Reading 13: CS for all

Over the past ten to fifteen years, the computing industry, along with the field of computer science, has experienced a serious increase in public exposure and appreciation. It wasn’t long ago that people who used computers–especially people who programmed computers–were looked down upon as recluses and nerds. While arguably negative stereotypes do remain, the rise of modern tech behemoths like Google, Facebook,  and Amazon, and the rise of the young, hip silicon valley tech culture has shifted public opinion quite a bit. Coding is now a portal to a new kind of lifestyle, and the key to more economic prosperity. Coding is now in fashion, parents want their kids to learn it, schools want to teach it, and some have even called programming “the new literacy.” That last statement sounds a little hyperbolic, but I think it is actually true in some ways. I don’t think it is true in the sense that people need to be familiar with for loops, conditionals, and variables in order to be an active, contributing member of our economy. However, the necessity of technical knowledge is spreading into more industries than ever before, some of the highest paying jobs now rely heavily on tech skills, and when it comes to entrepreneurship, tech infrastructure is becoming more and more important.

Since the benefit of a computer science education in our current economy is clear, some people think that programming courses should become part of the standard curriculum at schools. While I don’t think extensive, compulsory classes would be very beneficial, I do think one introductory class to the computing industry might allow students to decide whether they want to continue studying the material in their future. I think one class that covered very introductory programming syntax in an easy language along with more higher level material would be a good start. There are also plenty of learning resources on-line, so the course could also guide those who are interested in the right direction to continue learning. After this class, I think students should be able to decide whether they wanted to keep learning or not, and more advanced courses could be offered as electives. Currently, I think there are many people who love to work in the computing industry but don’t know it because they were never exposed to anything but old stereotypes. An intro class could solve this, and potentially help fix diversity issues in the industry as well.

The reason I don’t think there should be more compulsory courses in computing is because I am a firm believer that the industry is not for everybody. Some people are definitely more analytical than others, and there are some people who probably could, but just really don’t like the idea of working with code / computers all day. That is okay, and probably for the best. There are people who don’t want to code, people who can be average coders, and a few people who can be great coders. I think all are necessary in our economy today, and we should expose people to everything and let them decide what they want to do.

 

Reading 12: Piracy

As students in University, most of my classmates and I are no strangers to the world of piracy. Movies and music can be expensive to purchase, and regardless, it’s often easier to just google search a free movie stream as opposed to actually entering your credit card information / finding a legitimate way to view whatever content you are trying to view.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act–a law made effective in 1998–criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. Essentially, this means piracy is illegal. The DMCA also contains the “Safe harbor provisions,” which protect online service providers from liability if their users take part in pirating copyrighted material.

Personally, I don’t think it is ethical for users to download or share copyrighted material, though I do it fairly frequently. I think the creators of the content have every right to have their material purchased as opposed to pirated–they put in the time and the energy, and I should pay for that. The money users purchase content with also serves as an incentive for creators to continue making new, entertaining content. The content I pirate most frequently is movies, and the reason is that I just don’t think there is a price point I think is necessarily fair for most of the movies I want to watch. When new movies come out, they go straight to the movie theatres, which in my hometown charge upwards of fifteen dollars for a ticket. To me, the content is not worth that much money, and so I end up streaming it online. If there were an easier way to access new movies, at a price that I think is fair, I would go out of my way to use it so the creators can get the money I think they deserve. Take Netflix and Spotify for example. I think both of these services provide great access to content at a price I think is fair, so I pay for them and use them. Obviously these services don’t prevent all piracy, but I think it prevents a large number of people who would have pirated because it would have been the easiest, most reasonably priced option.

I do not think piracy can ever be prevented–as long as people can obtain piece of copyrighted content, they can figure out a way to upload and share it. Do I think Piracy is a problem? I can’t really tell. The music, movie, television, and gaming industries–the most frequent victims of piracy–seem to be doing pretty well, and there is no way to tell how the absence of piracy may affect their business. I think there is an argument that to an extent piracy helps artists spread their material and increase their popularity, increasing their sales potential in the future. Take the music industry for example. Many artists these days have completely forgone trying to sell their music and end up giving it away for free. This increases their popularity, and increases their earnings potential for their live tours–which is where they end up making most of their money. Obviously this example doesn’t translate to other entertainment industries, but I think in a way it shows that maybe free content can be beneficial in the long run.

