Snowden: The Man of 2013

Edward Snowden, the ex-contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), has more than enough merits to be man of the year. At the risk of his freedom he denounced, by means of revealing thousands of documents, the spying by Washington and London on their own citizens and people all over the world. In a Christmas address, Snowden pointed out that the distressing loss of privacy imagined by the British author George Orwell in his classic novel “1984” never even came close to reality. In his opinion, “a child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.”

Upon initiating his revelations Snowden proclaimed, “The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. People will see in the media all of these disclosures, they’ll know the lengths the government is going to grant themselves power unilaterally to create greater control over American society and global society, but they won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interests.” By the end of 2013, Snowden, who has taken refuge in Moscow, seemed satisfied; he considered his mission completed. In his opinion he had forced his country and the world to open a debate on security and privacy.

As of now, Snowden has obtained a solid backing from legal powers. A federal judge ruled that the massive collection of digital data information violated Article IV of the Constitution.* Judge Richard Leon said that the Founding Fathers would be “aghast” by the NSA’s espionage. President Barack Obama himself admitted that the system of spying on the citizenry merited a revision. In fact, a committee was formed that handed over a series of recommendations. But transparency was not among them. Therefore it will always be difficult to establish up to what point the imposed limits are really being obeyed. Up to now they have used subterfuge, like asking the British to spy on their citizens while the NSA does likewise with the British. Thus, the law is obeyed by the letter, but violated in spirit.

Public opinion in the United States is divided over Snowden. One part considers him a traitor who has damaged the nation’s interests. In addition, he is accused of illegally obtaining thousands of documents that were government property. Others consider him a legitimate whistle-blower who warned of illegal behavior by espionage agencies that are controlled by the government. Obama challenged Snowden: “If, in fact, he believes that what he did was right, then like every American citizen, he can come here, appear before a court with a lawyer and make his case.” Legal experts have accused Obama of advancing false assertions since, under U.S. law, denouncing illegal conduct does not constitute a legal defense against espionage charges.

The outcome of the case is unknown. NSA officials, with complete pragmatism, have suggested the possibility of granting Snowden amnesty on the condition that he returns all the stolen documents. It is believed that so far he has revealed only a small fraction. Neither is it clear as to what impact his disclosures will have on the large telecommunication and digital data storage companies. It is also yet to be seen how the world and U.S. society itself process the denouncements of massive spying and privacy violations.

*Editor’s note: The author appears to have been referring to Article IV of the Amendments to the Constitution (the Fourth Amendment), not Article IV of the Constitution.