Edward Snowden Case Study

By P. Prem Kumar Kuma r P. Ankita Anki ta rao PGDM-1

EDWARD EDWARD SNOWDEN



INTRODUCTION TO CASE STUDY Sometimes to do the right thing, you must break a law,” Edward Snowden said of his revelations that the National Security Administration had conducted mass surveillance of US residents. But many many eole eole,, includ including ing the US governm government ent,, disagr disagreed eed with with these these intent intention ions!t s!the he "eartment of #ustice brought criminal charges against Snowden under the Esionage Act. $as Snowden a heroic whistleblower who served US citi%ens by e&osing unethical and erhas unconstitutional behavior on the art of the NSA' (r was he a misguided and troubled comuter hacker whose actions embarrassed his country and ut dilomats and agents abroad at risk' )he case study also rovides illegal and unethical conte&t to Snowden*s actions, e&laining the Esionage Act and the NSA surveillance surveillance rograms in +uestion.



PERSONAL BIO-DATA ull Name-

Edward #oseh Snowden

Born (n-

#une /, /012 32245

6lace of Birth- Eli%abeth 7ity, 7ity, North 7arolina, 7arolina, U.S. 8esidence-

8ussia 3temorary asylum5

Nationality-

American

1

The world's largest digital library

Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.







(ccuation-

7omuter 6rogrammer, 6rogrammer, System Administrator

Education-

University of 9iverool, Anne Arundel 7ommunity 7ollege

BACKDROP Edward Snowden was born in Eli%abeth 7ity, North 7arolina, on #une /, /012. :is mother works for the federal court in Baltimore 3the family moved to ;aryland during Snowden>/, and again from >>? to >>@5. Between his stints at community college, Snowden sent four months 3;ay to Setember >>?5 in the Army 8eserves in secialforces training. :e did not comlete training er Army sources, and he was discharged after he broke his legs in an accident. :e assed the =E" test and took classes at Anne Arundel 7ommu 7ommunity nity 7oll 7ollege ege Although Snowden had no undergraduate college degree he worked online toward a master//.At age >, he listed Buddhism as his religion on a military recruitment form.



PROFICIENT CAREER Snowden*s career as a security secialist began in >>@, when he worked as a security guard for the University University of ;aryland*s ;aryland*s 7enter 7enter for Advanced Advanced Study of 9anguage. n >>C, he was hired by the 7A in 9angley, Dirginia. (ne year later, the 7A osted him in =eneva to maintain comuter network security. n >>0, he resigned from the 7A to work as a rivate contractor- first for "ell, and then for Boo% Allen :amilton. :amilton. $hile $hile intelligenc intelligencee official officialss have described his osition osition there as a system administrator , , Snowden has said he was an infrastructure analyst, which meant that his Fob was to look for new ways to break into nternet and telehone traffic around the





As a contractor, Snowden worked in )okyo, ;aryland, and finally :awaii, where he began the work that would ultimately make him one of America*s America*s most olari%ing figures.



NSA & ITS OVERVIEW )he National S!"#it$ A%n!$ NSA' is an intelligence organi%ation of the United States government, resonsible for global monitoring, collection, and rocessing of information and data for foreign foreign intelligenc intelligencee and counterintelligence uroses, a disciline known as signals intelligence 3S=N)5. )he organi%ation e&ists to rotect national communications systems integrity, and to seek information about foreign adversaries< secret communications. NSA


SNOWDEN() PEAKS AND VALLEYS* +I) , a Pat#iot o# T#aito# $hile working at the NSA office in :awaii in >/2, Snowden grew increasingly disturbed by how the NSA was sying on ordinary citi%ens through their hone and nternet data. d ata. :e began comiling a dossier filled with information on the NSA*s NSA*s mass surveillance ractices. :e then then contact contacted ed docume documenta ntary ry filmma filmmaker ker 9aura 6oitr 6oitra* a*ss, as well well as Four Fournal nalis ists ts =lenn =lenn =reenwald, Ewen ;acAskill, and Barton =ellman, enlisting them to leak the documents he had collected. n ;ay >/2, Snowden told his bosses he needed to take a medical leave of absence to deal with his recently diagnosed eilesy. (n ;ay >, >/2, Snowden flew to :ong Gong and braced himself for what was to come.





data from its citi%ens through their online activity on roducts and alications by ;icrosoft, Hahoo, =oogle, and Ale, to name n ame a few. few.

