By J.F. Mezo
2015.09.15.
Photo by photosbyflick: https://www.flickr.com/photos/17773534@N03/
We all know the
case – the former Dell employee’s remarkable story of moral responsibility as a
citizen and the journey to the East that took him closer to the rigorous
control and prying eyes of the state he said he was fleeing in the first place.
Of course that is not to say that his outrage over NSA’s dubious dealings –
eventually ruled illegal by the Appeals court – involving phone surveillance
data collected by the agency was without foundation. It is just a friendly
reminder that every coin has two sides; those of us who were in a hurry to
proclaim Edward Snowden a hero might have to think again.
Even if one assumes
that he was motivated by the purest motives – and, to be honest, it isn’t that
hard once you watch his stunt on TED Talks where he appears to be oddly
personable even though he is speaking out of a telly propped up on a stand (the
whole composition bears a weird resemblance to WALL-E) –, one has to admit that
his actions were reckless at best. The vast number of NSA documents he leaked clearly indicates that
there was no way he could have been aware of the content of each and every one
of those, which is why the leak could have come with much more serious
consequences than exposing PRISM. As Richard Ledgett, Deputy Director of the
NSA claims during his TED Talks appearance, by leaking the documents, Snowden
not only jeopardized ongoing government programs but also risked to put the
lives of many of his fellow citizens in danger. However, I believe that the NSA could have driven its
point home much more efficiently if only Ledgett took the time to appear on the
show in person instead of opting for being projected onto a huge screen above
the stage in a fashion that would put Orwell’s Big Brother to shame.
Here, I have to refer back to Plato’s Pharmakon. The truth can cure the
strong and kill the weak, so in Plato’s ideal state where the political leaders
were the most capable and mentally prepared members of the community, they had
the right to either keep secrets or even blatantly lie to the general
population if they thought it would benefit the nation on the long run. I
believe that principle should still be applicable today, as we live in the age
of heightened interstate rivalry where one might have to sacrifice transparency
on the altar of raison d’état.
With that said, I
also have to acknowledge that ethics and the rights of individual members of
society have changed much since Plato’s time. Now more than ever, states should
strive not to violate their citizens’ rights, and, as NSA’s listening in on
American citizens’ everyday conversations was ruled illegal, the practice
should most certainly be condemned. To sum up, in my personal opinion, the
government should have the right to keep secrets as long as they concern the
nation’s international status and are connected to national interest; however,
it is a right that should be lost the moment that the government uses it to
violate the rights of its citizens.
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