Ethics Assignment

Situation:

Edward Snowden becoming a whistleblower.

Claim:

The information Edward Snowden leaked opened the eyes of U.S. citizens to the U.S. government invading our so-called privacy and proving that nothing we do is private at all.

Argument:

Edward Snowden showed that the U.S. government was spying on us using our own phone records without our permission. The information provided by Snowden also showed that not only did the U.S. government spy on its own citizens, but also other countries and certain world leaders. The government would also hack into Yahoo and Google data centers without the companies even knowing about it causing major security concerns for these companies. Edward Snowden also showed that the government was just using the internet to spy on us, but also collected our text messages and used them to obtain personal data.

Principles:

The underlying principle of my argument is that although Edward Snowden broke multiple laws and is considered an enemy of the state, he opened many Americans eyes to the fact that no matter how private you think your life is you have next to no privacy. The truth of the matter is that however morally right it was for Edward Snowden to expose this invasion of privacy he broke the trust that both the government and his employer had with him.