In 2010, a man named Julian Assange became nearly as sought after by the United States government and Interpol as Osama Bin Ladin. His crime was leaking classified secret documents not to China or Russia, but to us. In recent news, another man named Edward Snowden is now hunted by the United States for leaking our government's intent to track, store and monitor every bit of digital information we send on the internet. Again, this man did not leak this to a communist government or terrorist organization. He leaked it to us, the American people. Why would it be so important to these individuals we be made aware of top secret government information? In this article we address the new internet age of online espionage and how secrets exposed globally can affect more change than by simply selling them to nations.
We first identify what the internet is at its essence. It is a global community where information can reach every part of the world in minutes. In the past, stealing secrets between nations served as a means of ensuring an equal footing on the global playing field. Governments each had spies infiltrating other governments seeking to learn the secrets of the other. When captured, the spies were held accountable. The cold war between Russia and the United States is a perfect example of the power of information in shaping governments and the balance of world power. We, however, remained largely oblivious to the shadowy conflict being waged under the cover of secrecy. Today that has changed and what we know as a global community can threaten national security.
Whether or not you consider those who leak government secrets to the public as heroes or guilty of treason the information they leak has potential to place others in harm's way. They may consider themselves as heroes by uncovering a questionable operation but in doing so reveals troop movements and locations. The information can reveal the identities of our undercover operatives within terrorist cells. The line is blurred as to whether we have a right to know this information but do we have the right to endanger those serving our country? Often these people who pass this information online are not considering the overall damage being caused by their actions. They are only concerned with achieving their motive.
So what is the benefit of your knowing secret information? When information leaked about the government storing and monitoring massive amounts of digital information from our cell phones and computers, the government had to address that. We begin to question if we want our government looking into our personal information and we want the matter investigated. Certainly those elected officials involved could find it very difficult to be reelected. The apparent intent of the information gathering is to locate terrorists hiding in waiting within our borders. The result was the public being entered into matters of national security. We learned later that checks and balances were in place to ensure no one's right to privacy was being violated. Again, whether we feel this exposed secret operation is good or evil is irrelevant. That tool in the nation's defense against terror within our borders has been compromised.
In the future, there will surely be more secret information leaked to us via the internet and we will decide for ourselves our opinions upon what we have learned. We should also consider the consequences. Nathaniel Mepham said, "Freedom is not free, everyday soldiers give their lives so we can live ours." Now that we are being interjected into matters of national security by those seeking to affect change in governments, we are made responsible for what we know. And good intent does not exempt spies from accountability.
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Previously Posted on FullofKnowlege.com
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