Essay Instructions: Task 5 (40 marks)
WorldConnectionsUK collaborates with partners across the globe. Some of these partners are located in conflict zones. To maintain the trust of these partners, WorldConnectionsUK would like the communications with these partners to be secure; WorldConnectionsUK must be seen as impartial party. After the revelations by Edward Snowden of mass surveillance by security agencies in the US and other countries, it is concerned that its data is intercepted by intelligence agencies.
We want you to use the argument mapping technique described in detail in Part 5 of Block 5 to explore some of the arguments for and against the surveillance activities undertaken by the intelligence agencies.
a)
In the next three parts of this task, you are going to analyse three brief argumentative texts. The texts are edited extracts from a discussion that featured on the opinion pages of The New York Times in June 2013. You do not need to read the original article. If you are unfamiliar with the Snowden revelations, you may, however, want to consult the Wikipedia article on Edward Snowden (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Edward_Snowden [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ).
Each of your analyses of the three texts must follow the following format:
1. A copy of the text that you are going to analyse.
2. Underline any connecting words or phrases in your copy of the text.
3. An analysis of the text using the ?Algorithm for constructing argument maps?, as found in Part 5 of Block 5. Describe your analysis level by level.
As in Activities 28 and 33 of Part 5 of Block 5, your analysis must consist of sections with the titles Level 0, Level 1, etc. (using as many sections as required for the analysis).
If there is more than one statement at a particular level, give your reasons for whether they are included as a group or separately (see Activities 20 and 21).
There is no single correct answer: focus on demonstrating your understanding of the points that the author of the text is trying to make.
4. The argument map for the text. You may use any of the following methods to create your map:
o using Freemind, as in Block 5 Part 5
o using other argument mapping software to produce equivalent results
o producing a text based map similar to that demonstrated in the long description of Figure 4 in Block 5 Part 5, Section 2.1
o producing a hand drawn map scanned in.
Whichever method you use, the map must be legible and follow the conventions you were introduced to in Part 5 of Block 5
Each of the three texts has already been divided into claims ? you must not divide it into any further or different claims. The beginning and the end of a claim are marked by ?[? and ?]X? respectively. You can use the subscript to refer to the claim. For example, if the text contains [Bla bla bla]C, You may want to write ?C is the main claim?.
i. [Surveillance is a necessary evil to prevent terrorist attacks from happening.]A [For example, the secret ?PRISM? effort saved New York City?s subways from a 2009 terrorist plot led by a young Afghan-American, Najibullah Zazi.]B
ii. [Surveillance violates the right to privacy by citizens worldwide.]A [Of course, citizens already release their private data to government and companies alike, whether it be the tax office, health services or banks.]B [However, in all those cases, we can decide for ourselves which information is shared, so our privacy is not violated, whereas the government surveillance schemes sweep up information without our explicit permission.]C
iii. [Surveillance on the scale revealed by Snowden should be stopped.]A [Surveillance should be stopped because it can be abused by government to get back at its critics.]B [Given the past track record of US Government, this is not entirely unlikely. For example:]C [Firstly, the department of Homeland Security did conduct in the past inappropriate surveillance of protesters associated with Occupy Wall Street.]D [Also, the Justice Department?s inspector general found that the F.B.I. monitored a political group because of its anti-war views.]E [Finally, a former C.I.A. official says that the agency gathered information about a prominent war critic in order to discredit him.]F [Then again, potential abuse would probably stifle any government initiative.]G
b)
In Activity 38 of Block 5 Part 5, you learned about IMMI, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, through interviews with Birgitta J?nsd?ttir and J?n ??risson. ??risson contrasts whistleblowing with leaking. He describes whistleblowing as
?? about going to the proper authorities when you find out about illegal conduct within your company, within the civil service whether it be the government or municipalities.?
In this description ??risson proposes two particular properties of whistleblowing:
1. going to the proper authorities
2. reporting of illegal conduct.
Discuss these in three paragraphs:
o a paragraph on whether the first property of whistleblowing applies to the Snowden revelations, including one reference to support your view
o a paragraph on whether the second property applies to the Snowden revelations, including a different reference to support your view
o a final paragraph in which you argue either for or against ??risson?s description of whistleblowing. If you argue against the description, you must show that it is either too narrow or too broad. If you argue in favour, you must show that it is neither too narrow, nor too broad.
Your answer to Task 5(b) must be no more than 400 words.