 

Reading 11: Self-Driving Cars

Almost everybody within the past fifty years has dreamt of self-driving cars.  Instead of spending hours crouched over a wheel to get home from work and risking death by car crash on a daily basis, people with self-driving cars will be able to recline and watch a movie, get home much quicker, and not have to worry about dying. Until recently, the dream was far from reality, many approaches involved installing hardware on roads or hard-coding every possible scenario the car may encounter. With the advance of machine learning however, the possibility of safe and cheap self-driving technology is rapidly approaching, and according to some is more or less here. However, there are a lot of ethical and legal questions that need to be answered before these advances make their way into the public’s hands.

Based on my understanding, there are three main arguments as to why people want self-driving cars:  safety, convenience, and savings. As for the first reason, there are usually anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 deaths a year caused by car accidents in America. Almost all of these can probably be attributed to human error. It’s not hard to imagine that with advanced self-driving cars, this number will decrease significantly, and possibly even reach zero. As for the second reason, traffic would probably decrease significantly along with commute times, and people would be able to spend the time they would have spent driving either relaxing or doing something productive. Finally, the most prevalent job in America would become entirely unnecessary, resulting in huge cost savings for retailers and consumers–we would no longer need to pay truck drivers. As with most things, there are counter-arguments to all of these popular reasons to produce self-driving cars.

First of all, there is the ethical question regarding deaths caused by autonomous vehicles. If the number of deaths isn’t reduced to absolutely zero, there would inevitably be a number of tricky lawsuits and undirected anger caused by these vehicles. In a scenario where a collision is inevitable, should a car choose to incur the least loss of life, or let something else decide. Who is to blame, the tech companies? The government? These are very difficult and un-avoidable questions that I cannot begin to answer. However, I think it is clear that deaths would be reduced significantly, and that should be kept in mind whenever addressing these issues. In my opinion, these questions will either be answered, or glossed over sooner than later by a government with more autonomy than ours. I can easily imagine a country like China or Singapore allowing the use of self-driving cars as the ethical issues can be suppressed more easily than in the US. And when this happens, I think the benefits of these vehicles will be clear, and other countries will be almost forced to adopt them, with proper legislation.

Obviously there will be a major economic impact with self-driving cars. A large number of people will have a modest economic benefit, and a smaller number of people will have a more severe, negative economic benefit–mostly truck drivers, transport companies, etc… Socially, I’m sure there will be a number of significant impacts. The concept of a “commute” will be transformed from a boring, tedious experience to basically the new entertainment industry. People will no longer have to worry about cabs, and drinking while being driven may be legalized. I’m sure a number of people will create “house-cars” and live a nomadic existence in their self-driving home/vehicle. The possibilities seem endless.

Personally, I would like a self-driving car, but I would also like there to be roads dedicated to just manually-controlled cars. I think driving manually can be a really enjoyable and liberating activity. I also occasionally ride a motorcycle purely for fun–not to go somewhere, but just to experience riding it. I think it would be a shame if this autonomy was lost due to self-driving cars, but I’m confident it would not be. Too many people probably agree with me. It’s difficult to predict if / when self-driving cars will become commonplace, but I’m confident it will happen soon, one way or another.

Project 03: Reflection

• Do the revelations in Vault 7 influence your views on government surveillance? Do you wish for organizations like Wikileaks to continue exposing secrets like this in order to inform the public, or do you believe that “ignorance is bliss”?

Personally, the revelations in Vault 7 do influence my views on government surveillance. I firmly believe the technology individuals use — especially Internet of Things devices placed within homes — should be secure, that is no person or government should have the tools to hack them and expose sensitive information. I’m glad Wikileaks released their information in vault 7, even if it wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone.  At the very least it will raise awareness of security vulnerabilities, and hopefully lead to safer, more secure technology.

