First published through The Paris News on March 3, 2017. The article can be found on their website at http://theparisnews.com/opinion/article_a8d082a8-0031-11e7-905c-1bcbb15dcf1d.html and was backdated.

It’s just another day in the neighborhood, texting a friend about another fun spot to go hiking or calling your neighbor to let them know where they parked could get them in trouble. However, if you knew you were being monitored, you might choose your words differently.

A few years ago, someone by the name of Edward Snowden, who was a contractor for the CIA, exposed information about how the National Security Agency has been spying on the ones they say they’re protecting.

Freedom doesn’t come free, and this statement is far more true than we think. But, is it really considered freedom if we can’t do what we want, without being supervised 24/7?

Honestly, it sounds like a teenager complaining to their parents about how it’s unfair to be monitored. But, the difference is it’s our government doing the monitoring.

Even though the information was exposed more than four years ago, it doesn’t seem like anything has changed, because Snowden has been seeking asylum since.

The definition of asylum is “protection and immunity from extradition granted by a government to a political refugee from another country.”

However, his new job is to “protect reporters from spies,” according to an article on wired.com.

“Watch the journalists, and you’ll find their sources,” Snowden said to Wired. “So how do we preserve that con­fidentiality in this new world, when it’s more important than ever?”

The article discusses how Snowden is the President of Freedom of the Press Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to equip the media to do its job at a time when state-sponsored hackers and government surveillance threaten investigative reporting.

A journalist is someone who is supposed to report the goings-on within a system. If a government is corrupt, then it’s journalists’ prerogative to disclose that information to the public.

I have some friends within the military who have said a few derogatory words about Snowden — not because they disagree with what he did, but how he did it.

Apparently he put people in danger. According to another article from the Daily Mail, Snowden’s leaks to The Guardian made it easier for terrorists and organized criminals to avoid detection. The article called him a traitor.

It’s hard to say whether he could be classified as a traitor. I’m going to say he isn’t. The Wiretap Act protects Americans’ privacy by prohibiting any person, including law enforcement, from making an illegal interception or disclosing or using illegally intercepted material. Based on this act, Snowden could have been right in telling journalists about the illegal surveillance.

However the case, the debate is ongoing. Regardless of what one person says, another is going to disagree. Snowden could be innocent, or he could be guilty of espionage. It seems like a gray area.

Snowden let people know what was going on, which is a crime — apparently.