World News Korner

The world's leading technology companies band together to demand changes in the US surveillance laws.

Courtesy of the Guardian:

The world's leading technology companies have united to demand sweeping changes to US surveillance laws, urging an international ban on bulk collection of data to help preserve the public's “trust in the internet”.

In their most concerted response yet to disclosures by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and AOL have published an open letter to Barack Obama and Congress on Monday, throwing their weight behind radical reforms already proposed by Washington politicians.

“The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual – rights that are enshrined in our constitution,” urges the letter signed by the eight US-based internet giants. “This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for change.”

Several of the companies claim the revelations have shaken public faith in the internet and blamed spy agencies for the resulting threat to their business interests. “People won’t use technology they don’t trust,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. “Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it.”

The chief executive of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, said: “Recent revelations about government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world."

Silicon Valley was initially sceptical of some allegations about NSA practices made by Snowden but as more documentary evidence has emerged in the Guardian and other newspapers detailing the extent of western surveillance capabilities, its eight leading players – collectively valued at $1.4tn – have been stung into action amid fears of commercial damage.

“We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens,” they say in the letter. “But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide.”

A separate list of five “reform principles” signed by the normally fiercely competitive group echoes measures to rein in the NSA contained in bipartisan legislation proposed by the Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee, Patrick Leahy, and the Republican author of the Patriot Act, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner.

I think that it is well past time for us to start demanding accountability for what the NSA has been doing, and to stand up for our privacy.

There are not a lot of policies that I find myself as conflicted on as this one, but the more we learn the more I come to realize that we simply cannot excuse the fact that essentially EVERY communication we send out is subject to scrutiny by our government.

Part of me wants to demand greater transparency, though the other, more rational, part of me realizes that is a request that simply cannot be met by those seeking to gather intelligence on potentially dangerous individuals without alerting them to their efforts.

Still we need to do something to put the brakes on this whole thing, or at the very least get the government to narrow their field of surveillance.

I don't know about the rest of you but I simply have too much on my plate to be attempting to overthrow my government.

P.S. In other news the Guardian has voted Edward Snowden "Person of the Year for 2013."

I know, big surprise right?

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