This is one of the Power Point slides that Edward Snowden released to The Guardian. It is supposed to be an overview of a program code named "Boundless Informant". It describes the worldwide data collection efforts of the NSA. It is not surprising that Iran and Pakistan are portrayed as the targets of the most intense interest. However what is stirring great controversy are the countries with whom the US supposedly has friendly relations that are also targets of heavy scrutiny. Germany stands out in Europe. The reaction to thisrevelation is intense.
German ministers are expressing their outrage over America's sweeping intelligence-gathering leviathan, with one parliamentarian comparing US spying methods to that of the communist East Germany's much-dreaded Ministry for State Security (Stasi).
Washington is using "American-style Stasi methods," said Markus Ferber, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party and member of the European Parliament.
"I thought this era had ended when the DDR fell," he said, using the German acronym for the disposed German Democratic Republic.
In
Hong Kong there is similar outrage over Snowden's claims that the US government has engaged in a systematic program of hacking the data networks there.
Political pressure on the United States to address claims that it hacked hundreds of targets in Hong Kong has begun to build in the territory.
Pro-Beijing politicians on Thursday urged the US to clarify whether it had carried out such surveillance, as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged, and if so, immediately cease. Democratic party chairwoman Emily Lau suggested lawmakers should ask the US "what the hell they're up to" and a colleague said he would like Snowden to give evidence to the legislative council.
The US law that is at issue in the domestic debate about the NSA data collection activities is focused exclusively on the protection of the civil liberties of American citizens. It attempts to make a clear distinction between foreign and domestic communications and gives the US government a free hand in gaining access to those classified as foreign.
When the original FISA law was crafted in the 1970s the technology of telecommunications was far less complex than it is today. Few people knew anything about email and most telephone calls in the world were still being routed over mechanical networks. Today telecommunications has become a major force in creating the ever increasing international integration that we refer to as globalization. Multi-national tech companies like Google, Apple and Facebook have created international networks that generally ignore national geographic borders. Much of the infrastructure for these networks is physically located in the US, giving the US government the possibility of access to communications and data that has nothing to do with US citizens.
A majority of Americans have a low level of interest in the attitudes and opinions of people in the rest of the world. Historically they have grown accustomed to living in a nation that thinks that it is in a position to call the shots. However, the tech giants that have their headquarters in the US derive a huge portion of their business and revenue from the rest of the world. Increasingly various parts of that world are demanding a say in how that business is conducted.
The European Union has adopted privacy policies that are stronger than those imposed by US law. They have issued demands that Google comply with these policies in its dealings with European users. Google has refused to do so and a showdown was already in progress before the current bombshell hit. Today there is a new revelation about US government pressure to force the EU to modify its regulations.
The White House got the European Union to drop a measure that could have blocked covert U.S. agencies from spying on EU citizens, The Financial Times reports.
The privacy measure -- known within the EU as the "anti-FISA clause," for the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that authorizes Washington to eavesdrop on international phone calls and emails -- would have invalidated any U.S. request for Google Inc., Facebook Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. or other high-tech Internet and telecommunications company to hand over computer and telephone data about EU citizens, the newspaper said, citing documents and three senior EU officials.
The EU's executive body, known as the European Commission, dropped the anti-FISA clause in January 2012, despite arguments from European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, who said the exemption would stop the very type of surveillance that was disclosed last week to be part of the U.S. National Security Agency's clandestine PRISM electronic-surveillance program.
Commissioner Reding is now demanding an accounting from the US government about its mass collection of data on EU citizens.
There are many issues about these NSA programs that urgently require public discussions. The impact on our own civil liberties vs what contributions they might make to public safety is uppermost in the minds of most Americans. However, the impact on international political relations and on the global economy also deserve serious consideration.