Edward Snowden was charged with
theft and violations relating to the Espionage Act after he pulled off one of the
most spectacular heists in the history of spy craft. Stores such as Michaels had their systems
hacked into. Information from customer
accounts was stolen taking their identities, unsuspecting victims buying art
and craft supplies. By using machines to
swipe credit and debit cards at a lot of
stores was putting customers at risk. The convenience of on-line banking and
on-line marketing also puts customers at risk. Coleen Rowley, FBI agent,
compared Snowden to Benjamin Franklin, who was postmaster general in 1773. He
took advantage of his position to provide letters from American officials who
were secretly collaborating with British authorities.
Edward Snowden was born June 21,
1983. He was an American computer
specialist and former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He served as a former contractor for the
National Security Agency (NSA). He became
international news when he disclosed thousands of classified documents to several
media outlets; Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, AOL, PalTalk and Yahoo. The documents revealed operational details of
global surveillance programs run by the NSA (National Security Agency) and
other governments: United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with the
cooperation of a number of businesses and European governments. The release of classified material was
referred as the most significant leak in U.S. history. Internet surveillance programs such as PRISM,
MUSCULAR, Tempora, and the large collection of U.S. and European telephone
metadata provided access to personal internet accounts. Today, smart phones, computers with web cams
and smart televisions can also provide access to personal internet accounts.
Snowden
leaked information from these documents to “The Guardian” and “The Washington
Post” while he was employed under a NSA contract. Snowden was referred to as a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a
traitor and a patriot. These
disclosures inspired debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and
brought up questions about national security and information privacy. Two court rulings brought into question NSA’s
bulk collection of telephone metadata. Snowden
brought to the attention of the public how easy it was tap into private servers
and spy on people.
Snowden was regarded as a fugitive
by American authorities who charged him with espionage. A reminder that
espionage is the practice of spying or the use of spies,
usually by governments to obtain political and military information. He was
residing in an undisclosed location Russia and sought asylum in Europe. Snowden also served as Rector of the
University of Glasgow, a three-year post.
He also served on the “Freedom of the Press Foundation board of
directors. Some of the media outlets and
politicians have called for leniency in the form of clemency, amnesty and
pardon. Otherwise his acts are being
heralded by many (Scherer, 2013).
We are being watched. The cell phone in our pockets tracks our
movements and stores that information with our service providers. Email chats and text messages map our social
relations and records our thoughts.
Credit card purchases demonstrate our spending habits and tastes. Mass transit data bases record our travel
when we board subways and buses. The
search engines we enter on our computers such as Google preserves our searches
and the information can be linked to our computers for a standard period of
nine months. Media sources have been
implementing methods to hook consumers to their internet sources such as
Instagram that posts a glimpse of the next item of possible interest in hopes
the user will continue to view the site to check the next item. Advertisements
for Candy Crush portray that they want to create an addiction to their site by
presenting the joy and excitement of playing the game.
Cyber bullying has come to attention
of many caring adults. Young people have sent incredibly inappropriate and
sadistic messages to other young people. Instead of considering the source
these impressionable viewers take the messages to heart. Young people, usually
preteen and teenagers, are susceptible to depression and feeling like their
world is crumbling down around them when they feel singled out and ridiculed.
An article written by Jennifer Latson in Psychology Today explained the painful
result of loneliness and how many people are faced with the dilemma. More and
more people are faced with heart wrenching loneliness. With the addiction of
all the social media modalities, comes a distance to other people. Was that the
overall plan of such ventures? Was the plan to create a separation? Instead of
talking on the phone, people are texting. People are gaming more, using Xboxes,
computers and other devices. Making fake friends by video chatting and playing
against each other while gaming. Existing in a virtual world can set any one up
to being cyber stalked. Cyber bullies and cyber stalkers are lurking on the
internet seeking their next victim.
Young people have been approached by
adult men who are pretending to be their age. They try to set up dates with the
unsuspecting young people. Lonely and desperate, they agree to meet the
perverts. An animal with a different name has involved human trafficking, which
is happening all over the world and even in unsuspected places such as
Michigan. People, usually young women, are being picked up and sold as sex
slaves. It can be dangerous world out there everyone. Slaves have been doing
the bidding of others throughout the history of he world and it is still
happening.
The progression of technologies continues
to add more data to the public grid, which is up for grabs for those who know
how to hack and obtain personal information.
Some of the technologies involved wearable computing devices that
monitor our pulse and other things we are doing. Surveillance cameras are rigged with facial-recognition
software. The Nordstrom and Apple retail
companies are exploring technology measure and record how long you linger
before any single display. The
possibilities are scary and our information provides for the whole enterprise
of public businesses. Our information is
wanted and used in ways that are not always in our best interests and violates
our privacy (Scherer, 2013).
The next time you swipe your card at
Walmart or Michaels for that matter keep in mind who has privy to that
information. When you look up things by
using search engines, remember that Google and other companies may be storing
your information for future surveillance or for profit interests. Snowden brought to attention how much
information was being stored by the National Security Agency along with other
governmental and private companies. We
are being watched by the very people who are supposed to be protecting us.
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