William Binney was a former NSA codebreaker. After 9/11 the government was trying to find a better way to prevent terrorist attacks. They figured the best way to prevent them would be to uncover terrorist plots before they even happened. Binney was recruited to help make this idea come true. Binney and a small group of other people in the NSA found a way to track everyone in the U.S. to make sure they aren’t planning an attack. They made a computer program that could scan through everyone’s emails and cell phone data to find potential terrorist activity.
After a while Binney started to believe that the government was abusing this new found power and misabusing this new computer program. Binney thought that the government was starting to spy on the average american and look through their emails and cell phone data to try and find more than just terrorist activity.
Binney tried to tell others that the government was doing something wrong and spying on americans. Instead of admitting to this and going back to just looking for terrorist activity, the government decided to try and cover up their mistake. In order to do this they had to get rid of anything Binney said and stop him from talking. In 2007 the FBI raided William Binney. They barged into his house by force and took all their computers and electronic equipment while pointing a gun at William and his wife.
Binney was told that by exposing the wrongdoings of the government he was overstepping his boundaries and putting the country at risk. President Bush and Obama denied that anything they were doing was wrong and said they were only using the technology to find potential terrorists. No matter if they are really spying on U.S. citizens or not, by not letting William Binney speak, the government is guilty of breaking the rules of the first amendment.
Recently, in history class, we have been learning about the trail and case of John peter Zenger. In many ways, Binney and his situation is very much like Zenger and his case. Zenger, like Binney, found out that his government was doing something wrong and tried to do something about it. Zenger owned a small print shop and decided to print articles that revealed the governors mistakes. The governor tried to cover up his story just like they did with Binney. Zenger was tried for telling lies about the government. A big difference between Zenger and Binney is that Zenger won. Zenger was not punished and after that people started to be less afraid of printing stories that went against the government. Eventually this this to the creation of the first amendment. It makes me sad that after all of these and laws later, the government is still getting away with silencing the people of their country and somehow getting past the first amendment.
citations:
“Former NSA Codebreaker: I Tried To Tell People About Government Spying” CBS Baltimore. march 3, 2014. http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/11/05/former-nsa-codebreaker-i-tried-to-tell-people-about-government-spying/
“Bill Of Rights” photograph. protecting religious freedom. www.frontpagemag.com
“william binney” photograph. CBS Baltimore. www.baltimore.cbslocal.com
“John Peter Zenger Trial” photograph. historical society of the new york courts. www.nycourts.gov
Nice job. I had not heard of Binney before and I thought you did a great job summarizing who he was, what he did, and why. Your connections with History class were spot on. The Zenger case is a cool one. There were a few grammar issues but other than that excellent job. I enjoyed reading your article and learning from it.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on this piece Emily! I had never heard of the Binney case before reading your piece, and you really explained enough about him so I could understand what the case was about in a concise way. This connects so well to the Zenger case, and I never would have thought that something so similar to the Zenger case would happen so recently. You also chose very good pictures that exemplified your ideas even further.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog post, Emily! It's funny-- I had never heard of William Binney before reading this, and even if I had, I never would have thought to connect it to the Zenger case we learned about in history. The pictures you included were great, and spaced out the paragraphs nicely. Overall, you made a great connection and the details you included were easy to understand and very interesting to read!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog post, Emily! It's funny-- I had never heard of William Binney before reading this, and even if I had, I never would have thought to connect it to the Zenger case we learned about in history. The pictures you included were great, and spaced out the paragraphs nicely. Overall, you made a great connection and the details you included were easy to understand and very interesting to read!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Emily! i really liked your blog post and found it very interesting because I had never heard of Binney either.You did a great job relating this case to the Zenger case, and it was really interesting to see how similar they were. I liked your pictures and thought that you did a great job adding in details. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteNice job explaining this connection. There still isn't total freedom of the press today, and that is something people should try to figure out how to get rid of. The blog post kept readers interested by telling a bit of a story instead of just giving out facts, and there was a nice connection between history and today. Great post!
ReplyDeleteEMMY (Jazelle), you did an amazing job. I never knew who William Binney was so your explanations and pictures really helped. You did a great job with connecting the two cases together. Like Ryan said, your post kept us interested while giving facts. I thought you did a splendid job.
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading your blog post! I thought the connection made was very interesting and I never would have thought to make it. The connection you made was very modern and that is why it was easy to relate to. I also liked your pictures that you chose because they relate directly back to what you wrote. Overall, very nice job.
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog post! It was so interesting and informative! The connection between the Zenger Case and Binney was on point, and you did a great job of transitioning from one topic to the next. I loved how relatable this post was too, everyone wants to make sure their privacy is in tact. Anyways I thought this was very well written and interesting, great job!
ReplyDeleteThought provoking blog post! Well written and full of information. The whole scandal represents a lack of basic human rights to privacy and this post has brought that to light. The NSA has been accused of trying to control social groups in clear violation of our Constitution. Great connection!
ReplyDeleteThe question at the top, along with the evidence provided, created an interesting after effected after reading. It was a nice connection relating to our lesson on Zenger trial. I found the support you provided actually made me question the possible existence of Seditious libel. Great job connecting.
ReplyDelete