1. Technology will always be a step ahead. The NSA used some of the most cutting edge technology in the world to conduct their surveillance. Snowden’s revelations have given the world a glimpse of what the United States is doing. But now that the revelations have been made public, it’s a near certainty that the NSA has moved on. Surveillance technology since the Snowden leaks have shown that the United States can track all people in a certain area for several hours after they have left. The technology that Snowden leaked, by comparison, is already out of date. It’s logical to assume that surveillance will only get more sophisticated – and more secret – from here. It will take another Edward Snowden a few years down the line to reveal the NSA’s true reach.
2. No real reform has yet come from Snowden’s leaks. President Obama had promised minor changes to NSA surveillance programs, but the wholesale overhaul Snowden claims he wants has yet to come. While privacy remains a concern to the general public, there has not been a reform movement substantial enough to get the majority of lawmakers to demand substantial change. The biggest impact Snowden has had on surveillance is he let the rest of the world know how the United States does it. NSA officials claim he gave al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations the U.S. playbook and those organizations are operating differently to avoid scrutiny.
3. Snowden is a problematic hero. If the NSA report is to be believed, Snowden lied when he said he didn’t get other employees to give him their passwords. But this isn’t the first time he’s contradicted himself: He said he wouldn’t exchange documents for asylum, but he has done so twice – once in China and once in Brazil.
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