In the movie clip on Snowden, you see Snowden question the ethics of where the NSA is getting data from. Though this clip is rather short, you see Snowden question privacy rights and say “how is this even possible” when finding out that you can search through people’s postings that are both public and private. The other colleague in the clip explains that the database they have access to can search through email, SMS, chats, practically anything when searching for keywords or phrases.
Additionally, in the interview transcript with Edward Snowden that was also recommended, you gain a better understanding of why Snowden did certain things and how he went about his data collection. Essentially, Snowden operated in line with a “zero fuck-ups policy.” He knew there was no room for error and took his time for the most precision.
What is most interesting to me about Snowden is that the NSA had absolutely no idea that any of this was going on. For an agency that can search through any device, message, or media platform, they missed what was going on right under their nose. I also found Snowden’s statement “all internet communication should be encrypted so people can avoid being ‘electronically naked’” to be very intriguing as well. If the NSA can search through any and all private messaging as well, what is the point of privacy laws? This data leak had and still has the ability to revolutionize the digital communication world, and though some change has been made, companies must change the way in which they track data in addition to shortening the policies people must accept on these platforms.
I think data privacy is extremely important, but to play devil’s advocate, I would argue that it is extremely important that the NSA, CIA, AirForce, etc. keep taking all of our data. The reason for this is due to the previous Airforce CSO resigning over the United States doing very little in the AI race as compared to China, which has fewer privacy policies. So by this argument, if the AI race is as important as some very smart people claim, then it would be important for the United States to continue collecting our data.
Falyn, I thought that your point regarding missing something that was going on right under their noses was interesting. It is fascinating that an organization with such great power missed something that they should not have missed. This makes me question the “behind the scenes” of a lot of organizations, such as Facebook. What are people doing behind the scenes with our information at Facebook (that they shouldn’t be doing), but no one is catching? I normally do not think like that, but it came into my mind just now. I wonder what the checks are on employees in terms of user privacy and such at Facebook.
Honestly, I felt amazed by the phrase “electronically naked” when I was reading the article. The phrase was so powerful and reminded me a lot of things. By the way, I don’t think that ordinary people can change the current situation. If our privacy would be violated, we simply don’t know how to deal with it by our own forces.