Monday 24 June 2013

Is it only me....

...or is there anyone else who does not see Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowdon as heroes? I have nothing against whistleblowers, in fact I consider them a necessary control to ensure that power is not corrupted.

The three above mentioned I don't believe fall into the whistleblower category. I say that because their revelations will worsen our personal status and not enhance it. Real whistleblowers, like those that have uncovered the corruption in the UK NHS for example, have made revelations that do enhance our personal status with a probable resultant improvement in the National Health Service to all citizens of the UK.

How will Edward Snowdon's revelations help us? Well lets look at it. He has revealed that the United States spies on its friends as well as its enemies. OMG! What a surprise. Who would have thunk it? Surely we did not need Edward Snowdon to tell us this did we?

The NSA is spying on every citizen via the internet and telephone system. Okay. Well Google have been doing this for years and no one have given up their GMail account or turned to Bing in disgust. We seem to have accepted that Facebook is not as safe as we thought it was.

Lets consider what the NSA is actually doing. They certainly not listening into the conversation you had with your mother yesterday discussing the meal you will be cooking for Saturday night's guest. They certainly are not interested in you discussing last night with your girlfriend. There isn't some perv with an earpiece connected to your landline or cell line. Think about it. How many of us are there and how many of them are there?

No. They are using sophisticated computers to pick up points of threat. These might result in a closer listen into the perpetrators, but I can assure you a couple of hours of what you are cooking on Saturday and they will quickly lose interest. If you are not plotting an attack of some kind you can be fairly certain that the NSA will show no interest in you whatsoever.

Quite frankly I am more concerned that terrorist cells will now, thanks to these whistleblowers, be able to plan and plot in quiet seclusion. I don't see that as improving my personal situation.

It is interesting that all three of these men are facing legal, and I stress "legal", action. Poor Bradley Manning is in custody and will have to account for his actions, but he is lucky he does not live in Palestine where spies have been hanged without the sort of due process that he will be afforded. The other two have taken extraordinary lengths to evade facing the letter of the law. What are they afraid of?

So that is my point of view. All of these men could have taken legal measures to deal with their concerns. The route they have taken will not make an iota of difference to spies. The very nature of their profession is that they are secretive and operate on the fringes of the law. They might be embarrassed, but I doubt if they are bowed. I certainly hope they are not. I sleep a lot better at night knowing that they are working to keep me safe.