Did Edward Snowden Make America Safer?

Liberties over safety?

Edward Snowden made the American people personally safer, for the short term. Now that everyone knows there is a possibility that their every move is being watched, they will be more careful with what they view and talk about. The government needs to be able to see your every move if you want to have maximum security. If they can accurately track your credit card purchases, flight tendencies, and who you talk with, they can make informed decisions on how to handle a situation. It is relatively hard for us to have someone fly so far under the radar if we have access to what they are doing.

The amount of information we can potentially have on people is so extensive. The Brookings Essay is a great example of being able to know as much information as possible. This site has the capability of knowing how long you are on their page, what type of computer you are using, and the location that you are viewing from. This could be helpful in pinpointing where a person is if they are targeted as a person of interest.

If people of interest knew that we have access to all of this information, they will surely change their ways.  This series of events could lead to trouble down the road for the United States. Currently, we have not seen an immediate impact because of these exploitations, but a plausible attack would not occur right away. If something does happen down the road, which I sadly expect, it could be potentially detrimental to the American public. By that I mean, credit card information, identities, and family records (such as medical information), could be released to the general population. If that were to happen anyone could have access to people's information. So I do not expect a real life, physical war, but rather a virtual one.