Question

For some people, the knowledge that 21 different US government agencies are authorized to gather intelligence data provides a sense of security. Others believe that this intelligence gathering creates a significant opportunity for duplication of effort and wasted resources. Still others are distressed by the knowledge that their private behavior and actions could be followed by the government. Choose one side of this issue and defend your position.

Answer 1

For some people, the knowledge that 21 different US government agencies are authorized to gather intelligence data, others are distressed by the knowledge that their private behavior and actions could be followed by the government.

Below is a specific practical and real example and case, situation, and scenario in regard to the security threat to people's private behavior and actions that were followed by the government gathering intelligence data. However, in the below case, it was only the United States government who indulged in such a practice. All the information, data, documents, and files were about people, their personal, private, professional, sensitive, critical, financial, and social information, activities, and behavior. The below case completely revolves around the issue, the reason for it, the cause, consequences, charges, plaintiff, defendant, and victims, etc., including the defending the position with justification.

The case of Snowden’s whistleblowing on the National Security Agency (NSA) spying practices:
Edward Snowden's case is a real-life experience or example for whistleblowing. He is seen as one of the whistleblowers from the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program's point of view, people's private behavior and actions were followed by the government. He is called an American whistleblower, as he copied and leaked highly classified information and documents from the NSA, during his service as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and a subcontractor. His whistleblowing act prompted a cultural discussion in regard to national security and individual privacy.

His disclosures or leak brought many global surveillance programs into the light to citizens, public, and people around the world, several of them run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the telecommunication companies and European governments cooperating.

Almost everyone in the US knows about the case of Edward Snowden and even people in all the countries in the world or at least people in the Information Technology (IT) industry know this. This case is about the disclosure of information about the US defense and government rules, laws, regulations, and policies about the surveillance of people's activities in the US and other countries irrespective of their citizenships, religion caste, creed, race, status in the society, profession, ethnicity, demography, and their political views, without their proper prior authorization, approval, permission, agreement, or consent. This is basically about unauthorized disclosure of classified information which disrupted U.S. missions related to national security. Clearly, the US government did not welcome this leak, Edward Snowden leaking disclosures of classified information deliberately to the media.

The case in detail was about unauthorized information disclosure of the US government's espionage act i.e., its practice of spying by employing spies, by the US government to monitor and gather political and military information. It is about the copy and leaks of information in regard to top-secret or highly confidential and classified United States government surveillance programs from the National Security Agency (NSA) leaking them to news outlets, where these programs included and involved about people's information.

The cause, simply was about the US government's mannerless act disrespecting the US and other countries' people's personal, private, and professional affairs, spying on them for any anomalies, their suspicious activities, etc., with surveillance systems deployed such as CCTV and other monitoring systems. This act of the US government simply affected the rights to privacy of people's lives.

The impact of the disclosures revealed many global surveillance programs and bringing about a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy. Edward Snowden has brought into this world, especially in the society about the awareness of one's privacy, concerns about the unauthorized surveillance of personal, private, and professional lives. Due to this, organizations, governments, different entities, businesses, defense, etc., are amending policies in a good way, transparent to the public and at the same time ensuring the security of the data of people and its usage and regulations of its storage, movement, and processing.

What Edward Snowden did was, and still is correct, which should have been done (reported) by the government (certain department) itself, or rather the government should not have carried out any spying or surveillance activities on anyone (individuals, public, citizens, other countries, their governments, their defense, or other entities or agencies) in the first place, so no whistleblower would rise up.

Ultimately, it is about either, the whistleblowing of BAD actions or GOOD actions and such activities of someone or some government, entity, agency, company, business, organization, defense, etc., to others without an authorization of the creator or owner of the information (or the one who is performing such actions), whistleblowing for a BAD cause,

OR

the whistleblowing of BAD actions and activities of someone or some government, entity, agency, company, business, organization, defense, etc., to others without an authorization of the creator or owner of the information (or the one who is performing such actions) for a GOOD cause, even though the actual and original intention of such a BAD action of spying or surveillance was eventually and ultimately for people's safety and security.

People want good causes, good actions, good thoughts, good intentions, and good consequences, that are constructive, helpful, useful, safe, and secure, warding off any bad or evil actions. The idea is to maintain a balance, achieving all the factors such as safety, security, privacy, confidentiality, availability, accessibility, integrity, anonymity, liberty, freedom, and rights for speech and expressions, without compromising any one of these intentionally or otherwise.