Edward Snowden: A Hero

In May 2013, Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA (National Security Administration), leaked to the media extensive information about a global surveillance program, called PRISM. This program collected communicate data on US citizens and foreign leaders from majority internet companies. Mr. Snowden, who had been granted residency in Russia, faced charge with espionage over his actions. This incident had generated heated discussion. Some people thought he was a hero. He showed great courage to stand against most powerful mechanism of oppression to struggle for the principles he believed in. On the other hand, some people thought he was a traitor. His behavior endangered American national security. In my opinion, Edward Snowden is …show more content…
Nowadays, people surfed the internet with cellphone or laptop almost every day. However, the internet became to a perfect tool for government to monitor citizens. PRISM program, launched by NSA, was not only to monitor suspicious people, but also to monitor everyone. They might know everything about your life. For example, the cellphone in your pocket recorded where you had been, they might know your social life through your e-mail or personal chat, your credit history explore your consumption habit and they would know what you were interested in through your web history. They might know you more than your close friend or partner. The most important thing was they watching people without their known. This conduct violated people’s privacy. US is a democratic country, privacy, one of citizen’s essential right, had been threatened by the surveillance …show more content…
Snowden defended millions of people’s privacy right through his own conduct, he qualified for the heroic title. He also paid a lot after he disclosed the surveillance program. He cannot came back to US anymore, otherwise he would face a lot of years in prison or even death penalty. He gave up a very nice paid job and his family, which was the most important thing for a person, because he had the responsibility to do it. I believed there was some people else who worked for NSA had the same thought as Snowden, but they didn’t stepped out to tell public what NSA did. And the main reason would be fear of the outcome. They were trapped in a dilemma: on one hand, they wanted to seek justice; on another hand, they did not want to destroy their life. In this situation, people always kept silence and hope someone else could do it instead of themselves. In this case, Snowden was the person who stood out, so we should admire his courage and his spirit of sacrifice. The more such kind of people the better the