NSA Surveillance and Edward Snowden’s Disclosure

Discuss about the Ethical Issues Regarding the Work of NSA for Intelligence Collection.

Edward Snowden was an employee of the Booz Allen Hamiltion, who worked at the NSA (National Security Agency). The main function of the national security agency is to collect the information and taking the necessary steps in order to protect the country from all types of internal and external threats. In order to do  this the NSA started to surveillance over the internet traffic and transmission from the calls generated by the millions of the US citizens [1]. The information they got from the monitoring of the transmission were helpful in the detection of the terrorist activities. The working of the NSA was unknown to the citizens until Edward Snowden, discloses the matter through the news paper.  In order to avoid the federal charges.  Some of the people regarded the dong of Edward Snowden as the welcome move and has referred “Whistle Blowing” [2]. However, some of the people regarded the action of  Edward Snowden as act of traitor.  This paper analyzes the ethical issues regarding this act and indicates weather it is an ethical act or not. It has been seen the NSA has not followed all the ethical attributes maintained in the both regulations. The recommendations are made on the basis of the analysis in order to dissolve this kind of ethical problems in future.

Doing Ethics Technique is the way to determine the level of morality in any action. The evaluation is based on the specific questions.

Edward Snowden is the former employee of the NSA who has disclosed the information regarding the surveillance of the NSA over the internet traffic and the transmission of the communication of the data generated by the calls of millions of US citizens.  In order to escape the federal charges Edward Snowden escaped from the country[3]. The information they got from the monitoring of the transmission were helpful in the detection of the terrorist activities. The working of the NSA was unknown to the citizens until Edward Snowden, discloses the matter through the news paper.  In order to avoid the federal charges.  Some of the people regarded the dong of Edward Snowden as the welcome move and has referred “Whistle Blowing”. However, some of the people regarded the action of  Edward Snowden as act of traitor

The knowing about the monitoring practice of the NSA has put a certain impact on the people. Some of the people regarded this act as the violation of privacy of the individuals and supported the act of Edward Snowden [4]. On the other hand some of the people regarded the act of the Edward Snowden as work of traitor. The fact regarding this action is to determine the ethical issues  and the degree of morality of the doings of NSA and Edward Snowden.

Ethical Issues Surrounding NSA Surveillance and Snowden’s Disclosure

If it can be seen from the moral perspective, the doing of the NSA cannot be regarded as ethical act, as the violation of the privacy of the individual has happened in this case. On the other hand the act by the Edward Snowden is also questionable as it violates the privacy of the company. The issues regarding this case, is to determine the level of correctness in the workings of the Edward Snowden and NSA.

The most affected people are the common people in USA. Their privacy has been violated due to the action taken by the NSA. On the other hand it can be said that the security of the NSA is also violated as the internal working principal of the organization has been disclosed, which is not desirable.

The morality of the doings of Edward Snowden and the NSA are the issues in this case. In order to maintain the security of the country NSA takes certain steps. Snowden has disclosed those workings of the NSA which can later become a threat to the country. Moreover an employee of the organization is bound to maintain the confidentiality of the internal processes of the organizations. Snowden has violated that rule [5]. The information they got from the monitoring of the transmission were helpful in the detection of the terrorist activities. The working of the NSA was unknown to the citizens until Edward Snowden, discloses the matter through the news paper.  In order to avoid the federal charges.  Some of the people regarded the dong of Edward Snowden as the welcome move and has referred “Whistle Blowing”. However, some of the people regarded the action of  Edward Snowden as act of traitor

The another ethical issue regarding this case is the violation of the privacy of the people. In the democracy, the privacy of the people is needed to be maintained [6]. In this case, the doings of the NSA has violated the privacy  of the individual people.

The acts referred in this case will be evaluated under the three classical theories of the ethics:

Utilitarianism denotes that a action can be supported ethically if the outcome of the action generates benefits for the greater number of people [7]. In this case, the doings of the NSA helps to detect the criminal activity and the terrorist activities. Though , the action violates the privacy of the people, the working of the NSA delivers the good for the greater number of people. According to Utilitarianism theory of the ethics this act can be regarded ethical.