• How do you separate the “message” from the “messenger”? In the case of Wikileaks, can you? Would you rather trust Wikileaks or say the US government?

I think this is one of the biggest issues I have with Wikileaks. Julian Assange seems to spin a lot of the released material in accordance with his own agenda. I would still trust Wikileaks over the US government, especially because many of the documents released by them belong to the government. Ideally, however, Assange would make his role almost transparent. That means minimal contact with the press, other than what is absolutely necessary to gain an audience. It also means minimal interpretation of the provided documents. They should be provided to the public in an unbiased manner. This should be balanced with proper vetting of provided documents to make sure they don’t put any individuals in harms way.

• Finally, when is whistleblowing the ethical or right thing to do? Is “honesty always the best policy” or are there times to remain silent? Can transparency be forced upon others? Is it desirable?

I think whistleblowing is ethical in certain scenarios and not in others. If there are things going on in an organization that put the public’s safety or privacy in harms way, than I think it is justified, especially if what is going on can be put to a stop. The whistleblowing can be a catalyst for positive change. However I think some cases of whistleblowing are superfluous. I don’t think it is completely necessary in scenarios where the contentious  action is over, and cannot be changed, and there is no way for the release of information to improve the future.

In today’s society, I am starting to think that transparency *can* be forced upon others. It is clear that it is very difficult to keep any documents private within a moderately sized organization, and so people should assume any wrongdoing will be discovered eventually. Statistically, I think there will always be one rogue agent willing to smuggle documents. As long as the internet exists, they will be published somewhere. I think this can be desirable if the transparency is achieved in a way that protects individual people.

Reading 10: Trolling

If you asked me, the term “to troll” most nearly means “to provoke.” Obviously, people have been provoking one another for a really long time, but only with the rise of the internet and internet culture did the term “trolling” really come into it’s own. Trolling, as it is used today, represents a wide array of behaviors that range from teasing and sarcasm to outright aggression, and the fact that it can be done anonymously and remotely adds to its novelty. People can “troll” other people by misleading them, playing dumb, making up lies, or attacking them. No matter how vicious the attack, however, the aggressor can always use his/her anonymity to claim it was all tongue-in-cheek. I would say the main cause of trolling is the advent of computer networks and anonymous forums. For the first time in human history, a large number of people were allowed to say whatever they wanted with absolutely no consequences, and so obviously some of the users of these platforms are going to do some questionable things. In terms of effects, there is the obvious negative consequences of cyber bullying, a category under which a large amount of “trolling” falls.  In general however, I would say the worst consequences of trolling fall upon the people who have no idea what it is, and this in turn can affect the rest of the world.

For many tech-savvy millennials who have been browsing the internet for a decade or more, “trolling” behavior is very obvious most of the time, and no matter how aggressive the trolling gets, it can be pretty easily brushed to the side. Some of the most notorious cases of trolling have been created on the website 4chan. There was the fake ad they created advertising the iphone’s ability to be charged in the microwave, and the “plastic bag challenge,” where participant’s put a plastic bag over their head for as long as possible out of solidarity with animals affected by pollution. To many people familiar with the internet, these are pretty clear attempts to bait people into doing something dumb. I think it is also a way to see how much “real world” influence occupants of this “fake world” can create. The problem is, there are many people today–probably the majority of internet users–who can’t tell what is sincere and what is tongue in cheek, and recently, this has become a problem for the whole world. The_Donald is now one of the most popular subreddits on Reddit, and in my opinion had a large influence on the media. For the most part, this subreddit was started by members of 4chan, who in my opinion recognized that Trump was a terrible candidate, but wanted to see how far his campaign could make it, and so they started “trolling”. People like this created a lot of what is referred to now as “fake news,” which many people cannot discern from “real news.” What I’m trying to say is that internet “trolls” are trying to see how much erratic behavior they can create in the real world, and since the internet is so pervasive now, they are getting much further than ever before. I think Trump is president because of trolls.

