Since its start in 1987, the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin has become famous for its cutting-edge music and film performances, in addition to a focus on technology. But this year's festivities featured a little something extra: a virtual appearance by controversial National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
The showcase given to Snowden has refocused attention on the international debate that was ignited last year by his disclosures of widespread government surveillance. But what is still poorly understood — and was largely ignored by the sympathetic SXSW audience — is that Snowden's leaks were a betrayal that has severely damaged U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.
We live in an age when our privacy has been drastically diminished. Most people voluntarily place significant amounts of personal information online by sending e-mail through Gmail or Yahoo; by posting pictures and comments on Facebook and Twitter; by making purchases and banking online. The data are aggregated in servers spread across the world. Information is passed to companies that better target your advertisements, but some of that data could also be surreptitiously collected by foreign (or domestic) intelligence agencies.
Unfortunately, most of us are ignorant of our true lack of digital privacy. Snowden brought necessary attention to that point.
The subject of his initial disclosures, describing the bulk collection of phone "metadata," detailing time, duration and participating numbers in all phone calls, was appalling. Similarly, the PRISM program reported by Snowden, which allows the NSA to tap into servers of the websites that house our digital lives, was tough to swallow.
But what the Snowden leaks failed to explain was the safeguards that stand between the NSA and the abuse of such information. Accessing the data is arduous and subject to significant governmental oversight.
And even if access is granted, there are limits to the size and scope of the query. President Obama's new policy directive, adopted in the aftermath of the Snowden affair, will reduce the chances of average Americans having their personal information swept up in the future.
Despite all the hype, things might not be as bad as advertised.
And despite sparking a useful debate, Snowden isn't simply a selfless privacy champion. To the contrary, his leaks go beyond simply protecting privacy; they reveal sources and methods that have compromised U.S. security.
For instance, he has released details of specific technical intelligence operations targeted at foreign governments, not U.S. citizens, that forced them to be shut down. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, has termed the Snowden leaks "potentially the most massive and most damaging theft of intelligence information in our history."
Worse still, no one really knows when the bleeding will stop. Leaking documents to news media outlets, which have a propensity for getting hacked, virtually guarantees that foreign intelligence agencies will obtain all the classified material.
Snowden deserves our thanks for sparking a national debate about privacy and compelling the NSA to better guard against the threat posed by disgruntled insiders. Even so, his recklessness has profoundly compromised our security and that of our allies.
That was lost on festival-goers in Austin, where Snowden received rock-star treatment during his televised interview. But the rest of America should look for a more deserving hero.