Dbq Essay On Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden sparked huge sensational news stories and debates over the groundbreaking revelation of the massive surveillance program that was authorized by Congress and the president of the United States of America. It was formally presented as the USA PATRIOT Act by Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The PATRIOT Act was approved by a large bipartisan majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The PATRIOT Act soon went under the radar as the US went into war in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, Edward Snowden forced up the issue of civil liberties and national security once again when he released documents specifically pertaining to the National Security Agency out to The Guardian. As Edward Snowden

According to the BBC, it has become known that the NSA was responsible in the massive surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans through the PRISM progra,, not just those who have suspected links to terrorism. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo routinely provided a back door for the NSA to tap into their servers and track online communications (Document 1). This article was released about two years after the leaks when the debates over the future of the PATRIOT Act started to intensify. The National Security Agency strong armed these firms into giving up clients’ private data. No one stood in their way because the NSA had the full backing of the blinded Congress. Congress members knew of the program, but they had no knowledge of the extent to which Constitutional rights were being violated. James Clapper, former director of the NSA, repeatedly lied under oath stating that he was not aware of the routine call collections that was going on. Later, Edward Snowden’s oncoming leaks revealed to them that James Clapper had committed perjury. As the US Department of Justice reworded the PATRIOT Act, the law allocates all necessary tools to investigators to investigate any organized crimes. It removes the barrier that prevented fluid cooperation between law

Edward Snowden perfectly sums up the thought process behind the rejection of the mass surveillance: “Privacy isn’t about something to hide. Privacy is about something to protect… freedom of speech doesn’t mean much if you can’t have a quiet space… arguing that you don’t have privacy because you have nothing to hide is like arguing that you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” (Document 2). The point of view is from an ardent Libertarian that has contributed to Ron Paul’s campaign numerous times. Edward Snowden firmly believes in the right to self. His purpose was to let the detractors know Snowden’s exact motive. Because the government constantly looks over ones’ shoulder, they have to constantly be mindful of their online activity and their online footprint. The Constitution was founded upon the principles of freedom from fear of the government, but this is not the case today. Edward Snowden’s views are reciprocated by the general US population. According to the Pew Research Center, 81% of people find it unacceptable for the US to monitor citizens of their countries, 73% finds it unacceptable to monitor leaders of their country, 62% finds it unacceptable to monitor American citizens, and 64% finds it acceptable to monitor terrorist suspects (Document 5). Although the monitoring of suspected terrorists was the original intention, the power hungry intelligence agencies of