NSA Spying and extra — World Points

January 12, 2025

1

by Anup Shah
This web page Created Monday, October 07, 2013

This web page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/802/surveillance-state.
To print all data (e.g. expanded aspect notes, reveals different hyperlinks), use the print model:

Initially of June 2013, a lot of paperwork detailing surveillance by intelligence businesses such because the US’s NSA and UK’s GCHQ began to be revealed, primarily based on data equipped by NSA whistle blower, Edward Snowden.

These leaks revealed a large surveillance program that included interception of electronic mail and different Web communications and cellphone name tapping. A few of it seems unlawful, whereas different revelations present the US spying on pleasant nations throughout numerous worldwide summits.

Unsurprisingly, there was numerous furor. Whereas some international locations are little doubt utilizing this to win some diplomatic factors, there was elevated tensions between the US and different areas world wide.

A lot of the US surveillance packages got here from the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist assaults on the US in 2001. Considerations a couple of crackdown on civil rights within the wake of the so-called warfare on terror have been expressed for a very long time, and these revelations appear to be confirming a few of these fears.

Given the widespread assortment of data, apparently from central servers of main Web firms and from different core servers that kind a part of the Web spine, actions of thousands and thousands (if not billions) of residents have been caught up in a dragnet type surveillance downside known as PRISM, even when the communication has nothing to do with terrorism.

What impacts would such secretive mass surveillance have on democracy?

On this web page:

Secrecy; US Congress unaware of mass NSA surveillance program
For those who’ve acquired nothing to cover…
Entry to vasts quantity of person knowledge from Web Giants
Web Governance
People and residents of different international locations
Spying on pleasant international locations and worldwide establishments
US mainstream media deal with Edward Snowden
Privatization of surveillance means even much less accountability?
Extra data
1. Different web pages
2. Information tales from IPS

Secrecy; US Congress unaware of mass NSA surveillance program

One of many main considerations within the US has been how members of the US Congress themselves weren’t conscious at how huge the actions have been. Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist that revealed the paperwork from Edward Snowden wrote a follow-up article every week after the preliminary revelations. He famous Democratic Consultant Loretta Sanchez’s feedback mentioned after Congress was given a labeled briefing by NSA officers on the company’s beforehand secret surveillance actions that what was revealed was simply the tip of the iceberg and that it’s broader than most individuals even notice. She added that the majority of them in that session have been astounded to be taught a few of this.

Greenwald continued to mirror on the gravity of what she mentioned:

… as a member of Congress, she had no concept how invasive and huge the NSA’s surveillance actions are. Sen. Jon Tester, who’s a member of the Homeland Safety Committee, mentioned the identical factor, … fairly frankly, it helps individuals like me develop into conscious of a state of affairs that I wasn’t conscious of earlier than as a result of I don’t sit on that Intelligence Committee.

How can anybody suppose that it’s remotely wholesome in a democracy to have the NSA constructing a large spying equipment about which even members of Congress, together with Senators on the Homeland Safety Committee, are completely ignorant and discover astounding once they be taught of them? How can anybody declare with a straight face that there’s strong oversight when even members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are so constrained of their means to behave that they’re diminished to issuing imprecise, impotent warnings to the general public about what they name radical secret legislation enabling home spying that will stun People to study it, however are barred to reveal what it’s they’re so alarmed by? … What sort of particular person would suppose that it might be preferable to stay at the hours of darkness — completely ignorant — about them?

Glenn Greenwald,
On Prism, partisanship and propaganda
, The Guardian, June 14, 2013

And even the unique creator of the controversial Patriot Act, has argued that the present metadata assortment is unbounded in scope. He added that the overwhelming majority of data collected don’t have anything to do with investigating terrorism, and requested, How can each name that each American makes or receives be related to a particular investigation?

Greenwald additionally makes an fascinating commentary about partisanship and describes how in 2006 the Democrats have been very clearly against this type of secret surveillance that Republicans had spear-headed within the aftermatch of the 9/11 terrorist assaults. And he contrasts that with how defensive Democrats have been this time spherical. He additionally factors to this fascinating YouTube video that summarizes this (although learn the article, too!)

Biden in 2006 faculties Obama in 2013 over NSA spying program, Digital Frontier Basis, June 2013

Again to prime

For those who’ve acquired nothing to cover…

Defenders of those packages have typically argued that when you have nothing to cover then you shouldn’t fear about this invasion of privateness.

Cory Doctorow, writing in The Guardian, responded as to why it is best to care:

We’re unhealthy at privateness as a result of the results of privateness disclosures are separated by numerous time and area from the disclosures themselves … it occurs so far-off from the disclosure that we are able to’t be taught from it.

You must care about privateness as a result of privateness isn’t secrecy. I do know what you do in the bathroom, however that doesn’t imply you don’t need to shut the door while you go within the stall.