In terms of what companies can do, or should do, to stymy “trolling” or online harassment–it is difficult to say. I really think it would be hard to do anything without potentially restricting free speech or censoring the internet. In my opinion, internet companies should make it easier for people to decide what is sincere and harmless vs. what is not. Maybe give credibility rankings to news sites, or just provide a general education in regards to the internet and much of the behavior that goes on within it.

 

 

Reading 09: Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality, or “Net Neutrality”, is one of those words I have heard frequently in tech news, but admittedly never knew much about. Based on the readings and what I have gathered over the past few years in regards to the topic, Net Neutrality refers to the principle that all data should be treated equally over the network. For example, since Netflix requires so much data to stream, some people may want to give it priority while others may want to throttle it in relation to other services like the news for example. Another controversial instance when Net Neutrality was brought up was during Facebook’s attempt to launch their “free basics” plan in India. Essentially, Zuckerburg wanted to give people in rural India access to the internet, but with the caveat that the only sites they could visit were for the most part Facebook and its partners. Personally, I find this a pretty difficult scenario to judge, and one that is pretty representative of the issue as a whole. Is Zuckerburg being charitable by trying to give people in undeveloped parts of the world access to the internet, or is he being greedy by exploiting an emerging market into using his products? Personally, I support net neutrality and think the internet should stay “open,” but I do think there are scenarios where this may not be ideal for users.

In theory, I think not having Net Neutrality sounds fine. Like the Forbes article said, “If an ISP blocks Netflix because of the bandwidth it requires, consumers who want Netflix will take their business elsewhere. If enough people do so, the ISP will have to change policies or go out of business.” However, in reality, I think the throttling or blocking of certain services by certain ISPs would lead to changes that we cannot predict, and which I think would make the internet a much different, more confusing, and more easily censored / controlled place. I find it difficult to develop whatever worries I have into concrete examples, but I just imagine trying to choose an ISP that would fit my needs, and being totally in the dark in regards to what I am actually allowed to visit or not. Once ISP’s start legally blocking certain services for their consumers, I think it would be difficult to ever know what is being blocked and what is not. What about a small blog criticising the government that certain people may not like? Imagine not being able to visit it, and being told by your ISP that it is not covered under your plan. How would you ever know everything that is covered or not covered, and when these decisions are made and by who? Most people would probably not pursue the issue, and suddenly censorship is happening on a mass scale. I also envision innovation being stifled by the removal of Net Neutrality. I have feeling a large portion of  internet users today would be happy buying a package that covers:  Facebook, Email, Netflix. Suddenly a large portion of the internet is no longer used, and the organic growth that creates much of technological innovation slows down.

 

Reading 07: Online Advertising

The economy of the internet has grown at an unbelievable rate over the past twenty years. Mark Zuckerberg is now worth 56 billion dollars, snapchat just IPO’d with a value of 33 billion dollars, and money is flowing freely from the pockets of venture capitalists. While many tech companies do have well-defined products–snapchat just released spectacles, their first hardware product, and most of amazon’s revenue comes from selling space on their AWS servers–some tech companies rely almost entirely on revenue that comes from selling advertising space on their site. This accounts for all most all of Facebook and Snapchat’s revenue, and a good part of many other companies’ revenues. The methods they use to sell products have become increasingly sophisticated over the past few years, and to many people, they have become pretty scary. According to a Pew research poll “many people in America are upset about the extent to which their personal data is being collected, but feel it is largely out of their control.” These developments have led to the creation of the phrase “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.” They have also led to a lot of debate surrounding the topic of online advertising. Is it ethical? Is it invasive? Do the companies have responsibility for their user’s security/privacy?

Personally, I am okay with collection of user’s data for advertising purposes as long as it does not lead to a loss of personal safety or a loss of personal freedom, and it is done in a stylish, unobtrusive manner. However, these things are far from guaranteed in the current state of online advertising. First off, not considering the privacy / safety concerns, the advertisements on many sites are often really really ugly, and significantly slow down the loading time / performance of the web page. This is the reason I use ad-block on my Chrome browser. I actually appreciate well-designed ads that don’t negatively affect the original content I came to view, appreciate to the point that I would rather have them than not have them. I like seeing what new products are out in the market, and would consider buying a product if I liked it.

