Private: PRISM in Perspective: A Film and Discussion

 

A United States intelligence employee sends classified government documents to the news media and ignites a national debate. Some hail him as a hero and whistleblower, others denounce him as a traitor. You might think we are talking about Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who disclosed  details of PRISM, the NSA’s massive surveillance program in  June. But we are also talking about Daniel Ellsberg, the Department of Defense consultant who provided  the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times 40 years ago to reveal the truth, which help end the Vietnam War.

 

On Wednesday, July 31, the Bay Area Lawyer Chapter of ACS, along with the ACLU of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundationand the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, hosted a sold-out panel event and film screening of The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. It was a thought-provoking evening discussing the historical importance of whistle-blowers and the past, present and future of privacy and national security.

 

While many in the audience were  familiar with  the media attention on the nation’s intelligence apparatus, attorneys from the ACLU of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation  CNET’s senior political writer Declan McCullagh and documentary film-maker Judith Ehrlich, still brought insight for  those in attendance as they fleshed out the current lack of proper law and oversight related to government surveillance. Shocking, too, was the magnitude of the NSA’s surveillance infrastructure–collecting as much as the entire contents of the Library of Congress every six hours. 

 

The panel also detailed how Snowden’s actions, like Ellsberg’s in his day, have focused the nation’s attention on government abuse, spurred public debate, and created the real potential for meaningful change. At least 10 separate legal actionshave been introduced since the first Guardian story, including the lawsuits ACLU v. Clapper and First Unitarian Church v. NSA.  Members of Congress have introduced four separate bills to rein in the NSA. Courts are questioning the government’s state secrets claims in cases challenging government surveillance. Companies have finally released transparency reports providing information on the thousands of user accounts whose data are shared with law enforcement. Opinion polls are now showing that a majority of Americans think the current limits on government surveillance are inadequate.

 

The film and panel provided a reminder thatas we face the challenges of the presentit is vital that we not forget  lessons of the past.

 

For more information about upcoming Bay Area Lawyer Chapter events, please visit /events.