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The NSA scandal broke in 2013, when details about NSA’s surveillance programs were published by the Guardian. The story was soon picked up by news agencies around the world, causing outrage on a global scale. The man behind the scandal is Edward Snowden, a former employee of the CIA, contractor for NSA, and most notably a whistleblower.

According to the timeline of the scandal published by the Guardian, in May 2013 Snowden gained access to highly classified files through his work at defense contractor Booze Allen Hamilton. He then left the United States for Hong Kong, where he met with journalists and through them leaked information about NSA’s surveillance programs at home and abroad. The BBC article Edward Snowden: Leaks that exposed US spy programme summarized the leaks: Initial reports centered on a NSA surveillance program known as Prism, which allowed NSA to “tap directly into the servers of nine internet firms, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, to track online communications”. As the scandal widened, more surveillance programs became known. On June 21 2013 the Guardian reported the UK spy agency was taping fiber-optic cables and sharing the information with NSA. The situation worsened with further reports on phone taping involving many of Washington’s allies including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and many other EU leaders. It was also revealed that the NSA was collecting and storing SMS messages, almost 200 million of them per day, across the globe.

Whistleblowing at such a massive scale is bound to have profound social and political consequences. It has been almost three years since the initial reports, and it is interesting to observe the impact of Snowden’s action. According to Snowden, his goal was to invoke a public outrage concerning the illegal surveillance programs. However, in a post 911 American society people are equally concerned about counter-terrorism efforts as they do about their privacy. As a result, the public opinion is still evenly divided. Instead, what the scandal primarily achieved is, as put by the ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden, “the erosion of confidence in the ability of the United States to do anything discreetly or keep anything secret.” At abroad, people are much less understanding of NSA’s need for surveillance. With many allegations accusing NSA of spying on foreign leaders, the world became more cautious about US intelligence activities. Many European countries passed laws requiring stricter regulation on surveillance operations and collaboration with US intelligence agency.

The most unexpected and the most prominent effect of the scandal can be seen in the technical industry. Companies started paying attention to data encryption in order to protect their customers’ privacy. According to the Washington post article Edward Snowden’s impact, “The Snowden stories raised enough concerns about U.S. government spying — especially concerns outside the U.S., where opposition to U.S. spying is more universal — that it became a smart business decision for companies with a global customer base to increase the use of encryption.” The scandal has led to debates on whether it is ethical to allow government “backdoors” in their products.

It is hard to label Snowden as a hero or a traitor. What he did echoes the fundamental American value of privacy and free speech while also jeopardized public security. As for the morality of his action, it seems that his intention is a moral and ethical one, but he fail to consider the broader consequences of his actions. As commented by Hayden, “he [Snowden] believes he is acting for a higher good — an almost romantic attachment to the merits of absolute transparency — and he seems indifferent to the legitimacy of any claims of national security.” It seems that Snowden’s black-and-white sense of justice makes him unsuitable in the intelligence community where there are many grey areas. And the discussion of possible prosecution seems more appropriate after his extradition from Russia.

My view of the government, national security, encryption, and technology in general has not changed. I think all sides involved in this scandal were trying to perform their duties. Maybe a continuing debate would be beneficial and could lead to a dynamic balance between the counter-terrorism effort and the protection of privacy.

Project 2 discussion

After analyzing the demographic data, what I found most surprising is how bad the current gender diversity situation is in the tech industry. As shown in our analysis post (https://annacompethics.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/demographics-of-nd-cse/), the male/female ratio of Notre Dame’s CSE department is severely unbalanced, especially when compared to the national average or the entire ND population. But the situation in the tech industry is even worse: female employees account for only about 10 to 20 percent of workforce at major tech companies. What I found most interesting is that gender diversity issue seems to get better in the ND CSE department in recent years since I do not recall seeing many campaigns trying to attract more female students to the disciplines. I think this change may be because of the increasing importance of computer knowledge in our lives, which causes people to realize that programming is useful f everyone. What is not surprising is the ethnicity composition of Notre Dame student body and its contrast to the general public or other institutions. I have visited friends at other university, and the difference quite noticeable.

ND CSE department and Notre Dame in general should strive to improve their diversity. A diverse learning environment exposes students many cultures and traditions. It broadens students’ horizons and teaches them about acceptance and respect for different believes and ideologies. With increasing globalization, the soft skills students acquire in a diverse environment will make them better candidates for different positions in the workplace. There may be costs associated with the effort to improve diversity. For example, the school may need investments for reaching out to groups that are underrepresented. But I think the benefit from the improved diversity is far greater than the cost. There are also obstacles in increasing diversity. Minorities face many challenges and students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented may not be willing to come to a place where they might be misunderstood. Therefore, it is important that a good strategy is conceived for welcoming students from all backgrounds.

 

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The lack of diversity in the tech industry is an undeniable fact: the data speaks for itself. The news article titled Google finally discloses its diversity record, and it’s not good reports on the situation of diversity at Google: “Women comprise just 17 percent of its global tech workforce, … 61 percent of the workforce is white, 30 percent are Asian, three percent are Hispanic and two percent are black.” But it is not just Google that is facing this problem. The entire tech industry is homogenous. As stated in the article Why Doesn’t Silicon Valley Hire Black Coders, “African Americans, about 13 percent of the U.S. population, made up no more than 1 percent of technical employees at Google, Facebook, and other prominent Silicon Valley companies.”Some people may argue that the lack of diversity in the tech world is just an unfortunate reality. But the truth is, if this lack of diversity persists, technological advances will slow down and the entire industry will suffer. Diversity can offer many benefits. First of all, a diverse workforce makes global expansion easier. With employees coming from different backgrounds, a company can better find its niche in foreign markets. Second, promoting diversity in workplace minimizes the possibility of miscommunication due to differences in cultures and backgrounds. Lastly and most importantly for the tech industry, a diverse workplace encourages new ideas and creative solutions to problems. Since tech industry is a field where innovation is highly valued, it cannot afford to lose diversity as a source for inspiration. Therefore, the current lack of diversity in the tech industry can pose serious threats to the future development in technology. Companies large and small should be cautious and take immediate actions to remedy this problem.

