We're on the verge of losing the some very key values the internet provides here. We have to take our heroes as we can get them. Snowden has his flaws, but compared to the beast he's fighting it's clear who's worse.
The internet had so much potential. All that potential died for me when the Snowden revelations came out. Instead of wonder, it turned to fear. Now that all tech is connected to the internet and can report on whatever we do, it really taints it for me. Instead of a wonderful tool, it's something that can be dangerous.
Thanks for elaborating a bit. I still have to disagree.
I find the argument that Snowden's actions didnt justify the consequences to our agents or relationships with other nations just short-sighted.
Although it may not feel like it to those of us immersed in tech as a culture and as an industry, we are still in the very early days of the Internet. We're still setting precedents that are going to be in place for lifetimes. That America has to patch some relationships, that a couple events may escape our gov'ts control, are small prices to pay to ensure that future generations are able to freely and safely explore and express themselves on the internet without fear of prosecution or persecution.
Sucks in the short term, but these are important issues to get resolved for the long term.
Much love for Snowden. He is a personal hero of mine. I think he should be a personal hero of yours. I think we should have statues of the guy.
Just as Snowden didn't want the story to be about him, to be a personality piece, when he released the trove of information which shook the privacy world to its core, I think he'd agree that any response to this new information should not be focused on or directed toward what he personally endorses by virtue of him as a 'personality'.
Unfortunately, the conversation has largely focused on the technical/technology dimension, while the policy and political dimensions have not seen the same engagement by their respective members. In fact, Snowden has been used by political parties as a proxy piece in disagreements regarding East-West relations. And if technology is the answer, then the general public, almost by definition, does not have a place in the discussion.
Edward Snowden is the single most influential person in the entire history of information security and it's not even close. The data he revealed changed the direction of the evolution of the internet rapidly and completely. HTTPS websites, E2E encrypted communications, VPN providers, metadata reduction, etc. All of these things gained traction because of Snowden and are integral to the modern internet.
Aside from the very real gains in privacy and security, I would also like to make the argument that we would currently be living in a fragmented hellscape of an internet if the net had not turned (mostly) opaque after 2013. Imagine the same AI spam filters currently operating on your email but for all network traffic. We would be suffocating under the weight of (sometimes) well-meaning, but ill-conceived security solutions. Fortunately, we took a different path.
The concepts aren't mutually exclusive. The spying is the underlying problem. The fallout is indisputably the result of Snowden's heroic disclosures -- and yes, I'm a full-on fan of what Snowden did, as well as why and how.
Whatever we can speculate about the ifs and hows of this situation, let's keep in mind that incredibly courageous people like Snowden have to endure what they endure because people like us, citizens, don't seem to stand up to corrupt governments anymore.
Yes the world is clearly a worse place because of Snowden, without him just imagine the true power the national security state could have achieved and how much safer we’d all feel.
The NSA makes the lives of terrorists much harder than it would be otherwise. Terrorists undoubtedly welcome Snowden's revelations--both for revealing tactics, and for creating the possibility that the NSA will be constrained by public outrage.
That doesn't imply that what Snowden did was wrong, though. We trade security for freedom in a thousand ways in American culture, and now we have a chance to debate that tradeoff for digital data.
The big difference between the two is, that Edward Snowden realized that a positive vision is needed. Full respect for whistleblowing, but people need an alternative vision of society they can work towards. I would like to see more Hackers follow this approach of inspiring people to use technology to empower people. I mean we all know that evil things happen, so there is no point in repeating it all the time. The majority of people won't care. Especially here in germany the focus is way too much on influencing the world by talking. What Edward says goes in the right direction, but the vision is still too biased towards privacy concerned people. It's not about making encryption more accessable, it's about building great products people want to use and building encryption in as a byproduct. Lets take socialnetworks for example: Facebook is highly addictive, but without real value for the consumers. They don't want to connect the world, they want to generate adrevenue. It should be possible to build a platform where communication happens in a less perverted, self-centered way with encryption added on.
Snowden has risked his life and will be forced to remain paranoid for the entire rest of his life. His cause is noble and 100% justified. He did it for society, for us. What did we do to thank him? We labelled him a traitor and showed no support. And most of all: Almost nobody listened, almost nobody changed habits accordingly. So what does it take to make people listen and understand that our privacy is about to be completely abolished by technology?
It takes exactly leaks like this one. Brutal, emotional, visible and highly controversial events.
Edward Snowden's inability to physically appear in public settings is suggestive, along with the headaches his actions have given to the internet power structure.
We are at an interesting juncture of history. It seems like Snowden has accomplished what he set out do to: raise awareness of government abuse and bring about positive change. Initial fears after the NSA leaks seemed to be that the public would become outraged and then forget about it. Clearly, this is not happening. A more secure Internet is needed, and instances like this highlight that necessity.
The worst case scenario has been happening for years. Didn't Snowden teach us about how these platforms are a gold mine for shady government agencies and oppressive regimes?
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