On June 5, daily British newspaper The Guardian released the first of many sets of documents based off the National Security Agency files gathered by whistleblower Edward Snowden. On June 14 the US government charged Snowden with espionage. Snowden, around 6 months later, claimed victory. He managed to bring to attention an issue that may never have come to light, and this was the goal he sought to achieve.

What he did was for the best of the country and should not be punished so harshly.

In an interview featured on The Washington Post, Snowden said he accomplished his goal.

 “I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

His actions laid the foundation for a large change in privacy law.  As for what they have been doing, the first round of leaked documents revealed information on an operation called PRISM. Two operations, the collection of data from U.S. phone call records, and surveillance of internet communications to and from foreign countries are included in PRISM.

Now, with global awareness at an all time high, people have grown less and less in favor the NSA’s activities. In a poll featured on CBS News, 49% of people disapproved of how President Obama has been handling the NSA. The amount of people who think what Snowden did was for the good of the country is at a high of 30%. This growing amount of favor towards Snowden’s actions bodes well for change in areas where it is needed, such as privacy.

Advocates against Snowden’s actions say that what he did wasn’t for the good of the country. However, he has raised awareness to a pressing issue, and has hopefully surged a change in the minds of people worldwide.

The NSA needs to stop their actions, and there is no reason to punish him to the degree the US government suggests.