Some people may argue that the lack of diversity in the tech world is just an unfortunate reality. But the truth is, if this lack of diversity persists, technological advances will slow down and the entire industry will suffer. Diversity can offer many benefits. First of all, a diverse workforce makes global expansion easier. With employees coming from different backgrounds, a company can better find its niche in foreign markets. Second, promoting diversity in workplace minimizes the possibility of miscommunication due to differences in cultures and backgrounds. Lastly and most importantly for the tech industry, a diverse workplace encourages new ideas and creative solutions to problems. Since tech industry is a field where innovation is highly valued, it cannot afford to lose diversity as a source for inspiration. Therefore, the current lack of diversity in the tech industry can pose serious threats to the future development in technology. Companies large and small should be cautious and take immediate actions to remedy this problem.

As shown in the articles mentioned above, women and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the tech industry. It is interesting to look at the reasons behind their absence. Judging from the articles and my personal experience, there seems to be a cultural stereotype of computer programmers that women do not response to. As a result, when considering becoming a programmer, many of us fear that we may not fit in. I can attest to this feeling. I enjoy studying computer science immensely. However, the popular image of the “hacker” does not appeal to me. And quite frankly I see it as a stereotype that is being reinforced rather than countered in the tech industry. As for ethnic minorities, the problem lies more in their traditional lack of presence in the tech industry. Because there are not many minorities in the field, stereotypes persist, making it harder for minorities to enter the field, kind of like a vicious cycle. On the other hand, once minorities are in the tech industry, they often face discriminations and misunderstanding that make their professional lives unsatisfactory. In the article Why Doesn’t Silicon Valley Hire Black Coders, the author discusses the problem of “stereotype threat”, “people from underrepresented backgrounds worry about confirming negative stereotypes about their group, lose confidence, and get discouraged.”

After identifying the cause of the issue, the next step would be to find ways to remove the barriers and enable more women and ethnic minorities to feel welcome in the tech industry. We should start with education. High schools and colleges should introduce women and minority to programming and computer science. The entry level courses should start from the very beginning so that they are not discriminating against students who never programmed before. Programs such as “Girls who code” are also very beneficial. Additionally, fostering mentor relationships between women and minorities in senior positions in the tech industries and the newcomers can also help developing a strong representation of these groups in the tech world. With these measures in place, the tech world can become more diverse and enjoy the many benefits it brings.

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From the readings and from your experience, what are the causes of burnout? Have you ever experienced burnout? How did you overcome it or mitigate its effects? As you enter the workforce, how do you plan on preventing burnout or becoming overly stressed and burdened by work and responsibilities?

In modern society, the fast-paced lifestyle is adopted by many people. The result of this is the epidemic of burnout. There are many investigations into the causes of burnout. The article The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies gives two reasons for experiencing burnout. First, many employees are struggling with long hours and heavy workload due to outside pressure. “In this version, we work long hours because our bosses tell us to.” Because of the stress and the feeling of losing control over one’s work life, people become uninterested in work and carry resentment towards their jobs. Other people feel burnout because of the pressure they put on themselves: “In this one, we log too many hours because of a mix of inner drivers, like ambition, machismo, greed, anxiety, guilt, enjoyment, pride, the pull of short-term rewards, a desire to prove we’re important, or an overdeveloped sense of duty.” This outburst of drive for more achievement might be able to keep us going for a short period of time but it is not sustainable. Eventually we will become overworked and lose our ambitions.

Even though I have not entered the workforce, I have experienced burnout. When I first made my decision to go to medical school in my sophomore year, I was energized. I also realized that comparing with other premed students, I have a relatively late start on preparing for medical school application, so I delved into the process right away: I visited premed advisors; I arranged for volunteering in the hospital; I started shadowing physicians in different specialties; I started doing research in a biology lab and a computer science lab; I was also taking science requirement courses such as orgo and biology alongside my computer science courses. But when I started my junior year I felt burnout. I was still doing all the activities from the year before, but additionally, I had to start preparing for MCAT. Although I still enjoyed working in the hospital and doing medical research, I felt it was too much working for two labs and do weekly four hours shifts cleaning rooms in the ER.

So I made the decision to cut back my commitments in the second semester of my junior year. I realized that, as a computer science major, I could learn more and be most useful in a computer science lab, so I explained my situation to my biology professor and started focusing on one project in the computer science lab. I did not sign up for hospital volunteering. Instead, I volunteered for the Center for Hospice where I pay weekly visits to provide comfort care to my assigned hospice patients. I was able to better concentrate on my tasks and reflect more on my clinical and research experience. I understood that it is not what I have done that matters but what I could gain from them.

Looking ahead, in my career in medicine, stress and heavy workload is almost unavoidable. But high pressure working environment does not necessarily lead to burnout. The most important way to avoid burnout is maintaining a healthy life: in the article avoiding-burnout, we learn about the importance of exercising, healthy diet, vacations and meaningful hobbies. It is also important that I remember why I chose medicine and remember why it matters to me. With precautions, I think I could successfully avoid burnout.