New Generation Gap? Most Young Americans Believe Snowden Leaks Served the Public Interest

"There's something happenin' here, but what it is ain't exactly clear..."

With those lyrics, in 1966, the Buffalo Springfield began to capture the generational differences that defined the Baby Boomers' revolt against the values of their parents.

Now, almost 40 years later, the Boomers' children and grandchildren are demonstrating that their own world view may be sharply diverging from those of their own predecessors.

New research, as the following article explains, suggests that a majority of 18 to 29 year olds hold Edward Snowden and his leaks of of US National Security Administration surveillance programs in much higher regard than do other demographic cohorts.

The political and ideological implications are less interesting, in many ways, than the potential cultural, emotional and commercial impact.

It is apparent, for instance, that the internet era and its blogging, tweeting, texting, facebooking, instagramming zeitgeist mean that anyone who wants to share a thought or an insight or a secret is free to do so - and will find an audience. And the conventions, rules or even legalities governing so-called ownership of that knowledge is now in dispute. On the flip side, there is a growing concern about who can listen, chart, track or monitor one's activities.

These two converging forces are powerful evidence of a libertarian push-pull perhaps best summarized as: I can say what I want and break any rules with which I disagree, but I'll be damned if anyone else can do that to me. These sometimes conflicting and contradictory memes are going to change the way marketers are perceived and their messages received - whether the institution doing the communicating is public - or private. JL

Drew Silver reports in Pew/USAToday:

57% of 18- to 29-year olds said the leaks have served rather than harmed the public interest — almost exact mirrors of the 65-and-over age group.
Young adults are significantly more supportive than their elders of Edward Snowden and his leaks of classified details of the National Security Agency’s telephone and internet surveillance programs, a new Pew Research Center/USA TODAY survey finds.These youngest adults were the only age group without majority support for prosecuting Snowden — they split 42%-42% on whether the former NSA contractor should be tried. (Snowden was charged in June 2013 with three criminal counts related to the leaks, though he’s apparently not yet been formally indicted.)

57% of 18- to 29-year olds said the leaks have served rather than harmed the public interest — almost exact mirrors of the 65-and-over age group. These youngest adults were the only age group without majority support for prosecuting Snowden — they split 42%-42% on whether the former NSA contractor should be tried. (Snowden was charged in June 2013 with three criminal
But when it comes to the programs themselves, there’s much less difference between age groups. Young adults express similar levels of disapproval about the NSA surveillance programs Snowden disclosed than older groups: 59% of 18- to 29-year-olds, compared with about half of adults ages 50 and over. And about half of each age group say there aren’t adequate limits on what phone and internet data the government can collect.
The divide between younger and older people on Snowden and his leaks resembles the attitudinal split more than three years ago following the Wikileaks release of secret U.S. diplomatic cables. In a December 2010 Pew Research survey, 39% of young adults said the Wikileaks disclosures served the public interest and 40% said they had harmed it; adults 65 and over overwhelmingly (65% to 24%) said the Wikileaks disclosures harmed the public interest.
More generally, strong majorities of all age groups agree that “Americans shouldn’t have to give up privacy and freedom in order to be safe from terrorism.” But people younger than 50 were significantly more supportive of that position than 50-and-overs were.