"You think you've private lives, Think nothing of the kind, There is no true escape, I'm watching all the time."--Judas Priest

“Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.”
~John Perry Barlow

With all of the media frenzy surrounding the George Zimmerman acquittal, and the endless (and constantly repetitive) debate from writers, political activists, protesters, and typical attention seekers, there is a story that has been slowly unfolding that has been largely ignored by the general public.  Ignoring this story is a mistake because it directly affects us all.

The story begins with a young man, and high school drop out, who worked at the Central Intelligence Agency, and later as a consultant for the National Security Administration (NSA).

This man is Edward Snowden. As if from a spy movie, Snowden is currently being chased around the globe by the U.S. government for the alleged crime of espionage and theft of government property.

Why should Snowden’s story be of concern to us?

To begin with, he was able to access a voluminous amount of records containing confidential information regarding individuals and entities throughout the world. These records are of consequence because they were obtained by the NSA via spying activities. One high school drop out with high level governmental access and computer skills was able to get this information.  How easy is it for anyone else, who has similar access, to obtain classified information?

Snowden’s release of the information he obtained caused chaos, and embarrassment by the U.S. government because very personal and confidential information was obtained about individuals around the world. Finding out that a foreign government has personal and detailed information about individuals worldwide, without exception, always causes great concern by the governments of other nations.

Snowden has exposed explicit and far reaching details that have led the U.S. to conduct a massive, international manhunt.  It is pretty clear, that Snowden will never live in the U.S. as a free man again.

 Snowden indicates that what he shockingly discovered is that even ordinary citizens who are not doing anything “wrong,” are being “watched and recorded.” According to Snowden, there has been a massive effort by the NSA to track phone calls and emails of virtually all Americans.

Not just suspected terrorists and criminals are being watched by the U.S. government, as an average U.S. citizen would reasonably think, but information is being obtained and stored about “average citizens” like you and I. As an example, Snowden leaked documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post showing that the U.S. stores data on essentially every call made on U.S. soil.  Further, the U.S. government has access to the servers of nine major Internet companies through a classified program called “Prism.” Complete access to internet communications by literally everyone is not a problem at all for the NSA.

Snowden told the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom that he has access to the full rosters of everyone working at the NSA, the entire intelligence community and undercover assets around the world.  “I can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they are secretly building.”

Further disclosures, according the New York Daily News, also indicate that British Intelligence is involved in similar data gatherings as well as U.S. hacking of computers in Hong Kong and China.

Interestingly, several Latin American countries have offered to allow Snowden to live in their countries and grant political asylum. Why these countries, like Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua for example, agree to offer asylum is not exactly certain---other than Snowden has information regarding intelligence gathering that is extremely troubling and of concern to these countries.

The obstacle that Snowden has is that none of these Latin American countries can be reached by direct commercial flight from Moscow; thus, Snowden is at risk that his plane will be forced down by fighter jets if his flight path crosses the airspace of a country willing to help extradite him to the U.S.

Snowden’s series of leaks to The Guardian and The Washington Post triggered an ongoing debate about the tradeoff between personal privacy and national security. The U.S. government’s response is that Snowden committed espionage and must be immediately brought to justice in the United States.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted Russian President Vladimir Putting, accusing him of “sticking a finger” in America’s eye by allowing Snowden to land in Moscow.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) scoffed at Snowden’s claim of being a rights crusader. “The freedom trail is not exactly China-Russia-Cuba-Venezuela, so I hope we’ll chase him to the ends of the Earth, bring him to justice and let the Russians know there’ll be consequences if they harbor this guy.”

While there are those who agree with the espionage charges brought against Snowden, there are also a great many who believe that Snowden is a hero for shining light on what may be considered grand scale illegal activity by the United States with the excuse of protecting U.S. Citizens.

At the beginning of the U.S. chase for Snowden, he traveled to Hong Kong. The U.S. formally asked Hong Kong authorities to arrest Snowden on charges of theft of government property and two violations of the Espionage Act.

The Hong Kong government explained that due to a technicality, it would not turn over Snowden because the U.S. request “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.” This denial of the U.S. request, most believe, is a direct result of Snowden’s disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China, which China’s Xinhua News Agency indicates has “put Washington in a really awkward situation.”

After leaving Hong Kong, Snowden traveled to Moscow, Russia.

He is currently located at the Moscow Airport and is not subject to extradition by the United States due to a technical law cited by the Russians that prohibits the extradition of persons while they are at the airport.  As of today, it has been reported that Snowden is seeking asylum in Moscow, and by all accounts, much to the aggravation of the United States, it looks like he is going to get it.  The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated that it will not torture or execute Snowden if he is returned to the U.S. Notwithstanding this announcement; Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Whether you consider Snowden a hero for exposing the magnitude of information gathering that is occurring on everyday people, who have not been accused or suspected of any crime; or, you consider Snowden a traitor for sharing secretive information with the world, there are two questions that I repeatedly asked myself while researching the Snowden story: 1) how is it that easy for a U.S. citizen to get top secret confidential information about international spying and intelligence gathering; and 2) does the ends justify the means in every situation, especially when the right to privacy is without a doubt being disregarded?

A Gallup poll conducted June 10-11, 2013 showed 44 percent of Americans thought it was right for Snowden to share the information with the press while 42 percent thought it was wrong. A USA Today/Pew Research poll conducted June 12-16, 2013 found that 49 percent thought the release of the information served the public interest while 44 percent thought it harmed it.

As the polls referenced above show, there are compelling arguments on all sides whether Snowden is a hero or traitor. What matters most is how much of the right to privacy granted to every citizen of the U.S. ultimately matters to a citizen, versus how much a citizen believes that loss of privacy ultimately makes the world a safer place to live.

~Leonardo G. Renaud