14 DAY TRIAL // Sometimes, when a big story comes around, some tend to derail from the right track. The same can be said about the Edward Snowden saga.
Instead of focusing on the grave story of everyone being under constant surveillance when using the Internet or phone, some people love to focus on other details, such as Snowden’s private life.
Numerous publications were filled to the brim with information about who Snowden was, where he went to school, how he got to work for the CIA and the NSA and whom he left behind in Hawaii when he fled the country.
Later on, other trivial information came through, including how an ex Russian spy proposed to the NSA whistleblower over Twitter.
And while some of these details are somewhat important in order to understand the reasons behind Snowden’s actions and how he has reached this point of no return, this should not be the focus of the story.
No, the thing everyone should focus on is the fact that there’s no privacy when you’re on the Internet.
The things he revealed are far more important than who he is. And since the US authorities didn’t even bother denying any of the allegations, resuming to spouting empty words and false sentences, there’s no reason to believe that any of the documents he leaked are fabrications.
It is more important to know that the NSA, along with many other intelligence agencies with whom they are working along, have been spying on everyone for years. Emails, social networking, photographs shared online, instant messages, phone calls and text messages have all been tracked.
Of course, it isn’t exactly realistic to believe that they are actually reading word for word through each email since no one could have than man power, but there are certainly filters put in place.
And if you somehow use the wrong words, then you could become targeted. And, as Snowden says, when you become targeted, your computer is no longer yours, but it belongs to the US government.
And one of the main arguments of those who have defended these outright-spying programs is that if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t worry.
And that is perhaps the worst argument you can give when you talk about a basic human right – the right to privacy.
It doesn’t even matter if all I talk about while on the Internet or on the phone are kittens and rainbows or guns and tanks, since no one should be allowed to eavesdrop on my private conversations.
And the issue here, with all this spying, is that it was done without a warrant. Sure, if the authorities have a warrant and suspect someone might be doing something illegal or worse, an act of terror (since this was the US politicians’ main argument), then, by all means, they could track whatever that person is doing.
However, the courts have granted the NSA wider attributions and greater permissions than they should have. And while the “Restore the Fourth” movement focused on the rights of the US citizens, people from all over the world have been affected by the NSA programs and the constitutional rights of all citizens have been gravely violated.
Out of this entire scandal that has already passed the one-month mark, that’s what is really important. What the NSA has been doing, whom it affects, the scale of the projects and how privacy means nothing while online, and not the details of Snowden’s private life.