The future of the Internet depends — and not many would dispute this — on users’ trust of the network. Last week, leading tech companies joined together to ask for a reform on surveillance laws in the US and other countries.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and AOL also released an open letter to President Barack Obama and the US Congress. These companies have, through the campaign, sought to ban the collection of mass data to help preserve public confidence in the web.
The best piece of news for the media and tech sectors was the snooping done by the US’ National Security Agency revealed by Edward Snowden. Not so much the act of surveillance but the methods used and their complexity.
Astonishing too is the degree of cyber defense vulnerability of the countries spied on by NSA. This make it clear that Americans are not messing around when the subject is spy technology. According to Snowden, the budget of the American spy agencies for 2013 was $52.6 billion.
In the initial phase of the Internet, much of the data provided by users were false as there was no obligation to use actual information. With time that has changed. Tech companies also realised that user anonymity was not good for business if they intend to access their credit card at the end. Since then, the Internet has morphed into big business.
In the letter, tech firms say they understand that governments have an obligation to protect their citizens. But recent revelations underscore the urgent need for reform in the surveillance practices of governments. According to them, there is now an imbalance: The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual’s rights enshrined in constitutions.
The letter states bluntly: “This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.”
The companies also say they are focused on keeping secure user data “by deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorised surveillance on our networks and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope”. (For more details, go to http://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com/)
