Ethical Issues in Snowden's Whistleblowing

This article discusses the ethical issues surrounding Snowden's whistleblowing on NSA spying practices. It explores the violation of autonomy and stealing of information, and analyzes whether his actions were right or wrong. It also examines the violation of ethical rules associated with cyber regulations and suggests alternative options Snowden could have taken.

Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
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Authors Note

1ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
Cyber security
The ethical issues in the Snowden’s whistleblowing on NSA spying practices:
There were various ethical issues in the Snowden’s whistleblowing on NSA spying
practices (Lyon, 2014). Before analyzing if the act of Snowden is right or wrong and what
actually motivated him in doing this, it is important to analyze this act from ethical point of view
which brings some ethical issues which are the followings:
Violating autonomy of others: in order to access those confidential information that he leaked
publicly, Snowden had to steal the access code of his colleagues which means that he has not
respected the autonomy of others and hence this is an violation of ethical principles which
promotes autonomy of everyone and recommend that privacy should be preserved for which it is
required to ensure autonomy of others (Fidler, 2015).
Stealing information from other: stealing is a serious offense when it comes to analyzing the
action from ethical point of view, no matter for what reason the accused person has stolen the
information. Hence, this act of Snowden is a violation of ethics and moral integrity, another
important aspect of personal ethics (Lustgarten, 2015). It violates some important ethical values
such as honesty, integrity and respect to others which include respect for other security and
privacy as well.
Was act of Snowden right or wrong?
It is not easy to identify if Snowden has done it right or wrong as different people has different
view on this aspect. Some people thinks that what Snowden did was absolutely right, while other
thinks he was nothing but a traitor, especially for the people of America who thinks that leaking
classified information, he has only exploited national security and it was absolutely not required
as access to those information has very little implications for most of the people (Miller & Walsh

2ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
2016). Snowden himself has defended his action with the logic that, NSA was collecting
personal information of its citizens while people had little or no knowledge about this. According
to his logic and argument, when NSA has collected personal information without permission of
the data owner, they was not doing any right thing either, hence what he did was absolutely right
from moral and ethical point view. Therefore, it is better to say that, whether Snowden did it
right or not, depends on from which perspective, they want to analyze the action and there is no
wrong and right choice for that, it absolutely depends on personal logic and analytical reasoning.
Violation of ethical rules associated with cyber regulations:
Through leaking classified and sensitive information of NSA, Snowden violated ethical rules
associated with cyber regulations. According to this regulation, employees should not provide
sensitive information to others that might violate the security of the organization (Lustgarten,
2015). Snowden was appointed as the CIA systems administrator and hence, he was responsible
for protecting the security of the CIA and he was responsible for maintaining institutional
integrity of the CIA, which he has not ensured. Instead he has been dishonest in executing his job
responsibility and instead leaking sensitive information which has not only affected the security
of the CIA, but also made the information system of the CIA vulnerable to hackers by exploiting
the security of the system. Therefore, it is a violation of ethical value that individual as a
professional should follow for ensuring organizational security and integrity.
Alternative option Snowden should have adopted:
Instead of going to the press directly, Snowden should have considered some alternative options
which are ethical as well (Miller & Walsh 2016). These options include:
 Report to the inspector general about the concerns and any harmful activity that Snowden
has identified with the NSA data collection process

3ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
 He could have even approached congress as well for resolving the issues legally and
ethically as well

4ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SNOWDEN’S WHISTLEBLOWING
References:
Fidler, D. P. (2015). The Snowden Reader. Indiana University Press.
Lustgarten, S. D. (2015). Emerging ethical threats to client privacy in cloud communication and
data storage. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 46(3), 154.
Lyon, D. (2014). Surveillance, Snowden, and big data: Capacities, consequences, critique. Big
Data & Society, 1(2), 2053951714541861.
Miller, S., & Walsh, P. (2016). The NSA leaks, Edward Snowden, and the ethics and
accountability of intelligence collection. Ethics and the Future of Spying: Technology,
National Security and Intelligence Collection, 193.