I have been following the Edward Snowden story and to be honest I am really struggling to see why he decided to leak secret information about his work at the NSA.
Firstly, it was against the secrecy act that he had signed. Secondly, now he is either facing a lengthy time in prison or running from one anti-US country to another.
Although, jumping from Russia to Cuba to Venezuela sounds like quite an adventure. Hmm, maybe that’s why he did it?! An adventure not documented on a personal blog but on the front page of every newspaper in the world. Something to show the grandchildren I suppose.
For me though, it all sounds like rather a lot of effort for very little outcome. Did he want to make a change or was it just to cause embarrassment and fuss? I’m not sure.
In all honesty Edwards secrets did not come as a surprise to me. I assumed that the NSA and other government departments across the world have been monitoring and collecting online information since the first email/mobile phone…
For the everyday person in the street why would the thought of this bother you? You have nothing to hide. Also, the algorithm scanning the billions of emails sent every day does not care about your date last night or what you have planned for tea. What it does care about is terrorist attacks and government secrets. That is what I want it to care about.
So, as an everyday civilian if it has to collect my info to stop another terrorist attack – so be it.
Edward has a point that we should know what was going on but was his plight worth fighting? In my mind no. It has left him fleeing the US with is a hefty sentence opposed on him if he returns and having to hop around the world in hope of finding refuge in a country that will not post him back to the US.
All I can say is, “good luck Edward – just next time you want to leak information do it anonymously.”
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