Before taking this class or any privacy class I had heard about the leak Edward Snowden had released to the media and the implications it had nationally, but I had never truly understood the details or investigated exactly what everything meant. This semester I had the opportunity to take a class on privacy and security that has helped me understand the concept of privacy in today's society. Personally I could take both sides of Snowden's argument because I understand the reasons the NSA may monitor within the United States but I also see the privacy concerns citizens are affected by. My argument for the NSA is that the reason for their monitoring is national security and the surveillance of any important information to protect our country from internal threats. Many would argue that this monitoring is a breach of their privacy and they don't want an agency to be monitoring their activity. But in reality, if you are a common citizen in the United States that works 40 hours a week, owns a home and has a family with 2.5 kids, the NSA is not worried about monitoring your activity because it would be a waste of time. It is when you may have something to hide that you have to worry about this surveillance.
On the other hand, the NSA should not have the right to simply breach any privacy methods to keep tabs on all citizens without some sort of permission or probably cause. This country guarantees freedom to all citizens and after finding out about this surveillance, many felt that their freedom and rights were being violated. Certainly this is why warrants and probable cause exist. In order to keep the government in check and from being able to do whatever they wish to do which is why many believe that what the NSA is doing is not right. Unfortunately there is no way for us to know whether we are being monitored or not and if this will ever change in any way. The companies we thought we could trust are voluntarily providing them with the information they request so as regular consumers there are not many directions we can turn to.
Another data leak that recently made a big impact in many governments was the Panama Papers. After researching this topic I found a credible article outlining the most important details of the largest data leak in history. The 11.5 million files totaling 2.6 terabytes exposed many government officials and regimes committing a numerous amount of financial crimes. It basically exposed many offshore accounts linked to politically affiliated individuals. Although offshore accounts are legal and have many legitimate uses, these cases were linked to money laundering as well as tax evasion.
One of the biggest accounts was a $2 billion dollar trail leading back to Russia's president Vladmir Putin. The funds were expected to be Russian state banks that is hidden offshore. Among other notable leaders were Nawaz Sharif the Pakistani Prime Minister, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. Overall over 300 accounts were discovered exposing 143 politicians and 12 national leaders. To date many of the national leaders and politicians have stepped down from their respective positions including the Pime Minister of Iceland.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-panama-papers
You start down one path, the NSA's activities and violations of probably cause (Fourth Amendment), which they never had to reveal because no one knew. Who knew if you had anything to hide, if you didn't know you were being monitored. But how is this idea linked to the Panama Papers? Are you saying that all governments are corrupt, or that the wealthy are just hiding their money to become even more wealthy - again without anyone knowing UNTIL the huge leak of financial data.
ReplyDeleteYou just need a summary statement that links the two points of thought.