You must care about privateness as a result of if the info says you’ve performed one thing mistaken, then the particular person studying the info will interpret every thing else you do via that gentle.

…

You must care about surveillance as a result of you already know individuals who will be compromised via disclosure: people who find themselves homosexual and within the closet; individuals with terminal sicknesses; people who find themselves associated to somebody notorious for some terrible crime. These individuals are your mates, your neighbors, perhaps your youngsters: they deserve a life that’s as free from problem as you might be along with your fortunate, skeleton-free closet.

You must care about surveillance as a result of as soon as the system for surveillance is constructed into the networks and the telephones, unhealthy guys (or soiled cops) can use it to assault you.

…

As for Hague: if the harmless don’t have anything to concern from disclosure, then why did his personal authorities demand an unprecedented system of secret courts through which proof of UK intelligence complicity in unlawful kidnapping and torture will be heard? Privateness, it seems, is completely important for the highly effective and fully nugatory for the remainder of us.

Cory Doctorow, The NSA’s Prism: why we must always care, The Guardian, June 14, 2013 (Emphasis added)

And, John Naughton, writing in The Observer, provides:

Residents who had performed nothing mistaken, declared Uncle Hague, had nothing to concern from complete surveillance.

Oh yeah? As Stephen Fry noticed in an exasperated tweet: William Hague’s view appears to be we are able to disguise a digicam & bug in your room & when you’ve acquired nothing to cover, what’s the fear? Hell’s tooth!

Hell’s tooth certainly. I can consider 1000’s of people that don’t have anything to cover, however who would have good causes to fret about intrusive surveillance. Journalists looking for to guard their sources, for instance; NHS whistleblowers; individuals looking for on-line assist for private psychological torments; frightened youngsters looking for recommendation on contraception or abortion; estranged wives of abusive husbands; asylum seekers and dissident refugees; and so forth.

In a method, Hague’s smug, patronising tone was the least troubling side of the NSA/GCHQ story. Extra worrying was the unexplained contradiction between claims within the Prism PowerPoint slides that the NSA routinely collects knowledge from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple, and the businesses’ frantic denials that this was the case.

John Naughton, The NSA has us snared in its lure – and there’s no method out, The Observer, June 15, 2013

The opposite factor Hague overlooks is how the UK’s GCHQ used very misleading means to intercept communications throughout necessary G20 summits to grasp the personal positions of different governments, together with regimes pleasant with the UK. This included establishing pretend Web cafes, putting in spyware and adware reminiscent of keyloggers, and intercepting emails.

It has typically been thought that every one governments wish to (or do) carry out some type of spying and espionage throughout worldwide conferences, and it’s typically within the nationwide curiosity to take action (or a minimum of will be argued that method).

As well as, because the journal International Coverage revealed, the US spied by itself residents way back to the Vietnam warfare, together with spying on two of its personal sitting senior senators and distinguished figures reminiscent of Martin Luther King, boxer Muhammad Ali, and others. This wasn’t with congressional oversight, however on the White Home’s behest; an abuse of energy, because the journal additionally famous.

Nevertheless it has been hardly ever doable to show such suspicions, till now. One other necessary instance was the US and UK’s efforts to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the assorted UN conferences about Iraq-related resolutions, the place the US and UK have been considered spying on pals and others.

Lastly, the when you have nothing to cover argument misses a elementary level; having such vasts quantity of information, doubtlessly unnecessarily when collected by way of a dragnet type system, is awaiting abuse. The NSA and others at present declare they aren’t abusing their roles (however now we have already heard them deceive Congress, so they’re already going through public belief points which is difficult for a secretive group anyway), however with all this knowledge, it’s the potential to abuse it (internally, or via hacks, and so on) that’s the privateness concern right here. Secrecy (particularly in a democracy) by-passes checks and balances. Within the case of the US, who strongly declare there may be authorized and judicial oversight in these items, it’s nonetheless performed in secrecy; it isn’t clear how a lot private knowledge of peculiar residents (of the US and remainder of the world) is caught on this.

Again to prime

Entry to vasts quantity of person knowledge from Web Giants

One other side of the US/NSA spying story was the involvement of Web giants reminiscent of Apple, Fb, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter.

It was claimed that the NSA had some type of backdoor or direct entry to the vasts quantity of information these firms have on their customers, which the Web titans vigorously denied. In some methods, these denials look like spin as firms need to adjust to authorized surveillance requests and the knowledge could not technically be shared by way of backdoors.

However, firms will not be legally allowed to acknowledge sure forms of intelligence requests so legally there will be vasts quantities of information sharing however the secrecy surrounding it means it isn’t clear how a lot privateness invasion is reputable or not.

