Privacy Protected
In the documentary “Citizenfour,” directed by Laura Poitras, Edward Snowden states, “we all have a stake in this, this is our country and the balance of power between the citizenry and the government is becoming that of the ruling and the ruled as opposed to actually, you know, the elected and the electorate.” “Citizenfour” is a revealing look into the government’s involvement in mass surveillance, and how the concept of personal privacy is becoming extinct. It displays the notion that the power of the government no longer is in the hands of the power of the people.
Poitras makes it clear to the viewer through the documentary that she wants to expose the truth about the National Security Agency and their policies on surveillance. In one scene at the HOPE Conference, William Benney, NSA crypto-mathematician, states explains what he did throughout the many years he worked for the NSA and how the duties of his job position changed post September 11th. This is when the NSA began spying on people’s telecommunication information and metadata. He states, “the one I knew, that was AT&T and that provided three hundred and twenty million records everyday.” Technology use has grown tremendously since 2001 when the attacks occurred and the NSA began collecting information, therefore the amount of data being collected in 2015 must be astronomical.
The documentary also provides various video clips of court hearings and testimonies from top agents such as the Senate hearing with James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence in 2013. Clapper states that the NSA does not “wittingly” collect data from hundreds of millions of Americans. The information leaked by Edward Snowden and the statement from Benney, clearly proves what Clapper states is not the entirely true. Clapper was urged by many members of Congress to resign, but was never investigated for lying under oath. The Washington Post reported, “Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokesperson, said in an e-mailed statement that Obama has “full faith in Director Clapper’s leadership of the intelligence community. The Director has provided an explanation for his answers to Senator Wyden and made clear that he did not intend to mislead the Congress,” (Fung, 2014). Majority of people who lie under oath typically would get charged with perjury. Clapper was not held responsible for his actions. This further proves the documentary’s suggestion that the government is untrustworthy.
The portion of the film that focuses on Edward Snowden is fascinating and thrilling. He trusted incredibly important documents in the hands of journalists that he felt would be responsible and make intelligent decisions about the information given to them. Also, Snowden did not want the leaks to turn into a story about him, but make sure the media focuses on the information about the NSA. The documentary humanizes Snowden by showing raw emotions from when the leaks were unfolding, such as being concerned about his girlfriend and the nervousness he showed trying to style his hair right before he was going to leave his hotel room in Hong Kong. He shows an impeccable amount of courage when he states, “I am more willing to risk imprisonment or any other negative out come than I am willing to risk the curtailment of my intellectual freedom and that of those around me.”
When I was growing up the Internet was still dial-up through AOL. I was constantly being yelled at by my mom to stop chatting on AIM to the other four people I knew who had Internet, so she could make a phone call. I do not recall it being used for much or being such a key force in people’s lives until I was in high school in 2004. Cell phones were gaining popularity and becoming more technologically advanced. It was not until after I graduated high school that the iPhone came out. After that occurred it seemed the entire population of the world made a collective lifestyle change, and all of a sudden everyone was glued to their pieces of technology. Not a lot has changed since then.
When I began using the Internet and texting people on a regular basis, it was already known to the public that we had the potential to be spied on by the government through the Patriot Act, but there was the notion that was you would be spied on only if you were doing or saying things that could be threatening. So, when technology was a constant thing in my life, it was the norm to think that someone was watching what I was doing somehow. My attitude was, I did not know how they did it, and there was nothing I could do because it was the law. The sense of normality I had that the government spied on me had never made me investigate more until after watching the film therefore I was shocked by how much “Citizenfour” affected me. When Edward Snowden’s leaks came out to the public I really did not pay much attention to the story, again because of the feeling of normalcy. There was nothing I could do. The government had already collected my data, would continue to collect my data, so why get worked up about it?
Now, I understand why I should be “worked up about it.” One main question I had after watching the documentary was: Has the NSA’s spying really kept me safer as a United States citizen? The safety of the American people had always been the reasoning from the United States government for putting the surveillance policies into place. Even though typing NSA into Google search makes me nervous now, I looked for an answer to my question. I found, “The director of the National Security Agency insisted on Tuesday that the government’s sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide in a forceful defense echoed by the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee,” (Doizer, 2013). Clearly that is good news, but I have to wonder if the director is giving correct information, due to the lack of transparency from previous directors and top agencies seen throughout the film. Though “50 terrorist plots worldwide” were foiled due to surveillance programs, how was it possible for the Boston Marathon bombings to occur? A terrorist attack on United States soil occurred, and the reasoning behind the NSA spying was supposed to be “catch” these threats to Americans.
This left me wondering how data being collected is sorted through the NSA. Through the massive amount of information gathered by the NSA, how do they pick and choose what to look at? It seems nearly impossible to look at every single record of every single person in the United States and across countries throughout the world to determine a possible threat. At the end of “Citizenfour” it is implied that 1.2 million people were on the United States government watch list, and I wondered what made those specific people be on that list.
I realize my data is being collected by other sources than the government as well. I feel that will not change anytime soon. Facebook will always know what I just tried to look at on Amazon.com, and try to get me to go back and buy it. My TiVo will always “suggest” shows to watch based upon other shows I’ve watched. I can decide whether to buy the blender on Amazon on my own, without Facebook bugging me about it. In some cases this form of data gathering is helpful to the consumer and the company gathering the data, but I find it more annoying. The same sense of normalcy about data collecting to “customize” a someone’s experience using a piece of technology as I did with the government collecting my data. There is not a whole lot I can do about it unless I want to unplug everything and hide in my apartment for the rest of my life.
The USA Freedom Act, an altered version of the Patriot Act, was recently enacted on June 2nd. The USA Freedom Act is a step in the right direction for restricting government surveillance, but as of today I feel it is too new of a piece of legislature to be able to form much of an opinion on. I do not know what revisions if any, will be brought upon in days to come.
What I find the most concerning is that, a twenty-six year old, average, American college student such as myself, was reluctant in the beginning to further investigate for this assignment due to the government’s surveillance policies. I feel as though I should not get a slight fear that “big brother is watching,” for an assignment that has to do with receiving a college education.
“Citizenfour” opened my eyes to a problem that I did not fully recognize beforehand. I do not know if I will ever get the real answers to my questions about the government unless another courageous person like Snowden steps out of the shadows, but it does not hurt to keep informed and keep questioning.
CitizenFour [Motion picture]. (2014). Praxis Films.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/nsa-surveillance_n_3460106.html
