I read somewhere “There are many things we don´t know that we don´t know”. The PRISM program was one of them, at least for most of the people, until Edward Snowden revealed the existence of the program PRISM of the FBI and the NSA that allows U.S. authorities –with the cooperation of the most important internet companies– to spy on virtually anyone in this planet that uses telephones and internet. This information was leaked by Snowden to The Washington Post and The Guardian, who published it on June 6.
The Washington Post said: “The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post”. (1)
And The Guardian printed: “The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April… The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries”. (2)
But internet companies are not the only companies collaborating with the U.S. government. In effect, a few days later, Bloomberg posted: “Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing private companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said”.(3)
And the U.S. is not the only country carrying out this type of program. In effect, on June 22, Reuters posted: “In its latest article based on information from Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the Guardian reported a project codenamed “TEMPORA” under which Britain’s eavesdropping agency can tap into and store huge volumes of data from fiber-optic cables”. (4)
For sure, PRISM is not a recent invention of the U.S. government. In effect, although some may see programs like PRISM as a reaction of the U.S. government to 9/11 (the war on terrorism), a former officer of the National Security Agency (NSA) has declared that this type of actions began in the 1970´s (5). And this seems a reasonable assertion: if the U.S. is now fighting a war on terrorism, forty years ago it was fighting a war in Vietnam, and a cold war against the Soviet Block. What is new now is that the information revolution has made extremely easy to collect and process almost any type of information on almost any individual inhabiting this planet.
And for sure, internet and telephone lines are not the only channels, as every type of cards, identification documents, omnipresent cameras, etc. can be used to collect information on you.
As the persecution of Julian Assange, David Snowden and Bradley Manning reveals, the U.S. government has assigned itself the right to spy on you, but won´t allow you to reciprocate. This double standard brings about a question: who gave them the authority to spy on you (and to forbid you from spying on them)? This double standard is at the root of every tyranny and police state: they assign themselves powers, without feeling the need to give any justification.
Programs like PRISM not only infringe on our privacy; they are also very dangerous. Although they may have been originally designed by inoffensive bureaucrats, the information collected is feeding the power of Big Brothers and Dr. Strangeloves, who will use it as an arm in their crusades for their wacky purposes.
Emulators of Big Brother may now emulate Sheldon Cooper, and say “I am not crazy; my mommy had me tested”, but the fact is that acts like the sequestration of Bolivian President Evo Morales, reveal that Big Brother is losing its composure.
For sure, there are things about programs like PRISM that we still don´t know that we don´t know. Snowden´s only revelation has been that THE BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU (6). Well, we should return the favor and keep watching Big Brother. We may become paranoid, but in a situation like this it would be insane not to be paranoid.
(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order.
(4) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/22/us-usa-security-britain-germany-idUSBRE95L09E20130622.
(5) http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/06/28/nsa-as-big-brother-not-even-close/
(6) George Orwell uses this expression, in capitals, in the second paragraph of his novel 1984.