However on the very least it emerged there have been probably 1000’s of requests for just about all knowledge for numerous customers they might goal. And that the NSA have been in a position to seize an unlimited quantity of Web knowledge.

Edward Snowden informed the Hong Kong-based South China Publish that there had been greater than 61,000 hacking operations globally, with a whole bunch of targets in Hong Kong and on the [Chinese] mainland. We hack community backbones–like enormous Web routers, principally–that give us entry to the communications of a whole bunch of 1000’s of computer systems with out having to hack each single one, Snowden added.

And a few firms are solely too keen to promote to the US authorities to help these actions. For instance, Inter Press Service notes a Californian firm providing US authorities businesses software program to intercept indicators on undersea cables that can be utilized to research all types of common Web companies, reminiscent of Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Fb, Twitter, and so on.

Again to prime

Web Governance

It’s fascinating to notice that just a few months earlier the US was resisting what appeared like worldwide efforts to place the stewardship of the Web within the palms of the United Nations moderately than being a decentralized system (although with the US having remaining say over the modifications to sure facets of the core, or root, Web servers).

On the time, a lot of the know-how neighborhood and others argued that the US is an effective defender of the Web (and helped create it within the first place), and that placing it into the palms of the UN was actually the agenda of countries like Russia, China and others with questionable data on human rights. Examples reminiscent of surveillance and censorship got as causes to not belief different governments. And boards and blogs have been full of the same old over-simplistic UN-bashing that the US is commonly identified for.

The US, by comparability, (most likely rightly) argued that the present decentralized system works properly. Web giants reminiscent of Google additionally weighed in alongside related traces, as did numerous Web freedom activist organizations and people.

Sadly, even with the present system, governments sadly can sensor giant parts of the Web in the event that they need to. However because the current spying episode has revealed as properly, that is maybe another excuse for the US not desirous to relinquish management of such a globally precious useful resource. With the ability to faucet into a number of the core Web servers, a lot of that are primarily based within the US or US-friendly nations, offers it a bonus of different international locations and entities.

In different phrases, if even throughout the present system international locations like China and Russia can censor and monitor the Web why do they care about wanting extra management? Larry Geller offers an instance:

Little doubt wrongdoers fully perceive that they mustn’t plot their actions utilizing Gmail. They know that if their cell telephones are powered on, somebody within the US is aware of the place they’re. In order that they keep away from utilizing the programs that the NSA is monitoring. These whose knowledge does get recorded and analyzed are overwhelmingly peculiar residents—of this and different international locations. The NSA computer systems are full of peculiar individuals’s knowledge, together with particulars of their love-lives, their monetary transactions, and which films they’ve ordered tickets to see.

The current leaks by Edward Snowden could revive stress to maneuver to extra native management of information flows to stop US spying. Do different international locations care whether or not we document their citizen’s personal knowledge? Maybe not a lot. However Putin could care that his personal cellphone calls are on file someplace in Utah.

Larry Geller, NSA spying could revive opposition to US management over the Web, Disappeared Information, June 11, 2013

Again to prime

People and residents of different international locations

A few of the scandal within the US has been that the surveillance by NSA has included American residents. Misplaced in that concern is the privateness of non-US residents. It virtually seems that mainstream US media will not be too nervous about that. However residents world wide are rightly out-raged.

It’s not just like the US-based companies (reminiscent of these from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, Fb, and others) are simply replaceable. Not solely do individuals world wide depend on these companies, however these firms depend on individuals world wide utilizing their companies too.

Being world companies, the thought of nation states and citizen rights have probably not advanced rapidly sufficient to cater for the modifications being led to by the Web. (It has equally been argued that the best way companies are pushing for a neoliberal type of globalization, nation states are struggling to deal with that, too, so there may be maybe an actual difficulty of democracy and folks’s rights in a brand new world that’s essentially at stake.)

Again to prime

Spying on pleasant international locations and worldwide establishments

I believe the primary factor I need to emphasize is I don’t have an curiosity and the individuals on the NSA don’t have an curiosity in doing something aside from ensuring that … we are able to stop a terrorist assault… We should not have an curiosity in doing something aside from that. And we’ve tried to arrange a system … to guarantee that these packages will not be abused.

US President Barack Obama, President Obama Holds a Press Convention, Whitehouse.gov, August 9, 2013

Breaking UN protocol at a Normal Meeting assembly of all members states Brazil strongly criticized the US for illegally infiltrating its communications community, intercepting cellphone calls, and breaking into the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations. President Dilma Rousseff dismissed the US argument that such actions have been to counter terrorism. As an alternative, she argued, company data — typically of excessive financial and even strategic worth — was on the middle of espionage actions.

