Snowden Advanced Encryption Technologies "7 years"

NBC Article- Intelligence Director Clapper: Snowden advanced encryption technology seven years

Encryption played a major role in the NSA leaks  provided by whistleblower, Edward Snowden, that still today almost three years later, the government continues to speak on the matter. Encryption in the world of journalism can be seen as a major breakthrough for potential sources and whistleblowers since it allows secure communication in an internet age where it is impossible to keep a sense of privacy. Without encryption tools, Snowden would not have had as a secure of a connection when contacting the press and the possibility of him being monitored thus preventing the leaks would have gone up significantly. However, with a major breakthrough such as this one that gives the public a sense of privacy, the government becomes very awry and thus make accusations of how this endangers the public.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper claims that Snowden advanced encryption technologies  7 years and said that "it is not a good thing", so much so that he also stated that it stops the government from monitoring terrorist activity from the Islamic State. When looking at this from an objective standpoint one must consider that James Clapper is part of the government therefore he sincerely sees encryption technologies as a threat and will continue to push for further control over the public's information. On the other hand, one must consider the other side to this breakthrough and take a step back from drastic claims that include the Islamic State. Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation states that encryption allows people to protect themselves from vulnerabilities and also claims that there has been no incident where "but for strong encryption, we could have stopped a terrorist attack". Reflecting on these claims further reiterates how the government will continue to exercise their power and draw a thin line between privacy in the public. Encryption is a tool that must be embraced not limited, especially within the world of journalism.