You can watch the complete program here: http://philosophytalk.org/community/video/ethics-whistleblowing-edward-snowden
I'm a little on the fence on this subject, being prior military I can see the advantage this gives the DoD over terrorist and our safety (Believe it or not it does make a differences). On the other side we're handing over the most powerful people in the world our lives on a golden platter. How important is your privacy? If your not doing anything illegal does it matter? Would you give up some privacy if this surveillance can keep your family safe?
Whats your thoughts on this subject? I would love to hear from both sides.
Policy changes all the time. If there's something that you are currently doing that is legal that you rely on for financial support, for health reasons, or for just staying sane in a general sense, it can someday become illegal.
The legal system is quite bad at keeping up with society and also quite bad at being influenced by anyone or anything that has an interest in something being illegal, because the people who want it legal don't realize the legal state is being threatened until things get passed. You might not even know it one day and boom it's illegal.
For instance, online poker went from legal, to illegal, to legal again within the span of about 10 years. This was mostly because casinos and state lotteries didn't like the competition or wanted to get in on the action. Most people had no idea that was about to become illegal, but once it did they became vigilant in the fight to make it legal again, at least in part, and it took 10 years to get a partial legality to it.
If all of your hobbies, health habits, and financial support comes from mainstream means, then you're fine. But being mainstream means that you are essentially conforming to complete nationalism which leads to restrictions of your ideas, beliefs, and freedoms. It restricts creativity in start-ups, businesses, and personal finance out of fear that they will one day be obliterated by laws. It also can hinder scientific and technological development.