Words by Wes O’Donnell
Do you know who Edward Snowden is? Shamefully, a huge number of Americans don’t. Snowden is the guy that walked away from the NSA (or rather, the civilian contractor that employed him) with piles and piles of Top Secret data on the NSA’s electronic spying programs. Ed Snowden is now living somewhere in the vicinity of Moscow, Russia, safely away from the long arm of American law enforcement. Ultimately, the issue at play here is one between freedom and security. And one thing is certain: You can’t have perfect privacy and perfect security.
I teach analytics at a Michigan University and one question that I always ask at the beginning of each term, is “Would you rather feel more secure from terrorist attacks at the expense of your privacy? Or would you rather maintain your privacy and be at more risk of death or dismemberment from a terrorist attack?” Strangely, the classes are almost always evenly split! Some students say that they have nothing to hide and would rather feel more secure knowing that the government is reading everyone’s text messages, thus potentially stopping an attack before it happens. On the other hand, some students say they would rather keep their privacy and that loosing privacy is a loss of freedom, the very thing that makes this country so amazing.
When I ask the latter students if keeping their privacy is more important than the government protecting them, they state that it’s not the government’s job to protect us; rather Americans should be able to protect themselves… After all, they say, that’s what the 2nd Amendment is for. Ah, the teacher is now the student and the students the teacher! I always learn so much from my students; I should be paying them tuition!
And what about you? Are you fine with the government reading your text messages and browsing your mobile photos, if it makes you safer? Or can you take care of yourself?
And what about Edward Snowden? One of the many revealing bits of information that he brought to light is the partnership that the NSA had with many of the tech companies… Think Google, Microsoft and Apple. We willingly give our proprietary data to these same tech companies. If trust breaks down between us and say, Google for instance, then they lose customers… And just when this cloud computing thing is getting off the ground! Since the Snowden revelations, many of these tech giants have quietly severed ties with the NSA’s domestic spying programs in an attempt to regain their customer’s trust.
And regardless of whether you think he’s a traitor or patriot, you should at the very least recognize that he brought to light the full extent of the US government’s surveillance programs.
Two years ago Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor, exposed information showing the U.S. government had intercepted huge amounts of personal conversations in the form of instant-messages and domestic e-mails. This was all done under the pretense that this was a counterterrorism measure and needed to be done for the people’s safety. Now, years later, the government is still upset that the technology industry will not “allow” them to do their jobs by giving them the technical opportunity to enforce the country’s laws.
Technological giants such as Apple, Google and Microsoft to name a few are now putting up a fight to supplying the government access points into their networks. If this were done the government would have access to Apples iMessage encrypted communications system and Microsoft would have to create a portal into their computers through its data center. The argument from government officials from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and The Department of Justice claim this access is necessary for them to efficiently do their jobs and enforce the law. The technology industry pointed out that they can see what the government does with their access from the Snowden disaster.
Granting this access would make it possible for government agencies around the world to have the ability to tap into the networks of technology companies. This raises the question as to which companies would have the need to be under surveillance. Major telecommunication companies such as AT&T and Verizon have already permitted legal wiretap access points, however, the law does not cover non-telecommunication companies. Opening access points to the government creates a high level of security issues that could potentially be accessed by those without the authority to do so. Even though that would not be the intended purpose, once the access point has been created that crack in security is in place if the wrong people found their way in.
The government could run into another problem in their efforts to gain access to information. Some of the types of encryption make high levels of access difficult if not impossible. For example, Apple’s encryption system does not allow decryption to take place when iMessages or FaceTime data are in transit between devices. Because of this Apple is not scanning personal communications and would be unable to comply with a wiretap. Their information is backed up in the Cloud for the person’s individual access, however, this feature can be turned off at any time by the user. This type of protection is what had given Apple an edge over its competitors.
Now, the government is going to have an uphill battle in its attempts to gain access to personal communication information because as of yet, the technology giants are not backing down.
So, for those that love freedom… Thank you Ed Snowden…
For those that desire security and safety… Hope you rot in Russia, Ed Snowden.
Whichever side you find yourself leaning towards, we live in a brave new world. We can’t un-know what we now know, regardless of how much the government wishes it so.
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