Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

Q&A with Professor Roy Gutterman: Balancing Privacy and National Security

Monday, June 17, 2013, By Kathleen Haley
Share
Newhouse School of Public Communications

guttermanRecent revelations about the U.S. government’s surveillance programs in counterterrorism have jarred the American public into a debate about privacy rights versus national security.

A former National Security Agency contractor employee, Edward Snowden, leaked information that the N.S.A. collects the phone records—including the numbers of both parties, call duration and location data—of millions of Verizon customers. Another N.S.A. program gathers emails, Internet search data and online chats of targeted people outside the United States from such major companies as Google and Facebook.

An expert in communications law, Roy Gutterman, an associate professor of communications law and newspaper and online journalism and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, discusses some implications, similar cases and why we might want to pay attention.

Q: Should the average citizen be concerned about these N.S.A. surveillance programs?

A: It’s still sort of hard to tell whether regular people need to be overly concerned that the government is going to be tapping into their emails or their cell phone conversations. Of course the technology exists that the government can, but it’s really hard to tell at this point.

It sounds mostly like what they’ve been doing is searching metadata—or large caches of data. The government said they are not going after the content, just looking at the broad information.

From a civil liberties standpoint, it’s certainly disturbing to hear that the government might be engaged in all sorts of domestic surveillance. There’s always been sort of a hands-off approach to citizens by the government until and unless there’s probable cause that a law has been broken, in which case the government would get a warrant and judicial approval to conduct surveillance.

Q: Some people believe Edward Snowden is a hero; some think he’s a traitor. Why is he/this situation so polarizing?

A: The public is always skeptical about motive when somebody comes forward. People question whether there’s a financial interest or a broader personal interest, or is this just a way to become a celebrity.

There’s also a segment of the population that views this as anti-American and possibly jeopardizing national security. I’ll acknowledge that is a concern. We have to balance that in the discussion and that this is important information the public does need to know about.

Q: Are there comparisons here to others who have been involved in revealing government secrets, such as Daniel Ellsberg [who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971] and Bradley Manning [a U.S. Army soldier accused in 2010 of leaking classified materials]?

A: There’s a definite comparison to Manning, with the type of data, the way it was done and even down to their bios. Both are young, tech-savvy guys who seem to have some sort of dissatisfaction not only with their jobs but with their place in society. They’ve decided to take substantial risks to reveal information that they probably shouldn’t reveal.

The data that Dan Ellsberg revealed was more of a historical context rather than contemporaneous data, and there’s also 40 years of technological differences too. What would Daniel Ellsberg do today if he had access to massive amounts of computerized digital data? This recent case is a little different than taking briefcases of documents to a photocopier in the middle of the night for weeks on end.

Q: What should people be paying attention to as this story plays out in the coming weeks and months?

A: The public needs to be aware of what the government is doing. We’ve always had a concern that the government might be doing things they shouldn’t, going back to J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI G-men. There has been surveillance and there probably always will be. It is just a matter of how intrusive the surveillance is and how many innocent people are affected.

This is also a prime example of some of the problems with the outsourcing of our national security. Maybe the government needs to first start looking at how it protects things, such as secrets or data, before it starts punishing people who break secrecy laws.

Q: What have you found particularly fascinating in regard to freedom of speech and privacy issues?

A: The level of what’s all going on behind closed doors that the public doesn’t know about is extremely fascinating.

And these cases force us to re-evaluate what we consider private. When you’re on Facebook, Gmail or browsing the web, people are watching you—whether it’s the government, advertisers or hackers. We’ve sacrificed a lot of our privacy for the facility to be part of the cool kids’ club on Facebook.

We all operate on a level of trust when we go online—that the site where you do your shopping isn’t going to be corrupted, your data is not going to be hacked and your identity is going to be protected. We all take this stuff for granted until there’s a breach. And it’s not that difficult to have a breach.

 

  • Author

Kathleen Haley

  • Recent
  • Eight New Recruits Begin Campus Peace Officer Academy
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Christine Weber
  • Media Tip Sheet: Consequences of China Lockdown
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By News Staff
  • 2022 Graduates Reflect on Service as Academic Coaches
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Ellen de Graffenreid
  • Funding Expands for Newhouse Professors’ Work on Technology to Combat Fake News
    Wednesday, May 18, 2022, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In Media, Law & Policy

Funding Expands for Newhouse Professors’ Work on Technology to Combat Fake News

Two professors from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who are working on the development of technology to detect manipulated media and combat the spread of fake news are supported by a subcontract that now tops $1.1 million, thanks…

As the School of Education’s Italy Program Returns, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 Reflects on Its Influence

Now a doctoral student researching inclusive education, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 was a sophomore when she took Literacy, Inclusion and Diversity in Italy, a study abroad short course offered by the School of Education and Syracuse Abroad. Soldovieri matriculated…

New Law Scholarship Honors the Ongoing Legacy of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75

Syracuse University College of Law is pleased to announce the establishment of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75 Endowed Law Scholarship with a generous gift from Syracuse University Trustee and College of Law Board of Advisors Member Richard M. Alexander…

College of Law Holds Commencement for Class of 2022

On Friday, May 6, the College of Law held Commencement for its 199 J.D. and 33 LL.M. graduates. The event, the first in-person Commencement since 2019, featured the first cohort of graduating online J.D. students. Luke Cooper L’01, CEO of…

College of Law Graduates Inaugural Class of Its Groundbreaking Online JDinteractive Program

On May 6, students in the inaugural class of Syracuse University College of Law’s first-of-its-kind JDinteractive (JDi) program graduated alongside their peers in the college’s residential J.D. program. JDi, a fully ABA-accredited program, was the first to combine live online…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.