it became evident that this “low-level government contractor” was making well over six figures a year and the U.S. government had something to hide: a man named Edward Snowden and the information he leaked as part of the NSA information breach. The documents leaked by Snowden show that the NSA created and spread a flawed formula for generating random numbers to create a “back door” in encryption products by rolling it into a software tool called BSAFE, which is used to enhance security in personal computers and many other products. The BSAFE tool is widely used by developers to enhance security protocol by setting up firewalls and for easy back-door recovery. Essentially what they have done is opened a doorway, in your home, on your personal PC or Apple product, for easy access to any and all information saved on any computer with a downline program that can track, assess and report a user’s current keystrokes. Many foreign news agencies, including The Guardian and the BBC-UK reported that the NSA is accessing the systems of U.S. Internet giants, including Google and Facebook, and collecting data under a previously undisclosed surveillance program called PRISM. International Business Times reporter Ryan W. Neal wrote, “Microsoft helped the NSA circumvent Microsoft’s own encryption software to intercept users’ private communications. Microsoft launched the Outlook portal to the public in February 2012, just two months after coming up with the solution. Microsoft also allowed PRISM to access Hotmail, Live and Outlook.com emails before they got encrypted.” Now we know why most users of Microsoft products only use Window’s Explorer to download Firefox or Google Chrome, which are safer and more private. The most unfortunate and heartbreaking reality about the NSA’s spying is that throughout history, Americans have been assassinated for even suggesting that the government spied on its citizens. The NSA’s actions can be compared to the same type of illegal data collection done by the FBI in 1993 during the clash in Waco, Texas. Agents secretly monitored and infiltrated the Branch Davidian complex that turned into a violent and unnecessary loss of innocent life. This was one of the many invasion of privacy actions that took place on American soil against her people under the rule of the government’s version of a reasonable amount of privacy. American citizens do have the right to a reasonable amount of privacy. The U.S. government has twisted the Constitution in their favor to circumvent and redefine privacy by their terms under the guise of Homeland Security. The search for data, which should be private, leads to many missteps by authorities, including the U.S. government’s increasing “kill switch” powers, regarding web servers inside the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE. If you recall, this cybercrime and countermeasures concept has been an ongoing challenge for many years over the powers granted to government agencies and how they use the Internet “kill switch.” In 2011, the U. S. government shut down 84,000 sites in a case of mistaken identity according to WIRED.com, and of course, the U.S. government. Recently, The New York Times published a story on how the NSA has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines, and can also create a digital highway for launching cyber attacks. The article states, “While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the NSA has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to NSA docu-
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ments, computer experts, and American officials.” Many critics, especially those in the Tea Party, feel the Obama Administration has bastardized the Fourth Amendment, which states that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” If the NSA, RSA Security, big data (the term for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools) and Microsoft can circumvent your personal privacy settings, the American people have a real crisis in defining the meaning of the Constitution as it pertains to the Fourth Amendment. Did Snowden prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. has rejected the rights of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects? The short answer would be: yes. After the Snowden leak began to snowball in June 2013, President Obama rang in on Snowden in an attempt to save— face by announcing to the world, “The U.S. government surveillance programs strike ‘the right balance’ between security and privacy and are closely overseen by Congress and the courts.” Of course, the truth about Obama’s balance was fiction. America clearly understood the president’s statement, and is aware of the sizeable scale of domestic surveillance under his administration. In mid-January 2014, leaders of Congress’ intelligence committees said Obama’s surveillance idea won’t work. This was in response to a chief element of Obama’s attempt to overhaul U.S. surveillance. Congress is pushing back against the idea that the government should cede control of how Americans’ phone records are stored. Snowden made it very clear: the land of the free and the home of the brave is actually the country of the watched, tracked and monitored by the U.S. government. This mass (and what some call a constitutionally illegal, or contempt prior to investigation) data collection is not limited to keystrokes on your computer. Social media aggregators are key services used by the NSA and other big data government contractors to build a profile that can tell Big Brother when you use the bathroom and what kind of cheese you buy at the local grocery store, or the current balance of your beloved Target credit card. Despite Obama’s intent to charge Snowden with espionage and give him a life-long prison term, Snowden stands firm as a true patriot who let his moral conscience take the lead. We really could use an Edward Snowden in the White House. Certainly, Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is solely responsible for delivering damaging evidence about one of the world’s most secretive organizations. Any U.S. government agency, that can bypass congressional approval and spy on its citizens is never to be trusted. Former president of Poland (politician, trade-union organizer, philanthropist and human rights activist) Lech Walesa said, “I believe that any violation of privacy is nothing good.” Dealing with the oversight issues of the NSA and passing legislation making it a requirement for congressional approval for data collection on U.S. citizens has been a challenge. When there is no crime, the NSA and its procedures are much like a pack of wolves asking permission to eat sheep running loose in the field.