Blog
Zuckerberg gives up on Obama and powers citizens
By Maria Khalifa
As a young senator in 2007 Barrack Obama gave a speech about terrorism. The then senator Obama said he wanted to “track and take out terrorists without undermining our constitution and freedoms1”. He mocked the Bush administration and some of his most famous words are “No more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more National Security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking down citizens who do nothing than protest in a misguided war1.” He went on to say “The constitution works, the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers and justice is not arbitrary. Violating civil liberties is way to enhance our security. It is not1.”My question is simple; what happened?
The future has always been in technology as many experts rightly predicted. Social media is the marketing tool of today and tomorrow. It is concerning when the Founder and CEO of social media giant Facebook Mark Zuckerberg calls upon the most powerful president of today expressing his concerns. In his most recent post Zuckerberg said of the government and spying “When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you against criminals, not our own government2.” He went on to say “I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform.So it's up to us -- all of us -- to build the internet we want2.”
If the CEO of a social media giant is concerned with security, it makes one wonder if we really should be concerned with our security. In 2006 Wiki leaks founder Julian Assange took the world by storm when he released footage showing American soldiers “shooting 18 soldiers dead3.” Eight years after Assange began leaking information to the public; the world was introduced to Edward Snowden. And lo and behold the leaks came, arguably the most important whistle blower in the history of America. Whether he is a hero as his supporters see him or down right traitor, he clearly is intelligent and the latest blow to the President with Zuckerberg conversing about security issues which were first brought up by Snowden, he clearly has an impact on us, now.
So why is Mark Zuckerberg concerned about security on his own social media website?
Recent revelations from Edward Snowden which are published in The Intercept4 reveal that NSA planned to infect millions of computers with malware. The main reason why Zuckerberg is most concerned is because NSA and other governmental organisations masqueraded on Facebook servers which sent malicious software to Facebook users. The documents revealed “the process was automated so the N.S.A. could target millions of people for the attacks5“
Are NSA and other governmental organisations allowed to do this?
Quite simply yes they are. Under The Patriotic Act, Title two. This piece of legislation allows US government agencies such as NSA and NGO’s to gather intelligence about everyone. Title two named Enhanced Surveillance Procedures allows NSA and other surveillance systems to have the “authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to terrorism6.”
This legislation allowed the PRISM surveillance programme. It “allowed the organisation to "receive" emails, video clips, photos, voice and video calls, social networking details, logins and other data held by a range of US internet firms7. Furthermore the authority also processed and stored SMS message data7. However this, officials deny eaves dropping on phone calls or reading emails. Instead Hirsh and Socher 2013 say they track Meta data of phone calls, who we call, when and the duration. They go on to say the agencies use computer algorithms and search keywords that may lead to terrorist plots8.
The counter arguments for using such enhanced surveillance methods are simple. They are protecting citizens and the country from terrorist attacks. The methods work. The Centre for Research on Globalization reported earlier this month that the US government now has power to spy and prosecute journalists. “The new policy announcement directly violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom speech, or of the press…9”
The future of online and national security will be interesting because if the most powerful country in the world can spy on its own citizens as well as others. Authoritarian regimes in China and Russia10 may follow its lead. That ultimately could be detrimental to its citizens. Somewhere between 2007 when President Obama said he would “track and take out terrorists without undermining our constitution and freedoms1” stating that “The constitution works” and violating civil liberties is not the way to enhance security. He has completely gone back on his word, many whistle blowers have tried to expose this, the most successful being Snowden. After various reports of spying Zuckerberg called the President and is doubtful for a true full reform.
Maybe the social media giant is right that “it's up to us, all of us, to build the internet we want2.”
References
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B6fnfVJzZT4##
2 https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101301165605491
3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11047811
4 https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
5 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/facebooks-zuckerberg-complains-to-obama-over-government-spying/?hpw&rref=technology
6 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/pdf/PLAW-107publ56.pdf
7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23051248
8 http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/edward-snowden-is-completely-wrong-20130613
9 http://www.globalresearch.ca/press-freedom-u-s-government-now-allowed-to-spy-on-and-prosecute-journalists-to-protect-national-security/5371794
10 http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/obama-administration-denies-abandoning-the-internet-20140319
Comments