Are We That Naive?

Photo via: Washington Post

This past weekend I had an opportunity to attend Def Con for the first time (which was amazing) and the hot topic of course was Erik Snowden, patriot or traitor. The people I spoke to at the conference seemed to agree that he wasn't a traitor but they weren't sure what to call him. I wouldn't call Snowden a traitor because he didn't leak US information to foreign enemis. Snowden would not be categorized as a patriot in my eyes. I am unsure of why I do not believe he is a patriot but I do not see him as a US hero. I believe what he did took some real courage however giving up his entire family for every American took some real balls. Snowden to me is what we call a whistleblower!

I understand the reason Snowden gave for running and leaking the Prism information. The data the NSA is collecting is wrong however are American's that naive to the fact that American Government or any government for that matter is spying on their communications. For those people who follow tech news and sometimes mainstream news know that foreign individuals are creating malware and virus to steal data about people. Maybe people just want to think that some form of their lives were private and that the government would not spy on its on citizens. If this was your thought process I feel sad for you. I look at what foreign governments are doing in Arab worlds and I think those governments have regular people just like the US does. At the end of the day these governments believe they are protecting their people and country. I bet many of the people who let Prism happen have the same believe.

If anyone uses a computer at their job, at home, a cell phone, or anything that involves the internet they must know that they have lost privacy. Just look at the free mail services that are offered on the internet. All of your messages are stored on someone else's servers, which means if someone wants to see the subject of your mail and who you are talking to they can. The people who use any cloud services must know their data lives on someone else's servers. People must rely on that companies word that they are securing your data and no one will access it unless it is an emergency. You have given up the right for privacy by using public services that you do not control. Now I know this may sound harsh but it is reality. The current generation over shares in every way. Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Blogger, Wordpress, Pintrest,Instagram, to name a few, are the social networks that people chose to broadcast their lives on. If you choose to share the information that is ok but when you find out about Prism, do not be upset, you have already put the information out in the public space. If you believe that you have set your privacy setting's so no one can look at your private data please know that the setting's are not a guarantee that it will be private. If someone truly wants to find out information about you they can. Exploits in browsers, extensive web searches, or friends who have lax privacy settings will allow unwelcome access to your data. If you want privacy don't post your life online.

Now back to Snowden and what he has done. Something that I find interesting is Snowden has released the information about Prism, which is one part of the NSA surveillance system, but has yet to truly unveil anything else which would help answer questions. Snowden say's he is holding onto most of the information to save his life, just in case the US tries to take his life. I do not see how this will truly aid him because the information needs to come out at some point in time and his asylum in Russia is only a year. Yes he can get asylum in another country but getting asylum may be difficult and getting their will be a challenge as well. If the US really wants him dead I do believe it can happen. Snowden has helped the citizens of the US by leaking tracking information data of NSA however we need more information if we are going to hold the US government accountable for their actions. If they are operating illegally how will we ever know? Snowden has already ruined/sacrificed his life however I would hate for all this information he has to be leaked by a newspaper after something has happened to him. I want to hear his full story of what is going on with NSA before he perishes and before all evidence of this program disappears. Snowden is definitely whistlblower but no patriot. 

My question is how many other American's would do what Snowden did? I do not believe many of us would give up our lives in the same manner as Snowden. I asked that question of myself and I am conflicted. Could you be the next Snowden?