Analysis Of Edward Snowden

Introduction

On 6th of June 2013, breaking news appeared on ‘The Guardian’ newspaper where in the report; it revealed that the National Surveillance Agency (NSA) of the United States was collecting telephone record under top-secret court order. The next day, ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Washington Post’ reported that NSA has been assessing information and data in the system of Internet giants such as Facebook and Google under a surveillance program. Edward Snowden, on 9th of June 2013 was named to be the one who leaked the information to the newspaper when he made a debut interview from Hong Kong.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and provide justifications to support the proposition on why Edward Snowden is a moral hero. In order to do so, I will first discuss the facts of the situation and Edward Snowden’s background. His actions, reasons and impact for leaking the top-secret government surveillance program will be analysed. Moving on, I will argue that Edward Snowden is a moral hero because based on research, three theory of moral reasoning namely virtue theory, consequentialism and deontological endorsed his action. In addition, to support the proposition, Edward Snowden’s actions are justified based on the previous event of Daniel Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning .

Background and Facts

Aforementioned, is a snippet of Edward Snowden’s disclosure of mass surveillance program carried by NSA. Hence, who is Edward Snowden? Whence did he get the information of the government mass surveillance program? Edward Snowden is the answerable individual for one of the most significant leaks in the political history of the United States (US). He is a 29 years old former technical assistant for the Central of Intelligence Agency (CIA) and ...

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...le, it will result a greater good and happiness. Daniel Ellsberg is the individual who is responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers. Critics made a point which contrasted the action of Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden, the former stayed in the country and the later flew to Hong Kong and Moscow. From the former point of view himself, what Edward Snowden did is the right thing to do because it is for a greater good which is to bring a democratic movement rather that he if stayed in the US, he will spend his life in the prison and it is not something worthwhile to serve, taking into account the current state of law; corrupted.

It is clear that Edward Snowden prior to his disclosure has think about all the consequences beforehand and decided this is the righteous thing to do. I too, believe that his action is the right thing to do and will produce a greater good.