The article "Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero?" from a February issue of upfront magazine is about the argument over Edward Snowden. Some people think he is a criminal for releasing classified documents, but others think he did the right thing and shouldn't be punished. The article starts off by explaining exactly what Snowden discovered about surveillance programs in the US, and how they were tracking things such as American citizens' phone calls.
The author of this article, Patricia Smith, offers a fairly balanced view on the issue. After explaining how Snowden was able to meet up with reporters and leak the documents, Smith goes on to explain the governments response to the leaked documents, and uses quotes from President Obama, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and cites the Fourth Amendment which prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures". That quote from the Fourth is meant to be against the NSA's collection of data, and for Edward Snowden by saying the government had no right to be monitoring phone calls like that.
This article has made me think much more about what is actually private for citizens of the US and what really isn't. Turns out that what we thought was private, like out cell phones calls, weren't. Also, now that I've read this article and thought about Edward Snowden, I think that although what he did was illegal, its good that he leaked those documents. If he hadn't, the surveillance might still be going on and fewer people would know.