As for privacy concerns, I think this is an important issue. I am theoretically okay with the collection of personal data as long as it is used strictly for targeted advertising. I think presenting users things they might like is a useful service, not just a good way for internet companies to make money. I say “theoretically okay with” because I think it is very unlikely that whatever data is collected will be used only for advertising purposes, and that it will be safe from other organizations / governments / people. Snowden’s revelations show that the NSA is actively trying to get internet companies to hand over their user’s data in an attempt to “increase public safety,” and every few months a there is a story about the breach of a companies’ databases by hackers. These things make me very wary when it comes to the collection of personal data. We also can’t be one hundred percent sure Facebook and companies like it are using our data strictly for advertising. They know a lot about people in the world, and can use their knowledge to sway public opinion and further their own agenda, whatever that may be. It’s not hard to imagine that Facebook could determine a user’s political leaning based on their likes and posts, and that they could theoretically tailor content to the right or left–maybe only remind Democrats to register to vote. Using methods like this they could majorly impact the outcome of elections, and I’m sure many other important decisions.

I think an important question is whether there are any other ways for internet companies who rely on advertising to make money. I read an interesting article once about a German newspaper who turned to a “micro-subscription” model, where instead of using advertising or requiring a monthly subscription that would discourage casual readers from purchasing, users would pay for content with small, automatic purchases “per article”. I think companies like Facebook could use a similar model for people who are uncomfortable with having their data collected or who don’t want to see advertisements. I don’t think it is fair for users to expect free access without advertising. After all, they are consuming a product somebody else invested a lot of time in, just because it is on the internet does not mean they shouldn’t have to pay for it one way or another.

Project 02: Reflection

1. In my opinion, the most important part of my guide is the section on “When to Start”. To me, getting started is crucial, no matter how small the first steps are. At the very least, put a resume together and send it out to some companies. Otherwise, practicing technical interviews in person is also important. That is something I wish I had known a little earlier. I am pretty good at solving algorithm questions on my own in silence, but I tend to freeze up and stutter when in the presence of an interviewer, when I really need to vocalize my thoughts. The best advice I have gotten is by Kevin Bowyer when he was chair of the CS department. He recommended that we should apply to as many jobs as possible. Not 5-10, more in the realm of 30-60. Obviously you should focus more on the ones you want the most, but in general casting a wide net is beneficial.
2. I do agree that college is now more of a place to train for a job than a place to learn, especially within the engineering majors. I would recommend two changes to the ND curriculum regarding this opinion. The first is a class dedicated to the technical interview process / interview process in general. We do have our data structures class, which is close, but if we could just frame that class in the context of interviews I think it could be helpful to everybody. If anything, it would get students thinking about studying for interviews, something  I didn’t start doing until my senior year. The other change I would recommend is a larger focus on practical programming problems, like front and backend web-development. In its current state, I think the ND Computer Science curriculum is more tailored to a student interested in pursuing a career in academia than a career in industry. I question the practical value of a few classes that are required–like Theory of Computing and Computer Architecture–and question the fact that some more relevant classes are not required–like Databases and Software Engineering. I think most students majoring in computer science got into it with the desire to do front and backend development, not electrical engineering or academic research.

Project 02: Interview Process

 

ND CS INTERVIEW GUIDE

By: Tyler Sammons

 

Preface

As a student at the University of Notre Dame, I’m sure you are well aware of the fact that it is never too early to start looking for a full-time job or a summer internship, and I’m also sure you have already researched how to do just that. You should keep consulting outside resources, but this is a collection of my personal advice in regards to the job search, and may be more relevant because we come from similar backgrounds.

 

When to Start

Right Now! Obviously, it is better to start your job search earlier than later, as there are often more opportunities and it also gives you more time to prepare. That being said, I also want to make a point that no matter when you start, you should not feel like you are behind, because you are not. At Notre Dame, it can often feel like you are behind the curve if you don’t have a job secured by the end of the fall semester, however, this is not normal. There are many students at other schools who in all honesty do not begin looking for jobs until after they graduate, and when you take this into consideration, you yourself are most likely way ahead of the curve.

