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Essay on freedom of press
The freedom of the press essay
The freedom of the press essay
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Journalist or Terrorist
Julian Assange an Australian editor, activist, journalist and publisher launched the WikiLeaks website in the year 2006. From that moment, the site spiraled rapidly into the limelight all over the world. It then came to be known as the most powerful whistle-blowing and also the most scandalous “media” in the online world. WikiLeaks profanes and violates the right of privacy, right of accountability and confidentiality among Information and data sharing also it has a negative impact on governments, private sectors or businesses and also individuals, there is also a big question of accountability.
Right of privacy, right of accountability and confidentiality are some of the rights that you accuire being a citizen of the country and when these rights are violated it is a offence. Certain information like the social security number or ATM pin number and banking personal data are meant to be kept secret else someone could be persecuted and harmed. But as a matter of fact now these information can be publically revealed by the wikileaks as they think that they have a right to do so. No body has the right and authority to release information publicly that is of private concern. Wikileaks does not measure the risks of its publication and the effects they can cause people. Some of the leaks are so personal that the person concern faces serious contentions from the society. Trauma is the consequence of these actions and takes time to move on from; it stays with them incessantly.
Similarly some information are kept from being publicized to the whole world by the government. Wikileaks has done otherwise: material that they disclosed to the world was sensitive material that belonged to the g...
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...of rights and freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. “ (section 1 of the canadian charter of rights and freedom) wikileaks does not measure the risks of its publication and the effects they can cause people. legislation laws and regulation are created so that society is protected and to have a better sense of accountability. When everything is exposed to the public, chaos is bound to follow. Wikileaks jeopardizes and openly defies the right of privacy, right of accountability and confidentiality among descrete information and data and also causes inconvenience to governments, private sectors and even individuals in various walks of life. after all acts of hacking into something private is inappropriate, dangerous and illegal.
...mation there, the public may never know what has actually happened without the release of all of their findings.
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Similarly, it can not be proved that the top secret programs and policies have ever served their intended purpose – to protect the United States against international threats both foreign and domestic and against terrorist attacks. The government protects itself by claiming that because information was collected on everyone, no one person was discriminated against so they can not be charged for invasion of privacy.
Julian Assange’s website, WikiLeaks made global headlines in the last few years. Assange started out by leaking documents he had acquired over the internet about banks in various European countries. Chelsea Manning, Army Private at the time stationed in Iraq joined up with Assange and delivered to him thousands of classified documents that Manning, a military intelligence analyst had access to. Manning was in contact with a former hacker named Adrian Lamo who he asked advice of, advice whether or not he should leak the documents. Manning going against Lamo’s advice of not leaking the documents caused Manning to be arrested after Lamo turned him in for the leak. This was a major blow for Wikileaks who had just lost their major source of confidential documents from the United States government. Since 9/11, the United States Government has realized that information needs to be shared among intelligence agencies in order to thwart terrorist attacks. A side effect however is that information is no longer on a need-to-know basis which made it possible for Manning to leak it all out. After receiving this confidential information, Assange began to make this information available to media outlets. Assange’s actions were morally and ethically incorrect. He should not have leaked so many classified documents especially without redacting the names of informants whose lives could have been in danger. These documents leaked by Manning to Assange were meant strictly for the eyes and ears of those who were privileged to the information, not for the front page of the New York Times. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange threatened global security as they willingly and knowingly put lives of thousands at risk by allowing the bad guys an opportunity to a...
Glenn Greenwald, a talented and widely read columnist on civil liberties for the Guardian newspaper, failed in his attempt to alarm his readers to the flagrant and widespread violations of American privacy. Although his article was full of facts, documentation, and quotes from top rank officials, the article did not convey any sense of wrong doing or outrage. Rather it was dull, lacked passion and a sense of persuasion. In fact, the only attention grabbing part in the whole article is the title.
Edward Snowden is America’s most recent controversial figure. People can’t decide if he is their hero or traitor. Nevertheless, his leaks on the U.S. government surveillance program, PRISM, demand an explanation. Many American citizens have been enraged by the thought of the government tracing their telecommunication systems. According to factbrowser.com 54% of internet users would rather have more online privacy, even at the risk of security (Facts Tagged with Privacy). They say it is an infringement on their privacy rights of the constitution. However, some of them don’t mind; they believe it will help thwart the acts of terrorists. Both sides make a good point, but the inevitable future is one where the government is adapting as technology is changing. In order for us to continue living in the new digital decade, we must accept the government’s ability to surveil us.
Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the extent of the N.S.A breaches of American privacy and in doing so, became ostracized by the media and barred from freely reentering America, his home country.
The mainstream thought, between the governments of the United States and other world leaders is that WikiLeaks is a terrible website for divulging state secrets and threatening national security. Even China, on the opposite side of international arguments from the United States tries to block the website. If two countries in a fight for global influence both hate a website then it is by far against the mainstream. Anonymous being a friend of the WikiLeaks is the counter-culture for being an ally for what many people view as a threatening website. WikiLeaks believes it was acting as the moral authority.
“The logic at first was, since people have nothing to hide, they allow the government to spy on them with whatever resources deemed necessary. Unfortunately in time, you will have nothing to hide, because the agencies at all levels will already have everything documented: (Mosca 2). It doesn’t
The U.S is at war and it has just escalated and no one knows much about the specifics. Now someone has exposed documents portraying the horrible civilian casualties and some of the unjust activities. This information helps to expose the inhumane way that the war was being conducted and forces a change in policy. This is what whistleblowers do; expose governments for what they are hiding. Julian Assange is one of these whistleblowers and the creator and main editor of Wikileaks (an organization built around exposing governments and businesses for their secrets). He is justified because he leaked a video showing reporters being mowed down with gunfire in Afghanistan. In addition, he leaked important documents detailing the civilian casualties of the Iraq war and the Afghanistan War. Although people say that he is endangering the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is not because the documents detail only the events of the war and the estimated
Edward Snowden is a former employee of the CIA and the NSA. This person has disclosed secret information about US intelligence surveillance of citizens to everyday people around the world. Thus, there occurred a question whether Snowden a traitor or patriot. Although the debate on this subject continues, now there are many people living in the USA and the Europe who are ready to support the whistleblower. It is evident that Snowden is a patriot because a concept of American patriotism is concluded in a support and intensification of the real democratic choice in modern society.
It is reasonable to argue that, governmental institutions or people with authority are subject to withhold a great deal of information from society. Many may argue that secrets are kept to ensure the safety of the nation. Thus, upholding the governmental duty of protecting the nation against possible threats. On the other hand, many believe that secrets may exist which violate our constitutional rights. Over the last year, Edward Snowden, has made headline news for leaking sensitive governmental information to the press. Edward Snowden is a 29-year-old high school drop-out, who was a tech specialist for the National Security Association. Snowden had discovered and later exposed the NSA for monitoring the nations e-mails, phone calls, and internet searches. As the allegations spread like wild fire, Edward Snowden sought asylum in Russia for one year. Snowden had a valid and justifiable reason to expose the NSA to the world because they were in violation of our fourth Amendment rights to unreasonable searches and seizures. The government called him a traitor, while others viewed him as a hero for exposing the government. Edward Snowden is a whistle blower because he felt that it is up to society to decide if governmental practices are just or unjust. Snowden does “express the highest respect for the law”, and he wanted to protect the right of privacy for American citizens.
All over the world there are corrupt governments. Looking back into other secret records, there was hidden funding of Nazi Germany. Gold was being sold and smuggled to help them fund their operations by places such as Sweden. Sweden was supposed to remain a neutral country through out the war but it was later found out that that was not true. Over the years “Sweden conducted extensive trade with the Nazis, primarily in iron ore and ball bearings that were critical parts of Germany's war effort.” (Nazi gold went to Sweden 1). This neutral country kept those records a secret for many years. Even an American based bank help to fund the war efforts, of a country the United States was at war against. Chase Manhattan helped Nazi Germany excel at war efforts because “the bank offered to block both American and Jewish bank accounts, after talks with Chase Manhattan Corp” (Chase funneled Funds to Nazis). They were blocking the assets people of this country needed in order to promote the genocide in the opposing country. This knowledge was obviously not released to the public at the time it was happening since this is basically an act of treason. These two examples show that secrets do not only hide directly within the government but also in its counter parts. The way these bodies of people handle some of the information they receive is in no way helping those who deserve to know it. Secrecy has always been a trend in many
Nevertheless, Wikileaks makes the governments of many nations feel stressed when their secrets are being posted on Wikileaks without their awareness. For these governments, especially the U.S, Wikileaks is a terrorist organization that makes their societies be out of their control. Many Americans support Wikileaks because they believe that it is protected by the First Amendment, the right to Free Speech and Freedom of the Press. However, because of national security, many legislators have discussed curtailing the First Amendment to prevent Wikilea...