Obama's Data Nightmare is Europe's (Handelsblatt,
Germany)
"Obama had to openly admit openly that under his
authority, the United States has been conducting massive worldwide data
snooping. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or living in America is under
general suspicion of being a terrorist - and that includes the Chinese. ... Regardless
of whether it is Apple, Google, AOL, Skype, Dropbox,
Microsoft or Facebook: According to U.S. law, these
companies are required to provide, on request, information about all foreign
customers."
In the House of Commons, British Foreign Minister William
Hague answers allegations that Britain's cooperation with
NSA surveillance program PRISM 'circumvents British law.'
San
Francisco: It was emphatically the last thing Obama needed. This weekend in California's Palm Springs, he actually
hoped to read the riot act to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. For years, hackers in China have
allegedly been obtaining confidential information from corporate and government
servers. Obama wants to make clear that this will no longer be tolerated and
that the Chinese government will be held directly responsible.
But
Jinping has good reason to react with an
inscrutable smile and massive counter-allegations. On Friday morning, Obama had
to openly admit that under his authority, the United States has been conducting
massive worldwide data snooping. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or living in
the United States is under general suspicion of being a terrorist - and that includes
the Chinese. Conversations are being followed, e-mails read, photos viewed, and
files on servers searched. On a more limited level, even U.S. citizens are
targeted: selected phone numbers at home and abroad are evaluated.
That
is only possible because the U.S. has achieved virtual global domination of the
Web through its prosperous Internet industry. At least in the Western world, practically
every significant Internet company originated in the United States. Regardless
of whether it is Apple, Google, AOL, Skype, Dropbox,
Microsoft or Facebook: According to U.S. law, these
companies are required to provide, on request, information about all foreign
customers.
The
companies deny active cooperation, but apparently that doesn't make much
difference. U.S. authorities obviously have plenty of other ways to acquire the
information they seek. In principle, anyone using an American Internet provider
voluntarily provides his or her information. While some must resort to hacking,
others have access from the start.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
And
that is the problem. The data scandal involving stored telephone numbers may be
one that costs Barack Obama any of the credibility he has left. That's not our
problem. The Americans can work that out amongst themselves.
However,
this global Internet snooping is a declaration of bankruptcy for Europe's
Internet industry and E.U. policy. With breathtaking speed, the global economy
is becoming dispersed on the "Cloud," data is being stored on the Web,
and programs are being run from Web servers. That is the future, no question
about it. To resist this trend is disadvantageous for any economy, including Germany's.
In a matter of years, Microsoft's leading MS Office software will have become
an all-online operation, while Google's office package Google Docs has always
been exclusively run on Web servers, almost all of which are located in the United
States. We have to play by the rules of others.
The
details, emerging piece by piece as a result of the so-called PRISM program,
are a wake-up call for all companies in and outside the U.S. Why be afraid of
Chinese hackers? The data have likely already long been public. And the U.S. is
only the beginning. It is naïve to assume that other countries aren't engaging
in similar intelligence activities in their own interest.
The
man with the fedora and Minox camera who breaks into
strange offices at night is part of the past. Today's spy sits with his coffee
at a desk in a warm government office collecting information from around the
globe, and without taking the slightest personal risk. This hasn't made the
world safer. At least not for everyone.