rom Snowden*s attitude was his decision fails the Iact” but asses the Irule” utilitarianism test where the NSA fails the Irule” but asses the Iact” utilitarian test. )he threat of terrorism and violence has always been a strong catalyst for ublic uroar. (n #une 0, >/2, Snowden revealed his identity through )he =uardian, stating, I have no intention of hiding who  am because  know  have done nothing wrong.” $ith the occurrence of Edward SnowdenJs leak of the classified NSA intelligence, the disutable and disagreeing issue arose regarding safety, danger and how to distinguish the two from each other. t is now unclear if the conflict regarding the NSA leaks is due to our current modern society having over time lost the motivation and reference of to making morally sound decisions or if it is due to the ublic becoming inactive from the ability to Fudge if something is right or wrong in the first lace. )hese were Fust the first in a series of incriminating leaks by worldwide media outlets revealing the numerous mass surveillance rograms by not only the NSA but also its global artners. Several Several days later later,, US federa federall rosec rosecuto utors rs charg charged ed Snowde Snowden n with with theft theft of governm government ent roerty, roerty, lus two counts of violating the US Esionage Act- unauthori%ed communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified intelligence with an unauthori%ed erson. Snowden remained in :ong Gong for one month, until, with the aid of $iki9eaks, he set out to flee to Ecuador via 8ussia and 7uba. $hen his flight arrived in 8ussia, however, US officials revoked his assort, reventing him from continuing in his Fourney. Snowden has since remained in 8ussia, where he was initially granted temorary asylum, and then, in August >/?, a threeyear residency ermit.





utilit utilitari ariani anism. sm. 8ule 8ule utilit utilitari ariani anism sm would would be the theory theory more more ade+uat ade+uatee to use for the ersective of the NSA as the negative outcome of their decision incurred in the longterm and was due to the ignoring of a general acceted moral rule of decetion.

*ll admit admit that he is a t#aito# , while one may believe that the liable and not to blame arties in this event are very easily distinguishable from one another, a closer look over into the rimary concern of a nation and more imortantly into their elucidation of social cororate resonsibility which may lead to a different asect.

“US files criminal charges against NSA” .,i)tl/lo.# .,i)tl/lo.# E0.a#0 Sno.0n

(n #une /?, >/2, United States federal rosecutors filed a criminal comlaint against Snowden, charging him with theft of government roerty, and two counts of violating the Esionage Act through unauthori%ed communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthori%ed erson. Each of the three charges carries a ma&imum ossible rison term of ten years. )he US has filed esionage charges against the NSA whistleblower whistleblower Edward Edward Snowden. Snowden. /1 US7 K C?/  6ublic ;oney, 6roerty or records. /1> US7 K L02 3d5 M =athering, transmitting or losing defense information. /1 US7 K L013a5325M "isclosure of classified information 8eort 8eortss say author authoriti ities es have re+ues re+uested ted that that :ong :ong Gong Gong detain detain him for e&trad e&traditi ition. on. 9egislators in :ong Gong resonded by calling for mainland 7hina to intervene in the





Snowden, 0, is charged with theft of government roerty, unauthorised communication of national defence information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorised erson, er co urt documents. t is also imortant to note that the ersective to be utili%ed firstly in this section of reort will not be centered around the whistleblowing of Edward Snowden bur rather the NSA*s act of surveillance. Utilitarianism is a theory that holds no regard to the conse+uences incurred into the erson faced with deciding but rather how the decision will affect others.



")ti2i!ation in 3$ o4inion 9eakin 9eaking g inform informati ation on to 7hines 7hinesee eole eole isn* isn*tt reveal revealing ing uncons unconstit tituti utional onal survei surveilla llance nce of Americans Americans and leaking leaking that classified classified informatio information n is which undoubtedly undoubtedly illegal. illegal. $riting $riting an oen letter for trying to get Bra%il to grant him olitical asylum by offering to hel Bra%il investigate investigate United States States surveilla surveillance, nce, because because Snowden Snowden leaked information information about the U.S. sying sying on the Bra%il Bra%ilian ian governm government ent,, isn*t isn*t standi standing ng u for the 7onsti 7onstitut tution ional al rights rights of Americans. 9eaking documents showing that Sweden has heled the United States sy on 8ussia isn*t Ibeing a atriot.” 6roducing documents that reveal details on how the NSA gets some of its intelligence on the location of dangerous terrorists isn*t Ibeing a assionate suorter of our Bill of 8ights.” 8evealing that the United States uses cyberattacks as an Iintelligence weaon” for overseas targets has nothing to do with our 7onstitution. 7ountries in 9atin America weren*t rotected by our 7onstitution either and yet Snowden still leaked information about how the NSA listens in on hone calls in many of those nations. 7an*t say  see any connection to our 7onstitution in Snowden*s leak of documents ertaining to alaeda*s efforts to shoot down or hack our drones. *ll admit that he is a t#aito# , but but *m *m sure sure ren rench ch citi citi%en %enss aren aren*t *t rot rotec ecte ted d by our our 7onstit 7onstituti ution. on. And  have have no idea idea what what 7anada 7anada**s intell intelligen igence ce gather gathering ing must must do with with Americ American an right rights. s. )hough *m certai certain n reveal revealing ing that that the NSA heled the "utch "utch sy on Somalia has absolutely nothing to do with the 7onstitution. So even if you*re on the side of believing that he*s a Iatriot” for revealing that the NSA has been unconstitutionally and illegally sying on Americans, that doesn*t recuse him of being a









REFERENCES 

htts-OOwww.e&ressvn.comOinternetrivacyOguidesOedwardsnowdenbiograhyO



htt-OOwww.biograhy.comOeoleOedwardsnowden/C10LPearlyyears



htt-OOcasestudies.law.harvard.eduOthesnowdeneffectO



www.wikiedia.com

Edward Snowden Case Study

Recommend Documents