Informative Speech
1. Introduction
A. AGD- As most of you are aware, in America 9/11 is one of the worst terrorist attacks of all time. Which has continually caused uproar and conflict within the public and the government. From the result of this event, it had caused major changes in law and security including stricter regulation, larger uses of technology, and even security that runs throughout your own devices and below our noses.
B. CS- Even though it may seem as if the government is doing as they should to keep us protected, they may have a different intention instead that goes beyond borders and our personal lives.
C. Thesis- Today, I’ll be talking about the abuse of government that had been revealed by a former CIA and NSA contractor, Edward Snowden.
D. Preview- Firstly, I’ll be explaining how this all begun, secondly, what has been revealed and the consequences, and lastly, the resulting implications.
E. Magnitude- This is essential for all of us to know because living in a digital world today, despite all of the problems we had related to government surveillance, as stated in New York Post on March 28, 2018 an ex FBI director, had even said and I quote, “There’s no such thing as privacy in America”.
2. MP1
A. Evidence- According to Comparitech on February 2th, 2018 the Patriot Act is a law that was created after 9/11 and begun the change in mass surveillance.
B. Analysis-This laws main purpose was stopping any kind of international terrorism within the country. Basically, any information could have been collected from both Americans and people outside of the country whom we may have contacted. One of the biggest controversies was that sneak and peak warrants could be used as well to access premises without people’s consent. Overall, the government didn’t need confirmation over someone being suspected to be a threat and can easily tap into someone’s information.
C. Evidence- According to CNN on June 23, 2013 Edward Snowden explained himself in one of his first interviews that he had leaked the government confidential information to protect privacy, internet freedoms, and basic liberties.
D. Analysis- He’s just a regular person like us and actually went to a community college and didn’t even end up finishing his degree. But had worked within the government and was sick of seeing all of this cyber abuse happen and not doing anything about it. He had given up his stable life and job to notify the world.
3. MP2
A. Evidence- According to NewsWeek on January 6, 2017 it states the most controversial programs and laws revealed by Edward Snowden.
B. Analysis- The first system he had exposed was Section 215 of the Patriot Act as previously stated earlier, but instead keeps billing records of every phone call in the U.S but not including the name of the caller. Another is the program PRISM, which also collects anything off of internet communications and social medias such as Apple, Google, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Another program he had exposed is XKeyscore, which is related to PRISM and created whatever was the closest to fingerprints through digital means for suspected terrorists. With this program, any fingerprint can be detected on any computer system.
C. Evidence- According to Biography.com last updated on February 6th, 2018 explains as to how he had got away with doing what he did.
D. Analysis- During his IT work at the NSA he was able to collect everything he had thought to be unethical and against people’s rights as citizens. Then on May 20th, 2013 he had decided to fly over to Hong Kong, China where he had purposely planned a meeting with journalists from TheGuardian and a movie director. Then later on in June was when the Journalists had released the secret information and history had continued from then on. But after all this, he had been charged with two counts of violations from the Espionage Act of 1917 and two counts of theft for government property. Snowden is also currently at an asylum in Russia since 2013 and lives in a guarded area in Moscow since he cannot reside within the states.
4. MP3
A. Evidence- According to TheGuardian on June 4th, 2018 Edward Snowden even states himself that he has no regrets for what he’s done due to his slight impact on encryption.
B. Analysis- Apart from the consequences he faces, he’s content with what he’s done in terms of affecting the government, big internet services, and the public debate on privacy and surveillance. People are more aware and are less ignorant about these issues which is what was his main goal. The US and UK had even changed their surveillance laws. And social medias including Facebook and WhatsApp are improving their security and are using end-to-end encryption.
C. Evidence- According to The Washington Free Beacon on April 19th, 2018 damage is increasing from the leaks said by Edward Snowden.
D. Analysis- Bill Evanina who is the current director of National Counterintelligence has stated that officials are still assessing the seventh intelligence community damage that is surrounding the 1.7 million NSA documents that Mr. Snowden had apparently taken. Also reported in 2016, the House Intelligence Committee have stated that the stolen documents that he had taken were nothing related with the programs impacting Americans privacy and personal business but had more to do with the military, defense, intelligence, and adversaries. They also aren’t too happy with others collecting all the content and doing extended research on work that is confidential.
5. Conclusion
A. Review- Today, I had gone over how this all begun, secondly, what has been revealed and the consequences, and lastly, the resulting implications.
B. Restatement/magnitude- Living in a digital world, regarding these issues with surveillance is the reason as to why we need to be aware that, we don’t actually have privacy online.
C. Clever last line- Think before you speak and think before you press send because you never know who’ll be on the other side of the transmission.