How Edward Snowden Exposed Threats to Democracy, Liberty, Justice and Freedom
Bana Nourkeyhani 100065867
LBST 391-01 Brian Ganter October 14th 2017
The technology boom that developed roughly 20 years ago has placed us in an era unlike any other. As time has progressed and so has the technology, the dangers and risks of these advancements have become increasingly more apparent. The world took a drastic turn for the worse following the events of the 9/11 attacks that took place in New York in 2001. With this massive tragedy and threat to the American people, it is understandable that the government would take extra steps in order to ensure the safety of its citizens. This, however, does not mean that it is acceptable for the American government to take advantage of the situation by compromising the privacy of all of its citizens; rather than keeping surveillance strictly on those that are deemed as a threat. Although there are many - such as the former president of the United States, Barack Obama - that disapprove of what Edward Snowden did by exposing the NSA, I believe that what Snowden has done is truly heroic. By being a whistleblower, Snowden has demonstrated that when we lose privacy we’re also losing agency and autonomy as individuals, therefore, we are no longer free to express what we think; and this is a major threat to democracy. What was once established as liberty and freedom for citizens is now being referred to as privacy. In this essay, I will be observing the documentary film titled “Citizenfour” By Laura Poitras that focuses on Edward Snowden’s exposure of NSA documents as well as who he is. Furthermore, I will be demonstrating how the information unveiled by Snowden validates how democracy is under threat due to the overwhelming presence of power and surveillance and the lack of privacy worldwide. Lastly, I will be looking at Edward Snowden’s justification for why he did what he did. Edward Snowden was born into a family who has dedicated their entire lives to their country, all who have been employed by the federal government of the United States of America.
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An American citizen born in 1983 in North Carolina, Snowden spent 5 months in the army before breaking both his legs and being discharged as a result in 2004 (Gaskell, 2013). Snowden accepted a job at the CIA a few years later in 2006 after applying during a job fair. In 2009, Snowden began working for Dell in the NSA department and managing computer systems for a variety of government agencies (Gaskell, 2013). In 2012, he was reassigned by Dell to go to Hawaii. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew from Hawaii to Hong Kong, thus began his journey as a whistleblower. Since then, Snowden has been granted political asylum in Russia as of late 2013. However, before seeking asylum in Russia (which happened due to his passport being revoked by the U.S on his way to Ecuador), he reached out to Laura Poitras in order to publish the story and reveal the truth. In 2013, Laura Poitras - who is an American journalist, film director, and producer - began to receive emails from an anonymous source that referred to himself as “Citizenfour”. The anonymous source expressed to Poitras his intentions to publish NSA documents with her; this sparked her interest and she ultimately decided to go meet this source and to take journalist Glenn Greenwald of “The Guardian” along for the journey to Hong Kong. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, they meet Edward Snowden - previously referred to as “Citizenfour” - whom, up until recently, was working at the National Security Agency as an infrastructure analyst. Both Poitras and Greenwald were surprised that someone claiming to have such classified top-secret government surveillance scheme documents was only 29 years old (Greenwald, 2015). Snowden proceeded to take Poitras and Greenwald to his hotel room, where he will not only reveal information that will affect citizens worldwide but also make us question the democratic leaders and their actions. Throughout the documentary, he emphasized that he is not the story and that
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what is happening is not science fiction; it’s reality and it’s happening right now (Poitras, Citizenfour). What Snowden exposes in the entirety of this documentary is essentially a way of acquiring information. As mentioned in the documentary, if we take a look at the dictator's in the past, they have all gone to extreme lengths in hopes of getting general knowledge on the people that they are wanting to persuade (Poitras, Citizenfour). One of the first things that dictators such as Stalin did was to collect information on the public and that is exactly what the programs that Snowden exposed aim to accomplish. This in and of itself is one of the most major threats to our democratic governments worldwide. When asked why did he expose classified NSA documents, Snowden said that this is merely an outline to show the state power versus the people and citizens of the world. Snowden believes that justice, freedom, liberty and most importantly democracy are being threatened (Greenwald, 2015). Edward Snowden is a whistleblower by definition, but he is also a true patriot who couldn’t stand to see these massive secrets being kept from the American people as well as the rest of the world. The information that was obtained by Snowden and published by Greenwald and Poitras validates and displays the power that the state has. With great power and accessibility to an abundance of unauthorized personal information, the United States government has most certainly asserted its dominance. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, George W Bush - who was the president during this time - enforced the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is a law which grants the government immense power to collect records on any and everybody they wish to know more about (Greenwald, 2015). In its original layout, democracy is meant to consist of power that is exercised with the consent of the people, voted by the people from within the people. If the citizens are unaware of the powers the state holds, they are unable to approve of these powers
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being implemented and therefore cannot offer their consent (Urquhart, 2014). As Snowden discussed the distribution of power in “Citizenfour”, he states that “the balance of power between the citizens and government is becoming the ruling and the ruled, rather than the elected and the electorate” (Poitras, Edward Snowden, Citizenfour). This quote is an indirect way of saying that this gives the government immunity and exempts them from any punishment; with their full knowledge (Renzetti, 2015). Despite the promises made by former President Barack Obama during his campaign regarding governments spying on everyday citizens being a breach of privacy, Obama does not believe that Snowden is a patriot. On the contrary, he believes that what Snowden exposed could have been done differently and that these documents could have been examined in a more lawful manner (Greenwald, 2015). Obama continuously stressed how vital and important the role of the NSA is in keeping the country safe by spying on the entire world (Urquhart, 2014). The irony here is that the ideas put forth by the NSA under the Obama administration contradict every democratic society constitution yet they pride themselves in being a democratic nation. “When you are subverting the power of the government, that is a fundamentally dangerous thing to democracy” (Poitras, Snowden, Citizenfour). The nature of surveillance has altered excessively since 2001 to the point where it does not only change the nature of our democracy, but it also changes our capability of having control over the government as voters (Renzetti, 2014). As mentioned earlier, the Patriot Act was formed in order to tackle threats of terrorism made to the United States. Everything is said to be done in the name of national security in order to protect the citizens from dangerous sources. However, the government's justification for everything since the formation of the Patriot Act is terrorism (Greenwald, 2015). Initially, the purpose of surveillance was to keep track of those who have
