Snowden (2016)
“I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout history where what is right is not the same as what is legal. Sometimes to do the right thing, you have to break a law.”
— Edward Snowden, Snowden: “Sometimes To Do The Right Thing You Have to Break a Law”, Gawker (29 May 2014)
On Saturday, I decided to go against the congressional report that was released last week (which was timed perfectly since the film came out this weekend) and go see Oliver Stone’s Snowden (2016).
I became intrigued since the portrayal of Snowden is familiar to what I had already known of his voice and mannerisms. It seems that Joseph Gordon-Levitt spent a lot of time perfecting his role and that is apparent in his acting. Snowden’s girlfriend Lindsay, played by Shailene Woodley, is easily admirable due to her fun loving personality. Zachary Quinto, Melissa Leto, and Tom Wilkinson are all phenomenal actors and although they not completely central to the story, their roles added to the dramatization of the film which left me on the edge of my seat.
I left the theater feeling paranoid.
If you don’t leave the theater feeling paranoid or anxious, I’m going to assume that you closed your ears and eyes throughout the entire film.
Film is art. Art is allowed to be political. Below are spoilers and discussion of the political points of the film.
How much of our personal freedom are we willing to hand over to the government to assure our safety?
In the film, Edward Snowden and his colleague access a built-in laptop camera and are able to watch a woman undress. The woman does not know that her built-in camera is recording any type of data. Therefore, this is a clear violation of her personal privacy. Immediately, Snowden becomes increasingly aware of all of the cameras in his life. He knows that all his colleague has to do is create a generic excuse to access an extraordinary amount of unlimited data. The NSA was able to collect each person’s locations through cellular location services. Both recorded video and live broadcasting of individuals through street cameras and built-in cameras were accessible to the NSA.
Additionally, the government had access to private Facebook content as well as text messaging and phone calls (Source: BBC). The government received phone records “on an ongoing, daily basis” (Source: The Guardian and Time). Rest assured that your private phone calls are worth $325 (AT&T) per activation or a hefty $775 (Verizon) per tapping in the name of protection against “terrorism” (Source: Forbes) NSA has spent $300 million a year to monitor the American people.
Verizon and AT&T are not alone in handing information over to the NSA and the government.
The amount of information each company gave is: (Note: Each company cannot legally state how much was FISA related)
Microsoft: For the six months ended December 31, 2012, Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from U.S. governmental entities (including local, state and federal).
(Source: Microsoft)
Apple: From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data. Between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and local authorities and included both criminal investigations and national security matters. Side note: Apple claims, “ We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer content must get a court order.”
(Source: Apple)
Yahoo: To that end, we are disclosing the total number of requests for user data that law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made to us between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013. During that time period, we received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests, inclusive of criminal, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and other requests.
(Source: Yahoo)
Facebook: For the six months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including criminal and national security-related requests) — was between 9,000 and 10,000. … The total number of Facebook user accounts for which data was requested pursuant to the entirety of those 9–10 thousand requests was between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts.
(Source: Facebook)
What can we do from here?
Know which politicians will fight AGAINST rather than FOR government surveillance. Here are the four major candidates for President of the United States in response to Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing:
HILLARY CLINTON: He (Edward Snowden) broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. In addition — in addition, he stole very important information that has, unfortunately, fallen into a lot of the wrong hands. So, I don’t think he should be brought home without facing the music. (Source: OnTheIssues and Democracy Now)
DONALD TRUMP: I will tell you right from the beginning, I said Snowden was a spy and we should get him back. And if Russia respected our country, they would have sent him back immediately, but he was a spy. It didn’t take me a long time to figure that one out. Believe me. (Source: OnTheIssues)
JILL STEIN: Hero ; he has done the American people an incredible service by exposing the violations of the Constitution that have been perpetrated on us — which was taken very seriously around the world, where he has been vindicated. The kind of spying going on has not been protecting us — not one instance of a terrorist plot was found by these abuses — none, by mass spying. They initially claimed dozens of cases but it was found that there were no none, in a Congressional investigation. Snowden should be treated as a hero — -efforts to harass him and prosecute him should be declared over and done with. Charges should not be brought against him, and he should return with hero status — he could improve our national security if he were working for us. (Source: OnTheIssues)
GARY JOHNSON: We have these people now, looking back, as heroes. We would not know about this mass surveillance that’s going on right now. When it’s presented to the FISA court that they want to eavesdrop on 110 million Verizon users that really smacks of 1984… I would certainly look into actually pardoning Edward Snowden. This is someone who has divulged information that we would not know about currently — and that’s the United States government spying on all of us as U.S. citizens. (Source: NewsMax)
Want to learn more about Edward Snowden? Check out the documentary, Citizenfour (2014), which is a series of meetings with Edward Snowden about the NSA documents he leaked. Trailer provided below.
Additionally, if you support the pardon of Edward Snowden, visit https://pardonsnowden.org/ and sign the petition.
