Is Privacy More Important than Security?

1379 Words3 Pages

Is Privacy more important than Security?
The novel Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is about one teens’ journey to show and tell the truths about the harsh things the Department of Homeland Security, commonly referred to as the DHS, is doing and bring justice. Marcus, the main character, and his three friends, Jolu, Darryl and Van, are out playing their favorite video game, “Harajuku Fun Madness”, but when a bridge is bombed, the DHS finds the three teens on the middle of the road where they take them in for questioning and harsh punishment. The interrogator, Carrie Johnstone, believes Marcus is the terrorist in charge of bombing the bridge. Marcus tells her “We play a game together, it’s called Harajuku Fun Madness. I’m the team captain. We’re not terrorist we’re high school students”. (Cory Doctorow 61). Johnstone does not believe Marcus, creating a war between tech savvy teens and the DHS. Little Brother has many ties to the once in a lifetime and developing story of Edward Snowden. “I do not want to live in a society that does these sort of things.” (Edward Snowden, Whistle Blower). Edward Snowden used to work for the National Security Agency, or the NSA, for the United States of America for the past four years. Snowden leaked classified information to the newspaper company, The Guardian, which is arguably the most significant leak in American history. Despite releasing serious information and allegations against the United States of America, Snowden has no intentions of hiding, nor does he seem worried about the consequences that may follow. When Snowden brought the information to The Guardian, he let the newspaper use his name. When Snowden was asked why he would release his name, knowing the punishment and scrutiny that wou...

... middle of paper ...

...Safety and Happiness” (Declaration of Independence- Text Transcript). If the American citizen is not able to stand up and fight for what they believe in, the government will become overpowered and they will always win.

Works Cited
Board, The Editorial. “Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 May. 2014
“Declaration of Independence – Text Transcript.” Www.archives.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.
Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008. Print.
Greenwald, Glenn, Ewen MacAskill, and Laura Poitras. “Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations.” Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 11 June 2013. Web. 18 May. 2014.
Korte, Gregory. “FBI Director: Snowden Not a ‘hero Whistle-blower”’ Www.13wmaz.com. 13WMAZ, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 May. 2014.

Open Document