There seems to be a split in opinions wether the formerly National Security Agency contracted Edward Snowden is a traitor who committed treason, or just an individual who uncovered the unconstitutional behavior of an American tax payer financed institution.

It is difficult to argue that Edward Snowden primarily did anything but his duty as a citizen and reported on potentially illegal activities within the National Security Agency. It should be a major concern to everyone who is even remotely interested in a just society that Snowden has to break the law to report unlawful behavior.

It should also be our main concern to find a solution that allows institutions like the National Security Agency to be independently controlled without impeding their work within the legal boundaries. Instead, the majority of individuals appears to pretend to be in shock and awe about the recently revealed not so news, and instead of logically analyzing the event, people prefer to put themselves into in and out-groups.

One of the biggest issues is that the National Security Agency does not only violate the constitutional rights of American citizens, those who gave them a mandate, but also operates way beyond their jurisdictional power and violates the rights of millions of sovereign people who have neither given their approval nor do they have the option to take legal steps against the National Security Agency.

The National Security Agency’s approach using PRISM seems comparable to opening a nut with a sledge hammer. It is questionable if wiretapping millions of people is yielding better results than traditional forms of intelligence operation. The other question is if PRISM is economically and ethically sustainable!