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been deemed as the “bad guys”. However, surveillance has shifted its form into a tool used to keep track of virtually everyone regardless of their clean criminal and personal records (Poitras, Citizenfour). With the rapid growth of power, as well as surveillance within the American government, comes the decline of privacy and autonomy within a society that labels itself as a democratic state. What’s good about free speech if it’s not protected? Invading the privacy of citizens should be an extremely difficult task to accomplish, as it is so intrusive. The privacy of Americans, as well as citizens of the world including Canada, are violated to protect America’s security (Poitras, Citizenfour). “Privacy is the core condition of being a free person” (Greenwald, 2015, p.172). In order for any person to be a free individual, privacy is necessary for personal autonomy to be obtained. With the advancements that have been made in technology in the past century, privacy and freedom have been combined into one which is simply referred to as privacy. Taking privacy away from citizens is an immeasurable and disturbing reality that is a massive threat to democracy and autonomy. The fact that we know we are being watched and are being cautious because of it, limits our boundaries of intellectual freedom and exploration; this all became apparent with the information exposed by Edward Snowden. The question remains, why did Snowden give up a stable and good life in exchange for seeking political asylum in Russia by revealing top-secret government documents? In an episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver sat down and spoke with Snowden in Moscow Russia. In this interview, Snowden explained that he leaked the documents to give the American people the freedom and chance to decide what kind of government they want for themselves. As well, he reveals that he no longer is in possession of all the files (all of which he has read) but that he has
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given the documents to journalists and trusts that when they deem suitable and necessary to release them then they shall do just that. Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras are in possession of nearly all of the documents taken from the NSA by Snowden (Greenwald, 2015). Snowden brings to the light the reality that we - as everyday citizens - are unlikely to know what is going on in the government unless these secrets are exposed (Poitras, Citizenfour). To conclude, the trust you place in the democratic institutions of America (and the agencies that protect them) determine whether or not you categorize Edward Snowden as a hero or traitor. Many of those who currently work at the NSA, CIA and other governmental agencies consider what Snowden did as an act of betrayal. As Snowden expressed on numerous occasions, this isn’t a figment of his imagination and these are not just his issues, but these are the issues of the public and this is our current reality (Greenwald, 2015). With the overwhelming volume of information that we have been presented by Snowden, the lives of each one of us aren’t as much our own as we had previously envisioned (Renzetti, 2015). Snowden has altered the world and has engraved his name in modern history as one of the most influential figures of his generation and future generations to follow. By exposing the information he collected while working for the NSA, Snowden has strongly and vividly demonstrated how justice, liberty, freedom, and democracy are under threat. When the government stops caring that its purpose is to govern at the pleasure of the people is when it is undoubtedly clear that democracy itself is threatened. The fact of the matter is, Snowden sacrificed a good life to alert citizens in order for them to be cautious and in turn live good lives. I believe that his bravery and selflessness in exposing classified government documents further demonstrates that Edward Snowden is not just any whistleblower; he is patriotic about mankind, freedom, and democracy as a whole. Although the
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wealth of knowledge given to the public via these leaked documents makes me anxious about the future and further advancements that will be made in technology, it has also made me far more observant, alert and conscious about my daily decisions and actions. What Snowden did gives us all a moment to reflect and make decisions as autonomous individuals.
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References:
A Manifesto for the Truth by -- Antiwar.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.
Citizenfour. Dir. Laura Poitras. Perfs. Edward Snowden, and Glenn Greenwald. Radius-TWC, 2014. Documentary Film.
Dathan, Matt. "General Election: Why manifestos aren't worth the paper they're written on but the one reason why they matter more than ever to politicians." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 4 Oct. 2017.
Friedersdorf, Conor. “The NSA Leaks Are About Democracy, Not Just Privacy.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 8 Jan. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-nsa-leaks-are-about-democracy-not-just-priva cy/282902/.
Gaskell, Stephanie. "Snowden lasted 5 months in Army." POLITICO. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 23 Sept. 2017.
Greenwald, Glenn. No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state. New York, NY: Picador, 2015. Print.
LastWeekTonight. "Government Surveillance: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)." YouTube. YouTube, 05 Apr. 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
Renzetti, Elizabeth. “Snowden's message to citizens: Democracy itself is threatened.” The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail, 20 Feb. 2015, www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/snowdens-message-to-citizens-democracy-itself-is-threatene d/article23138430/?arc404=true.
The Intercept. "Edward Snowden: Whistleblowing Is Not Just Leaking - It's an Act of Political Resistance." The Intercept. N.p., 03 May 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2017.
Urquhart, Ross . “Ross Urquhart: Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know democracy's greatest threats are internal.” Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly, 3 Apr. 2014, www.straight.com/news/516561/ross-urquhart-thanks-edward-snowden-we-know-democracys-g reatest-threats-are-internal.
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