In terms of specific time periods, it is not unheard of to begin making contacts at target companies and crafting applications during the preceding summer. It would be great to have your resume polished and ready to go towards the beginning of the fall semester. Then, it is open season in terms of applying and interviewing for companies from the beginning of fall semester through the entire spring semester.

 

Extra-Curricular

In terms of activities that will improve your job search, the best thing you can do is work on outside coding projects. Contribute to open source projects, create an app, create a website, learn a new framework, go to hackathons. In every industry, there are things top companies expect applicants to do outside of the normal course load at university, and for the computer industry, one of those things is working on side projects. Hopefully you find this fun, because it definitely can be—you can be creative and make something you or your friends would want to use!

 

Creating your Resume

If you don’t already have well-crafted resume, I would recommend setting up an appointment with the career center to create one. They have people specifically dedicated to helping you do this, and it will be easier than doing it on your own. You don’t need an overly stylized resume—good old times new roman in black and white on 8×11 paper will do just fine. What is important is the information on the resume, it’s relevance, and the order it is put in. Put your education at the top, your work experiences from most to least relevant next, each with two to three bullet points describing exactly what you did and how it is relevant to the position you are applying for. Next, you can put some projects you have created on the side along with some brief descriptions. Conclude your resume with some of your interests / extra curricular activities. In terms of styling, I would say use no more than three font sizes in your resume, one typeface, and use boldface text and underlines only where it is necessary. Once you have finished your resume, have some of your friends and professors look it over, and make changes where necessary. You should view your resume as an ever-evolving description of your skills and experiences—it is never finished.

 

Networking

Networking is that one buzzword drilled into every student’s ears from day one, but which nobody every gives you much practical advice regarding. However as a college student at the University of Notre Dame, there are a few concrete things you can do to network and help you find a job. First, make sure you have a LinkedIn, and add any friend / acquaintance you want to keep in contact with professionally, I’m sure you will have many options. Once you have an active LinkedIn, you can begin leveraging it. For example, if there is a company that you are really interested in, you can search it on LinkedIn, at which point the site will suggest the closest connection you have to that company. You can also search for the Notre Dame community within that company. Eventually, you should be able to find Notre Dame alum that worked there. Now, you can either message them over LinkedIn, or search the site “mynotredame.nd.edu” to find their current email address. When cold-contacting somebody, don’t ask for a favor off the bat, send a nice message along the lines of “Hey, I’m a Notre Dame student interested in company ‘X’ and would love if you could offer me some advice regarding the job application process.” Most likely they’ll give you some helpful information, and they may even give you a nice recommendation or an important contact. Other than these steps, just keep making genuine connections with the people around you, and attending relevant industry events at Notre Dame.

 

Finding Positions

When it comes to finding jobs to apply for, the career center is a great resource that you should leverage to its full extent, but not the only place you should go. In terms of the career center resources, definitely use the “goirish.com” website along with its advanced search functions to apply to jobs and set notifications for new and interesting positions. You should also attend the career fair. However there are many companies that you may be interested in that are not affiliated with Notre Dame. This is when you should use your Google skills to scour the web for interesting positions. There are plenty of job boards that can be helpful, including “indeed.com”, “angellist”, and many others. Once you find a position you are interested it, apply for it using the standard application, and maybe utilize some of the networking tips I described above.

 

Preparing for Interviews

Okay, so you have created your resume, submitted it to some companies of your choice, and have finally received invitations to interview! The first thing you need to do is make sure you know what type of position you applied for, and tailor your strategy to that position. For example, if you applied to a primarily tech position, you need to get studying for those heavy-duty technical interview questions, and worry less about the soft skills. If you applied to a consulting position, you may need to practice more behavioral interview questions, and come prepared with questions relevant to the consulting industry.

