The New York Times article The Program describes a real-life version of Cory Doctorow‘s Little Brother, where the U.S. government begins to spy on its own citizens post-9/11. This article is written by filmmaker Laura Poitras, who focuses on films that describe the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath.
William Binney
The article describes the experiences of William Binney, a “NSA whistle-blower”. After working for the NSA for 32 years, he quit his job in 2001 after 9/11 when they began to use “the program” Binney had designed to spy on individuals in foreign countries, for use on American citizens. He “went public” with his inside information from the NSA, just like Marcus did with the Department of Homeland Security in Little Brother.
Prior to reading Little Brother I had very little knowledge of government surveillance on U.S. citizens. Sure, airport security is a necessary evil, but I had no idea that the government held in gaining access to personal information via video cameras, audio bugs, and wiretaps. Even after finishing Little Brother and beginning Homeland, I was skeptical of the reality of the situation. After reading the article and watching the video, I became aware of the extent of the issue, that this is real, and that the line between public and private actions are blurrier that once thought.
The video that accompanies this article shows how Binney is informing the public about the activities of the NSA, and what their next moves are.