Ed Snowden said that he does not want the focus to be shifted on to him, but to what he perceives as wrongdoings of the US government. But newspapers and government response has been disproportionately focussed on the rights available to Snowden, possible future scenarios regarding his extradition and nations willing to give him asylum. What it has not dwelt upon is how much we already knew about what was happening.
We have known for sometime that Google uses personalised ads that come after the servers scan through our conversations. The same is true for google searches with personalised search results based on previous searches and web history that google saves by default. Social networking sites work by selling customers and delivering tailor made ads for its users which required mining customer data, the only safety being that it is machines that do the job without human involvement. It was only a matter of time before this data was used for espionage or monitoring in the name of national security. Posting publicly about our location, likes, dislikes and political views is one thing, but scanning through personal communication and details is another, but both equally violate our privacy- in the first case we do it ourselves to gain attention while in the latter, it is done without our knowledge.
Anyone who has seen a decent spy movie or been enthralled by Tom Clancy, Forsyth, Ludlum or Le Carre and the classic 1984 would know that electronic surveillance by government is omniscient. Our telephone communications and financial transactions can be tracked quite easily and has been done without much civilian oversight. The current exposure is different for various reasons as the threat to privacy, data safety and even economies is larger.
1) Previously, social networks and e-mail service providers had not granted access to data on such a large scale to governments. It was targetted details about individuals and accounts and requests to take down certain videos and content. Here, these organisations are being provided unfettered access to data on anyone without any questions asked.
2) The e-mail service providers mentioned in the expose also provide corporate mailing service for almost all the organisations in the world. It would not be entirely inconceivable for the government to engage in corporate espionage to benefit corporations in the US or to target the economy of a foreign nation by destroying its corporates.
3) The US government's main excuse is that it does not spy on individuals in the US. Firstly, it is a small step up from the current scenario to snooping on US citizens. As of now, even conversations suspected to be one involving a foreigner is scanned, so suspecting more conversations would do the trick. The system is already in place, it is simply a matter of choice by the government to leave out citizens from this net and this may be thrown away anytime.
Secondly, this fact may satisfy US citizens, but the rest of the world should be rightly angry and fuming at the domination of the internet by one nation and application of US laws to an entity that has no boundaries. Considering all foreign citizens as enemies is only indicative of the insecurity and paranoia that exists in a declining superpower which is also manifested in the racist and bigotted ideas exposed through patting down of Asians in the airport and social network discourse in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombing. Also, India has reasons to be offended for being spied on more than China and it must raise this issue with the US on why a nation considered friendly is being spied upon with such high frequency.
4) Lack of civilian oversight- a special secret court actually provides permission to engage in espionage and it provides this permission almost as a rule. This means that who and why they are targetted is never asked.
A pandora's box has been opened and all attempts are being made to defend such unaccountability and state-intrusion into our lives in the name of protecting freedom and keeping away terrorists. We are slowly signing away our freedoms to corporates and governments who rule us through illusions of choice, freedom and social acceptance. Perhaps we were better off not knowing about it, Mr.Snowden has only made our fears real.
We have known for sometime that Google uses personalised ads that come after the servers scan through our conversations. The same is true for google searches with personalised search results based on previous searches and web history that google saves by default. Social networking sites work by selling customers and delivering tailor made ads for its users which required mining customer data, the only safety being that it is machines that do the job without human involvement. It was only a matter of time before this data was used for espionage or monitoring in the name of national security. Posting publicly about our location, likes, dislikes and political views is one thing, but scanning through personal communication and details is another, but both equally violate our privacy- in the first case we do it ourselves to gain attention while in the latter, it is done without our knowledge.
Anyone who has seen a decent spy movie or been enthralled by Tom Clancy, Forsyth, Ludlum or Le Carre and the classic 1984 would know that electronic surveillance by government is omniscient. Our telephone communications and financial transactions can be tracked quite easily and has been done without much civilian oversight. The current exposure is different for various reasons as the threat to privacy, data safety and even economies is larger.
1) Previously, social networks and e-mail service providers had not granted access to data on such a large scale to governments. It was targetted details about individuals and accounts and requests to take down certain videos and content. Here, these organisations are being provided unfettered access to data on anyone without any questions asked.
2) The e-mail service providers mentioned in the expose also provide corporate mailing service for almost all the organisations in the world. It would not be entirely inconceivable for the government to engage in corporate espionage to benefit corporations in the US or to target the economy of a foreign nation by destroying its corporates.
3) The US government's main excuse is that it does not spy on individuals in the US. Firstly, it is a small step up from the current scenario to snooping on US citizens. As of now, even conversations suspected to be one involving a foreigner is scanned, so suspecting more conversations would do the trick. The system is already in place, it is simply a matter of choice by the government to leave out citizens from this net and this may be thrown away anytime.
Secondly, this fact may satisfy US citizens, but the rest of the world should be rightly angry and fuming at the domination of the internet by one nation and application of US laws to an entity that has no boundaries. Considering all foreign citizens as enemies is only indicative of the insecurity and paranoia that exists in a declining superpower which is also manifested in the racist and bigotted ideas exposed through patting down of Asians in the airport and social network discourse in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombing. Also, India has reasons to be offended for being spied on more than China and it must raise this issue with the US on why a nation considered friendly is being spied upon with such high frequency.
4) Lack of civilian oversight- a special secret court actually provides permission to engage in espionage and it provides this permission almost as a rule. This means that who and why they are targetted is never asked.
A pandora's box has been opened and all attempts are being made to defend such unaccountability and state-intrusion into our lives in the name of protecting freedom and keeping away terrorists. We are slowly signing away our freedoms to corporates and governments who rule us through illusions of choice, freedom and social acceptance. Perhaps we were better off not knowing about it, Mr.Snowden has only made our fears real.
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