What Is Edward Snowden Unethical

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The controversy surrounding Edward Snowden has been one of the most controversial whistleblowing stories regarding the United States. Snowden is a former technical contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, therefore he had access to a numerous amount of classified information. Working primarily with Glenn Greenwald, Snowden sent various government documents containing classified information. The top secret information that was leaked involved several ongoing mass surveillance programs of the United States government. These leaked documents exposed plans to seize and record all US and European telephone metadata as well as information from internet surveillance programs such as PRISM and Tempora. Consequently, this situation provoked many ethical dilemmas to surface. In this memo I will argue whether Edward Snowden …show more content…

However, to an increasing extent we are witnessing whistleblowers being punished more harshly than the alleged criminals, who too often are released without further retribution. With harsh retaliation being a possibility, how should Americans understand their moral duty to be honest and publicize wrongdoing?
In the past, whistleblowers had been destroyed by the experience, and Snowden simply wanted to encourage others to step forward by demonstrating that they can win. The primary duty is to respect the rights of others while ensuring that our rights are protected and respected. Our rights as American citizens are natural, universal, equal, and inalienable. Edward Snowden stated that the human right to privacy is inherent, therefore he felt morally obligated to come clean about the agency’s surveillance programs, leading him to release sensitive documents through journalist Glenn

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