I really did intend to write about a different topic today… but this article in the New York Time (here) prompted this brief comment. Of course it was inevitable that a book (the first of several) would pop out of the publishing machine to review the NSA/Snowden privacy debacle – and presumably make some coin for the author… Disclosure: I have not yet read the book, but my comments are more around the general issue – not this particular retelling of this Orwellian story…
Again, without regard to the position of Snowden (or those like him) – traitor or whistleblower – the underlying issue is vitally important. The difficult balance between a nation/state’s “need to know” about supposedly private communications of their citizens – in order to ‘protect’ them against perceived threats; and the vital human ‘freedom’ of individual privacy – the lack of unauthorized and unknown surveillance by government or other commercial entities – is a subject that we collectively must not ignore. It is all of our responsibility to be informed: lack of knowledge is not an excuse for the day when your personal details are splattered all over a billboard…
As I have written before: while one may not be able to prevent the dispersal of some of your personal information, the knowledge that using the ‘internet’ is not free, and will inevitably result in the sharing of some of your information and data, is I believe a vitally important fact. Just as knowing that the speed limit on a US highway – in absence of a posted sign – is 55-65MPH (depending on the state in which you are speeding…) will prevent surprise if you are pulled over for driving faster – you shouldn’t be surprised if your browsing history shows up in future targeted advertising – or if you perform lots of web searches for plastic explosives, instructional papers for using cellphones to activate blasting caps, etc. – you may someday get a visit from some suits…
However – and this closing observation will hopefully reduce some of the paranoia and anxiety of online activity: re-read the last line of the quoted article “…the book also manages to leave readers with an acute understanding of the serious issues involved: the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities and voluminous collection of data, and the consequences that this sifting of bigger and bigger haystacks for tiny needles has had on the public and its right to privacy.” The critical bit is something that the NSA (and the GCHQ) is dealing with right now: the vast amount of data being gathered is making ‘sifting’ really, really difficult. Finding your 100-word e-mail in literally trillions and trillions of mails, pictures, files, etc. etc. is becoming wretchedly difficult – even the massively powerful supercomputers of the NSA are choking on this task. Hidden in plain sight…
Parasam 