Stories additionally surfaced of the US spying on the United Nations and numerous European international locations, together with the workplace of the European Union on the UN. The US had managed to crack the UN’s inside video teleconferencing system, as a part of its surveillance of the world physique.

Main know-how website online, Ars Technica, additionally provides that the NSA additionally runs a bugging program in additional than 80 embassies and consulates world wide, below a program known as the Particular Assortment Service, an intensive program that has little or nothing to do with fending off terrorists, in line with Der Spiegel.

Again to prime

US mainstream media deal with Edward Snowden

When Edward Snowden made his revelations he hoped the main focus can be on the problems, not on him or his plight. However as many have identified for a few years, the US mainstream media isn’t in a position to do reporting of significant points; sensationalism and specializing in people are simpler to do in comparison with tackling core points which may maintain energy to account (be it authorities, company or in any other case).

In a Q&A session with The Guardian, he famous that Sadly, the mainstream media now appears much more focused on what I mentioned once I was 17 or what my girlfriend seems to be like moderately than, say, the biggest program of suspicionless surveillance in human historical past.

Within the US, a lot of the main focus had develop into about whether or not he was a traitor or not; he felt there was no likelihood of a good trial within the US as a result of the US had brazenly accused and judged him of treason. In response to questions on whether or not he was a traitor he added

US officers say this each time there’s a public dialogue that would restrict their authority. US officers additionally present deceptive or immediately false assertions concerning the worth of those packages, as they did only in the near past with the Zazi case, which courtroom paperwork clearly present was not unveiled by PRISM.

Journalists ought to ask a particular query: since these packages started operation shortly after September eleventh, what number of terrorist assaults have been prevented SOLELY by data derived from this suspicionless surveillance that would not be gained by way of some other supply? Then ask what number of particular person communications have been ingested to attain that, and ask your self if it was price it. Bathtub falls and law enforcement officials kill extra People than terrorism, but we have been requested to sacrifice our most sacred rights for concern of falling sufferer to it.

It’s necessary to keep in mind I’m being known as a traitor by males like former vp Dick Cheney. This can be a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a type of atrocity warm-up on the best way to deceitfully engineering a battle that has killed over 4,400 and maimed practically 32,000 People, in addition to leaving over 100,000 Iraqis lifeless. Being known as a traitor by Dick Cheney is the very best honor you may give an American.

Glen Greenwald, Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower solutions reader questions, The Guardian, June 17, 2013

When requested how the remedy of different whistleblowers influenced him, he had a profound problem for President Obama:

Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh responses to public-interest whistle-blowing solely escalate the size, scope, and ability concerned in future disclosures. Residents with a conscience will not be going to disregard wrong-doing just because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it. As an alternative, these draconian responses merely construct higher whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an excellent harsher hand in opposition to me, they are often assured that they’ll quickly discover themselves going through an equally harsh public response.

This disclosure supplies Obama a possibility to attraction for a return to sanity, constitutional coverage, and the rule of legislation moderately than males. He nonetheless has loads of time to go down in historical past because the President who appeared into the abyss and stepped again, moderately than leaping ahead into it. I might advise he personally name for a particular committee to assessment these interception packages, repudiate the damaging State Secrets and techniques privilege, and, upon getting ready to go away workplace, start a convention for all Presidents forthwith to display their respect for the legislation by appointing a particular investigator to assessment the insurance policies of their years in workplace for any wrongdoing. There will be no religion in authorities if our highest places of work are excused from scrutiny — they need to be setting the instance of transparency.

Glen Greenwald, Edward Snowden: NSA whistleblower solutions reader questions, The Guardian, June 17, 2013

Again to prime

Privatization of surveillance means even much less accountability?

Chris Pyle, a former army teacher uncovered the CIA and Military’s monitoring of thousands and thousands of People engaged in lawful political exercise within the Nineteen Seventies. His revelations in the end resulting in a sequence of legal guidelines geared toward curbing authorities abuses.

He was just lately interviewed by the superb Democracy Now! concerning the current NSA revelations and echoed considerations raised by others; about lack of know-how and oversight by Congress and that the secrecy is uncontrolled.

However he additionally provides that privatization of surveillance (70% % of the intelligence finances of the USA at this time goes to non-public contractors, Democracy Now! notes) is leading to an absence of accountability and importantly a method for governments to shirk their authorized duties; the Fourth Modification of the Structure, which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, solely binds the federal government, doesn’t bind companies. That’s a major problem, he notes.

Chris Pyle, Whistleblower on Home Spying in 70s, Says Be Cautious of Assaults on NSA’s Critics, Democracy Now!, June 13 2013

Again to prime

Extra data

This website online will most likely not be capable of sustain with new revelations as they’re revealed. Nonetheless, there are a variety of websites which might be price following on this difficulty. As well as, the IPS information feed that this website carries may even cowl this.