...
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