Edward Snowden: Leaks That Exposed USy Program

Discussion Week #14

Edward Snowden is a former systems administrator for the CIA, who then later worked for the private intelligence contractor, Dell, which was first inside a National Security Agency outpost in Japan, and then to Hawaii. While working for different contractors and various NSA stations, at some point Snowden began downloading secret documents that pertained to U.S. intelligence activities and partnerships with foreign allies, such as data collection from U.S. telephone records and Internet activity. Due to the leakage of these documents, according to the article, “Edward Snowden: Leaks That Exposed US Spy Programme”, from BBC News, “…left the U.S. in the May after leakage to the media details of extensive internet and phone

A society where citizens, and those who have committed unforgiving acts, fear in expressing dissident thoughts. In essence, it would be dishonest to deny people their right to freedom of speech, and as said from a quote written in the article from the author Salman Rushdie, “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” With these limits, it is up to the government to decide whether an individual’s freedom of speech is offensive, or permissible, however it adds more complications due to the fact that individuals must now worry if the government’s power to restrict, maybe overused, or taken advantage of, which causes unpredictability. In summary, adding restrictions, or limitations in general would not add any benefits for the United States, and simply add more