Surveillance

Secrets, lies and America’s spies

A government’s first job is to protect its citizens. But that should be based on informed consent, not blind trust

Jun 15th 2013 |From the print edition

CONSTANT vigilance: that is the task of the people who protect society from enemies intent on using subterfuge and violence to get their way. It is also the watchword of those who fear that the protectors will pursue the collective interest at untold cost to individual rights. Edward Snowden, a young security contractor, has come down on one side of that tussle by leaking documents showing that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on millions of Americans’ phone records and on the internet activity of hundreds of millions of foreigners.

The documents, published by the Guardian and the Washington Post, include two big secrets (see article). One is a court order telling Verizon, a telecoms company, to hand over “metadata”, such as the duration, direction and location of subscribers’ calls. The other gives some clues about a programme called PRISM, which collects e-mails, files and social-networking data from firms such as Google, Apple and Facebook. Much of this eavesdropping has long been surmised, and none of it is necessarily illegal. America gives wide powers to its law-enforcement and spy agencies. They are overseen by Congress and courts, which issue orders to internet firms.

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Continua qui: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21579455-governments-first-job-protect-its-citizens-should-be-based-informed-consent