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This piece captures some of the complexity of the surveillance / privacy debate as it applies to Snowden and the Paris attacks.

"Latest on the computer analyst whistleblower who provided the Guardian with top-secret NSA documents leading to revelations about US surveillance on phone and internet communications" - compilation of news sources on Edward Snowden

Hey, check out Snowden's engaging Twitter feed.

It is important to consider whether Snowden is our enemy or our friend. Disobeying the rule of law and throwing turmoil into our system is harmful, but many still view him as a friend of the people.

Because Snowden wrote it

Ladar Levison and William Binney each paid the price for a moral stand against the U.S. government. And your digital privacy is slightly better for it.

An article debating security/surveillance vs. privacy post-Snowden leaks, written fall 2014 for Stanford Lawyer Magazine

To any future college students: Be careful of what you type on the internet or reveal about yourself in an online forum. Despite the shocking revelations of the size and scope of the government's surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden, the majority of Americans don't understand the kind of information the government has on them, have taken few steps to protect their online data, and believe that such programs don't go far enough in tackling terrorism. Ironically, these same Americans also overwhelmingly believe that consumers have lost protection of their data to companies who have used their clients' privacy as a commodity. I would advise you to be careful of what you post online, and follow a few steps, such as passwords, encryption, and clearing your cookies, to help protect at least some of your data online and allow you to remain private. These programs continue to this day, and it's important that you protect what little privacy remains.

What are the mechanisms behind surveillance? How precisely are people surveilled in the US?

We need to really pay attention to how many different apps and resources we have connected to big sites like facebook, and google. Heck, Apple as a whole essentially has our entire lives on record. Don't link everything to facebook or google, and maybe consider diversifying your technology.

Companies don't require a warrant to conduct data searches of their customers. The safest way to ensure that your data remains private while using services from a company is to use client based end to end encryption.

What really stood out to me about this article was that they said the NSA actually pays more attention to those people who use encryption. So, in order to protect ourselves and also avoid prying NSA eyes, we should encourage people to stand in solidarity with encryption. I thought this was really interesting because I always thought that encryption would undoubtedly make everything more secure, but here they're saying that it actually attracts attention (which isn't necessarily a good thing).

When I was a kid, I read an issue of Superman in which he faces Batman's villain, the Joker. At one point, the Joker tells Superman that he's kidnapped all of Superman's best friends (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and so on) and locked them inside lead-lined caskets, hidden throughout Metropolis. Since the caskets are air-tight, they only have an hour to live, and Superman can't find them because his x-ray vision can't see through lead! That's what the Joker said. Actually, since Superman can't see through lead, those caskets *stood out* when he scanned the city with his x-ray vision, and he rescued all his friends in short order. Same basic idea.

You can find anything on the Internet: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/superjoker6.jpg.

Here's a recent interview with security expert Bruce Schneier.

This blog has information about military cryptography and privacy in general, including this post about the Zimmermann Telegram. Is it ethical to lie to an ally if it is in their best interest? What are the ethics behind spying on one's allies? Do ethics hinder one's ability to win a war, and if so, should ethics be disregarded in times of war? Another interesting post examines how Snowden should be viewed as a patriot, not a traitor. This made me question where one's loyalty should remain- to the government or to the people?

A well-reasoned argument from our favorite security blogger, with plenty of links to help us in writing our final paper. It is also an interesting article as it talks about the debate before Snowden, Wikileaks, and other whistleblowers.

Privacy advocates are pushing back against arguments from the intelligence community that more surveillance powers would have prevented the deadly Paris terrorist attacks. They're offended at what they see as naked opportunism from supporters of tough surveillance powers and argue the rhetoric - including suggestions that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has blood on his hands - has gone too far.

Discusses some of the points we brought up in class and provides statistics, but data is from 2013 and could potentially show the effects of events in the past two years when combined with Abbey's post

This article talks about the want for greater government surveillance after the Paris attacks. It mentions that since Edward Snowden released information about the NSA's digital surveillance power, a lot of measures have been taken to restrict government surveillance. However, since the Paris attacks, the US government is pushing to bring that power back.