Lesson Plan 

Link to slideshow here

Objectives:

1. Students will examine the concept of surveillance and its history

2. Students will understand the concept of a whistleblower

3. Students will form their own opinion on Snowden

4. Students will debate the value of national security versus personal privacy

Lesson

1. History of Surveillance (Hook/Intro);Source: (Ünver)- 3 min

   1. Show students image of the Panopticon

   2. What it is, how it works

   3. How would you behave under threat of constant surveillance?- Q

   4. Concept of a disciplinary society

2. Whistleblowers as a countermeasure to disciplinary/ authoritarian society (Lecture); Source: ( Naomi Colvin)- 2 min

   1. What is a whistleblower

   2. Moral implications of what they do

   3. Conflict between corporate and state whistleblowing policies

   4. Note a few major ones: Snowden, Ellsberg, Serpico

3. Edward Snowden and what he leaked (Lecture) Source: (Szoldra)- 4 min

   1. Start by asking how many students use Google, facebook, youtube, any microsoft product, gmail. -Q

   2. PRISM program, connecting to the answers from the above question

   3. What is metadata

   4. EvilOlive and StellarWind programs and their use of metadata

   5. Impacts in foreign countries- The Five Eyes Intelligence Agency and cooperation with British national security organizations

   6. Q: Was Snowden in the moral right to leak these things? 

4. Debate the value of national security versus personal privacy (Activity) 5 min

   1. Divide students into 2 teams, give 1 minute of prep time, then an open floor debate.

Materials

• Photo of panopticon

 

Bibliography

 Naomi, Colvin. “Whistle-Blowing as a Form of Digital Resistance: State Crimes and Crimes Against the State.” State Crime Journal, vol. 7, no. 1, 2018, pp. 24–45. JSTOR, 7.1.0024. Accessed 15 Sep. 2022.

 

Szoldra, Paul. This is Everything Edward Snowden Revealed in One Year of Unprecedented Top-Secret Leaks, Business Insider, 2016. Accessed 16 Sep. 2022

 

Ünver, H. Akın. Politics of Digital Surveillance, National Security and Privacy. Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, 2018. JSTOR, Accessed 12 Sep. 2022.