Edward Snowden made some good points in his interview. When the pandemic first occurred the US was quickly overwhelmed: hospitals without ventilators, staff shortages in almost every workplace, and harsh restrictions that put a lot of people out of a job. The US brags about the large sums of money it makes from exports or its vast amount of technology being designed by top-notch researchers, yet when society needed these benefits the most, they were nowhere to be seen. The citizens had to practically beg for money to be able to keep houses over their heads and even the money eventually received was not enough to last longer than a month. Many people still did not even receive this money and were left behind by a system that was designed to protect them. There were many laws put into place to help people get back onto their feet or to keep them safe. Many of this involved pooling of information about almost all of the citizens in the U.S, for tracking the extent of the virus. This at the time seems very beneficial, Snowden made the point of asking, what happens when the pandemic has passed? What happens to all the information gathered? The honest answer is, no ordinary citizen knows, will it be sold to high corporations for more information on the people or will be given to another country that creates nefarious plots through this information. The truth is no one knows, what the government plans to do with the information now may not be what the new electees in the government plan to do it. Snowden argued that we as the people should understand the laws in place and understand that there is a life beyond the pandemic, if we do not consider this then many things–such as a decrease in the number of options we have in government– may disappear without our knowledge. A perfect example would be the Patriot Act, which is still in effect 20 years later, this allows the government to spy on any of its citizens under the pretense of protecting the country from terrorism. If the laws put into place now are not considered for the future then society will definitely see some disastrous changes in the future.
