Spying in the United States

The name Edward Snowden was unknown up until last week. The foremost dailies in England and the United States were investigating the CIA ex-contractor who revealed how the U.S. National Security Agency has an immense network that spies on millions of phone calls and emails of U.S. citizens.

It’s the old dilemma of security for all versus privacy — another battle between individual liberty and a controlling state. Edward Snowden decided to reveal his identity. He did so from Hong Kong, and he may face charges in the federals courts of his country of origin. This case is comparable to the one in which soldier Bradley Manning is being court-martialed for having turned over secret documents to WikiLeaks, which, according to the United States, is an attack against its national security.

This case has led to Julian Assange being locked inside the four walls of the Ecuadorean Embassy in Great Britain. From his asylum in London, the Australian hacker stands in solidarity with Snowden.

Spying is nothing new for a country that celebrates freedom, from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair. At the moment, the information technology expert’s revelations are the most recent, but they certainly will not be the last leak to come out. The debate around civil liberties versus government intrusion has become a hot topic, even more so since the Patriot Act was written after the attack on the World Trade Center.