What you don’t know can hurt you!

On the twenty-third of October, Joe Rogan uploaded a podcast to YouTube of his interview with Edward Snowden. I have a background in technology and have always found the concept of security and privacy fascinating, which is what led to my watching that podcast. Not many people are aware of the horrendous abuse of power that the US government has been performing. I knew that there were some underhanded things happening in the government without our knowledge but I was unaware of the true extent of the corruption. I do not want to be unaware any longer. To help raise awareness I wrote a brief summary of that podcast.

Many things about America changed post 9/11. One of those things was an increase in mass surveillance. Out of fear, a program now known as Stellar Wind was born. It was seen as necessary by Dick Cheney and his personal attorney to root out terrorism and prevent further acts of terrorism. They along only a few others put this program into motion. It was unconstitutional and illegal because it broke the Fourth Amendment but no one who knew about it wanted to speak out against it because they would be labeled as anti-American. So it began, and it continued even after there were no terrorist threats detected. Slowly it stopped being used just for anti-terrorist monitoring and began to be used for whatever was most convenient. “Step by step, our constitutional rights were changed. We weren’t allowed to know it. We were never granted a vote on it. Even the many members of Congress were prohibited from knowing.” – Edward Snowden 

When Snowden decided to make his findings public, the government responded by trying to justify their actions by changing the legality of their actions. In 2007 Congress passed a law called the Protect America Act this law retroactively pardoned the illegal actions of all of the phone companies who had been handing over records to the government. Thus protecting them from lawsuits. In 2008 Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This law made other illegal surveillance actions lawful. “When the government’s response to any scandal is not to make the activities of the person caught breaking the law comply with the law, but instead to make the activities of the person breaking the law, legal… that’s a problem, and that’s what happened here.” – Edward Snowden

The collection of personal data is happening constantly through various means. Cellphones are the most useful source of information because they are almost always connected to a network whether that connection is through a cell tower or Wi-Fi signal. Each cell phone can be uniquely identified by the sim card and imei number. Its location is always known due to its connection. This information and more is collected and used without your knowledge or consent. “We’re forced to live naked before power. Whether we’re talking about Facebook, whether we’re talking about Google, or whether we’re talking about the government of every country, they know EVERYTHING about us, and we know very little about them.” – Edward Snowden

So with this information made known, what has changed? The answer is sadly, not much. The problem with trying to make changes to revoke this power that the government is abusing is that “The only way to have the courts review the legality of the programs is to establish they exist. But the programs are classified, so you can’t establish they exist unless you have evidence. But providing that evidence to the courts, journalists, or anyone is a felony.” – Edward Snowden

The government has succeeded in making it almost impossible for legal action to be taken against their violation of the Constitution. That is why we need more people like Snowden, people who are willing to make the difficult decisions even when it could be harmful to themselves.

“The system, the world, the future gets worse every day that we don’t do something about it. Every day that we stay silent about all the injustices we see, the world gets worse. Yeah, it’s risky. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable, but that’s why we do it. If we don’t, no one else will. All those years I was hoping for someone else to come forward, and no one did, I was waiting for a hero. There are no heroes; there are only heroic decisions. You are never further than one decision away from making a difference… You don’t have to save the world by yourself. In fact, you can’t. All you have to do is lay down one brick. All you have to do is make things a little bit better in a small way so that other people can lay their brick next. Together, day by day, step by step, year by year, we build a foundation of something better.” – Edward Snowden

What is being collected about you should be made known to you and not used without your consent. The actions of your devices should be clear and easily controllable. Technology has changed and the laws regarding privacy need to change as well. The change will have to start with individuals who are willing to take action. Use messaging apps that value privacy over having the latest emojis. Stop freely giving away your personal data through personality tests on facebook. Send the message that we value our Constitution and our privacy! 

If you would like to know more, watch, listen to, or read about the podcast. All of Snowden’s quotes came from the podcast notes.