On April 7, secrets will be unleashed in the Gould Auditorium of the Marriott Library.
Glenn Greenwald, a journalist famous for breaking the story of Edward Snowden’s leak of confidential information from the National Security Agency’s surveillance of American citizens, will be speaking at the U about topics concerning security and privacy.
Matthew Potolsky, an English professor at the U, is teaching a course on secrecy Spring Semester, and Greenwald was selected to coincide with the class. Potolsky said he was also intrigued at the thought of Greenwald coming to Utah because of the NSA’s new data facility in Bluffdale.
Greenwald recently published a book about Snowden called No Place to Hide. His book illustrates how the NSA, with the cooperation of companies such as Facebook, Yahoo and Google, has swept up unimaginable amounts of data, emails, phone records and social media posts in an effort to track down terrorist activity. Greenwald believes this activity, which he suggests amounts to spying on American citizens without a search warrant, is illegal and damaging from a constitutional perspective.
According to an article published by Greenwald in The Guardian on June 6, 2013, Snowden’s documents exposed the “scale of domestic surveillance under Obama.” In addition, the leaked information showed that the government collected phone records of millions of Verizon customers on a daily basis. Potolsky said this is something college students should pay attention to.
“Students are among the citizens most dependent upon the web and social networking,” he said. “I thinks it’s imperative that they be aware of just how vulnerable they are to the kind of surveillance Snowden and Greenwald uncovered. Even if you think you have nothing to hide, the mere possibility that you might be watched changes your behavior in crucial ways.”
Nora Abu-Dan, a senior in economics, said students should be more aware of issues surrounding their privacy and is looking forward to hearing Greenwald speak on campus next semester.
“Hardly anything is private anymore,” Abu-Dan said. “When you think you are having a private conversation with friends online, you really aren’t. It’s weird to think that the government can be listening in or tapping into emails or phone calls at any time.”
Tickets to Greenwald’s lecture are free, but supplies are limited to the number of seats available in the Gould Auditorium. As the event approaches, more information will be released about when and where tickets will be available.
[email protected]
@mary_royal