"The interesting thing is that now, it seems, the spy
activities that emerged to protect against an outside attack are being turned
against the citizens themselves. ... Private Manning, who leaked the video on
which we could see U.S. soldiers killing a journalist in Iraq, is faring much
worse than the soldier who killed that journalist. Apparently, we can all be
watched, save those who are watching. The problem is, who is watching those who
watch?"
It
was suspected, but now it has been officially confirmed by leaks to The Guardian and Washington Post: The U.S. National
Security Agency is eavesdropping on every phone call made to and from its
territory. Not only that, it has access to all of our accounts on Hotmail, G-Mail,
Facebook, Yahoo, Skype, Apple etc., directly entering
the servers of those companies.
Anything
about privacy protection in the contracts we approve without reading when
opening such accounts - is a lie. In the digital world, complete privacy doesn't
exist, and at the least, the National Security Agency can see all of your e-mails,
the entire history of your Internet searches, all the chats, photos, videos
that you have ever visited, sent or seen, and all the calls you have ever made
or received by cell phone or Skype.
The
CIA and FBI are wide open clubs compared to the National Security Agency, which
is so secret that for more than 20 years no one even knew of its existence. If
there aren't any others today that we don't know about - and most likely there
are - the NSA is the most secret of the U.S. secret
services, which is why it is known as "No Such Agency." This is the
government body that manages the "PRISM" program - the one that can
access all of our virtual accounts.
Naturally,
the NSA could care less that you, sir, have a mulatto
lover with whom you masturbate via Skype, or that Lolita Pérez
spends her evenings watching porn. There is no army of spies capable of reading
billions of e-mails written every day across the world, most of them anodyne
and of no importance to anyone except those involved. But if you're a criminal
who needs to be found, people call you "The Indian," and you have a
lover who is a model, perhaps tracking the calls and e-mails of that model
could lead to where you are staying. That objective of espionage seems justified.
However, if you're a journalist who is a nuisance to the regime, or a political
dissident, the secret agency might want to divulge the fact that every Thursday,
you like to dress as a woman and go to a transvestite bar downtown, even if this
private vice has nothing to do with your journalistic or political activities.
Discrediting opponents is always such bliss for those in power.
In
the United States, the distinction between citizen and foreigner is
fundamental. There are many things that can be done to a foreigner (watch his
communications, throw him indefinitely and without trial into Guantanamo) that
cannot be done to a citizen. The interesting thing is that now, it seems, the
spy activities that emerged to protect against an outside attack are being
turned against the citizens themselves. A defensive-sounding Obama said last
Friday that it was necessary to find a balance between security and privacy,
and that it isn't possible to have enough security without sacrificing some
privacy. Clearly, Obama the president is different from Obama the candidate.
The candidate, for the greater good of the community and government transparency,
defended whistleblowers who divulged secret documents obtained during their
official activities. Obama the president and his people are now looking for the
man who leaked those “top secret” documents to The Guardian and Washington Post
with a magnifying glass.
Private
Manning, who leaked the video on which we could see U.S. soldiers killing a
journalist in Iraq, is faring much worse than the soldier who killed that
journalist. Apparently, we can all be watched, save those who are watching. The
problem is, who is watching those who watch?
