After some small talk I can tell that my uncle is eager to start the interview so I begin by asking my first question. I have never talked in depth to him about his line of work so this is interesting for us both. “Do you feel that the government needs to be more transparent with their use of technology?” I ask. Without missing a beat he responds, “If everyone knew everything that went on a daily basis there would be mass hysteria.” Intrigued by his answer I let him continue, “Terrorist threats are made every day and releasing such information could cause a breakdown in society.” “Because of fear, right?” I ask. He assures me that that is the reason and goes on to say that every day they get calls and threats every day. He explains that sooner or later people would be too scared to commute to work or to even leave their homes. For the most part it seems that he definitely feels that the government should be accountable and transparent, but having worked on the side of government it becomes clear that he knows the dangers of releasing all information. “What about conspiracy theorists, how do you view them?” “He lets out a laugh and says “Well, they’re people who, for the most part, are anarchists at heart looking to scare others.” This is a slightly different answer from that of my father’s so I ask him to clarify. “Certain people
just want anarchy. By trying to convince others that the government is the cause of all their problems, they try to achieve that.” I ask for an instance he’s had where technology has played a role in helping. He begins a short story, “Early on when fax machines were getting popular to the point where they could be found in homes, we created a technology that could intercept faxes. We would intercept the fax and have it sent to our office and then send it to the guy on the other end.” From the sound of it this technology could be a concern for privacy issues so I follow up with “How did the public respond to such a technology when it was revealed?” He tells me that there were two reactions. The first reaction was that this type of surveillance was in fact protecting citizens. The second was that it was an invasion of privacy. These are easily the two most common views to the argument of government transparency. Before we end the interview I ask him what his opinions are to technology use as a whole. “I’m willing to give up privacy to ensure my protection, but there’s a line to drawn as to where protection becomes an invasion of privacy and that line is different for everyone.” He follows up by explaining that in general there is a good way to use technology and a bad way to use technology, “it just depends who you talk to.”