Ethical Theories and Their Application to the Case

The determination of the state of the act is determined by the act of Deontology. This classical theory of the ethics judges the rightness of the act rather than evaluating the impacts of that action [8]. According to this ethical theory, the monitoring of the phone calls  and surveillance of the internet traffic is not permit able as it does not support the maintenance of the privacy of the people. According to this theory the act the Snowden can be regarded as ethical act, he informs people about the unethical practice happening in the organization.

This ethical theory denotes the comparative judgment between various moral factors in order to determine the right decision to be made[9] . The NSA has conducted the monitoring and observing the network traffic, which contradicts the maintenance of the security of the individuals. However, on the other hand it can be said that the doings of the NSA will help to keep the millions of the US citizens safe from the possible attacks. In this case, the comparison between two arguments denotes that the decision taken by the NSA is ethical. 

The monitoring the NSA over the internet traffic and the phone calls of the US citizens were done in order to prevent the possible terrorist activities. Edward Snowden has disclosed the information to the people.  Some of the people supported Edward Snowden and regarded his act as the “ whistle blowing” on the other hand the doing of the Snowden was regarded as the act of traitor by some people [10]. After the incident Edward Snowden escaped from the country in order to escape the federal charges.

The main problem in this situation is that the two problems mentioned in the case has the their own valid point for the consideration. The privacy of the individual is an important thing and the maintenance of the privacy is needed to be done. On the other hand the working of the NSA is dedicated to the country [11]. The steps NSA has taken to prevent the terrorist attacks is needed to be supported as it ensures the well beings of the individual of the country [16]. In this situation the NSA needs to clarify their act to the people of the US and let them know the significance of their doings or they can choose not to clarify the fact to the people.

There are two options available for the NSA. They can clarify their act to the people of the USA and let them know about the importance of that act [15]. On the other hand the NSA can choose not to clarify anything so that they can maintain the internal confidentiality.

Recommendations for the NSA

Giving clarification to the people is the bests option as it will make the people know about the intention of the NSA. This will give the ethical support to the doings of the NSA[12]. The knowing of the main intention of the NSA is not the controlling the privacy of the people will help the people to understand the situation.

The ACS Code of Ethics for ICT  professionals has some factors to judge the sustainability and the level of the morality included in a act.

• Setting priority of the interest of the people:

The interest of the people is needed to be kept above all the concerns while doing a project or taking an action. In this case, the doing of the NSA has considered the public interest in a larger perspective.

• Enhancement of the quality of the life:

The actions taken by the ICT professionals should enhance the quality of the life of the individual people. The doings of the NSA helps the enhancement of the individual’s life by prevented the terrorist attacks in the country.

• Honesty:

During the development of the process carried out by the ICT professionals , the maintenance of the honesty is needed to be present[13]. This ensures that the professionals will not hide any thing regarding the project process and the outcome of the process to the people. In this case, then working of the NSA does not meet this attribute.

• Competence:

The practice carried out by the professionals should be exclusively for the stakeholders. In this case, the working of the NSA is exclusively for the people of the country which maintains the safety and the security of the individuals.

• Professional development:

The practice carried out by the ICT professionals will enhance the professional skills of the other ICT professionals. However, this attribute is not applicable in this case.

• Professionalism:

The action taken by the ICT professionals will help in the maintaining of the social integrity and it will deliver the benefits to the society [14]. The main objective of the working of the NSA is to eliminate the terrorist attacks and maintain the overall safety and the security of the country. This step will help to maintain the social integrity and the safety of the society and the country.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the discussion that there are several ethical flaws in both the action of the Edward Snowden and the workings of the NSA. The actions in the both cases  are evaluate on the basis of the two ethical regulations. The working of the NSA has been disclosed by the Edward Snowden, a former employee of the NSA. The main work of the NSA is to observe and monitor the internet traffic and the transmission generated from all the calls of the millions of US citizens in order to detect the possible security and terrorist threats. This working of the NSA was unknown to the citizens until Edward Snowden passed all the information regarding this surveillance to the Washington Post and the Guardian. The act of the Edward Snowden has been regarded as the act of traitor by some of the people. However, many of the people supported the act of Snowden and regarded his doings as the act of “Whistle Blowing”. The main objective of this paper is to understand the degree of morality in the doings of the Edward Snowden. The analysis is based on the doing of ethics thing and the from the point of view of ICT professionals using ACS code of ethics. The analysis  using both the regulations will indicate the rightness of the act done by NSA.  

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