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| The Eagle is Listening... |
The story of the NSA spy program that was revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden has been all over the news recently, and it is a big deal for both civil rights/privacy advocates and the IT community as well. The reason that the IT community is intimately involved with this program is that the program siphoned data from many prominent IT companies. The NSA and FBI, in a program codenamed PRISM, have been accessing the central servers for Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. Some of these companies such as Google and Facebook have recently reached agreements with the government to release information on the amount and types of information requests that were initiated by the government.
The stated purpose of this program is to protect Americans from foreigners plotting terrorist actions. President Obama has come out in support of the program and has stated that this program has thwarted many attempted terrorist attacks already. While this may be true, the evidence that proves the validity of the statement will obviously never be released. What remains to be seen is the type of data that was requested and whom it was requested from. This data is currently being released, and while it is limited, it is still a first step towards better understanding this program. Of course, some would put little value in the limited information being released because it is only a sample of the requests, and not necessarily a representative sample.
Many people see this as primarily a overreach of government in the context of privacy. I do have an issue with this assertion. How much of the internet is really private? Information that is posted on any site such as Facebook or Twitter essentially belongs to the company, and they can do with it as they see fit. If you want to keep your personal information private, then don't post it on the Internet. The government would have a LOT harder time getting any information from anyone if they posted less information online. It seems that there is misconception that the internet is secure and private. That is truly not the case, as exemplified by this recent development.
"If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about" is the wrong way to think. No one wants the government to invade the privacy of their homes, so why should we let them invade the privacy of our emails/internet usage. I think we can learn more about a person from their internet usage than what they have in their homes. Totally agree with your opinions about the misconception that the internet is secure and private, even behind 7 proxies there is always a way to find you.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mention the home vs internet distinction because I was reading earlier about the excessive number of CCTV cameras in Great Britain, and the author of the article states, "It's extraordinary how some people can become sensitive about privacy in one area of their lives (their four walls) and be entirely insensitive about it elsewhere (the Internet)".
ReplyDeletehttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57588425-83/will-laws-soon-stop-you-from-filming-your-neighbors/