In terms of tech interviews, the go-to guide is the book “Cracking the Coding Interview.” I recommend getting that book as soon as possible, and to start working through it at your pace. The most important thing is that you keep your studying consistent and high-quality. Eventually you will work your way through it, and will be much more prepared for those algorithm questions Google is going to ask you. It is also crucial to have practice in-person, either with a friend or a mock-interview sponsored by the career center. There is a big difference between solving a problem in silence by yourself and talking your way through it with another person. The more practice you can get the better. In terms of jobs that may not be as technical, for example consulting, make sure you have some responses ready to go for the more common behavioral interview questions. They can me more difficult than they look. In either case, research the company well and have some sincere questions ready to go for your interviewer. After your interview, send a nice thank you email out and reiterate your interest.

Throughout your job search, you will most likely screw up some interviews—many interviewers even expect it. Just keep practicing and keep applying, eventually something will hit.

 

Conclusion

Searching for a job is stressful, and there are many ways to do it. As a student at the University of Notre Dame, remember that you are ahead of the game, and are employable. If you follow the steps above, and apply to enough companies, you will almost certainly find a job, and there is a good chance you will like it. Good luck!

Readin 06: Snowden

 

In my opinion, Edward Snowden is definitely more of a hero than a traitor, but the extent to which that is true depends on how beneficial the US surveillance system was to citizens of the country. If the U.S. surveillance measures were truly protecting and working in the interest of the people, then I think a case could be made for Snowden being a traitor, but in my opinion, the surveillance measures were not really helping anyone.

As a contractor for the government, Snowden was in a unique position of having access to sensitive information without actually being a part of the group who collects and owns it. This allowed him an ability to make relatively impartial judgements on whether what was happening was ethical or not. Add to this the fact that his personal life and reputation were at stake, and it becomes very hard to not believe that at the very least Snowden himself believes in what he did. So what exactly did he do, was it ethical, and how should the US and its citizens react?

Essentially, Edward Snowden contacted journalists in Hong Kong and disclosed the fact that the US government had forced US technology companies to hand over much of the personal data of their users. The public had no knowledge this was occurring, and any court judgements related to its legality were secret. One of the more concerning details I read in the Guardian’s timeline of the Snowden leaks went as follows:  “Top secret documents published by the Guardian show how US judges have signed off on broad orders allowing the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant.” One of the concerning parts about it is that I cannot really interpret what it is saying. How is information “inadvertently collected”, and exactly how “broad” were these orders? Was the necessity of a warrant in question? Shouldn’t the court decision involve a jury, and be public? I’m no lawyer, but to me it seems like the ability to collect personal information would require a warrant, and so I would question the legality of these measures.

As for their morality, I think it is important to ask why the government was collecting private information. According to them, it was for our safety, obviously. But who exactly was the government protecting its citizens from? Terrorists? Not counting the 9/11 attacks, there have been approximately 53 deaths from domestic terrorism in the past 14 years, and even while counting the deaths from 9/11, the number is dwarfed by deaths from gun violence and other, more easily-solved issues in our country.  Add to this the fact that people organizing campaigns of terror are more likely to encrypt their communications, and the governments “security” measures really become suspicious. So in terms of morality, because I do not think the government’s collection of its citizen’s data was benefitting them in any meaningful way, I do not think it is ethical.

Obviously, the United States government is furious with Snowden for releasing the information he did. If they had their way, the government would most likely charge him with treason and put him in jail for life. They do have a case:  I agree that there are some things that the government needs to keep the public unaware of, and they cannot set a precedent of 100% transparency. However, in this case, I think the magnitude of the government’s indiscretion coupled with its questionable value to the people are both reasons to pardon Snowden, apologize to the public, and start analyzing data in legal and more transparent ways. Today, the amount of data is exploding, and the safety of data stored in traditionally “safe” ways is becoming more and more questionable. I have not been affected by the NSA’s data collection in any way that I know of yet, but I am nonetheless uncomfortable with the prospect of the government reading things I did not mean to share with them. I believe one of the jobs of a government is to make its citizens feel comfortable, so I think something needs to change.