By participating in Facebook, Apple, and Google, we willingly trust all of our input to American corporations. The government decided in 2007 they can examine whatever they want, whenever they want, without permission. It’s easy to run auto scans on digital information for key words that are give-aways. This is PRISM. AKA- the new “Obama is listening” meme.
Worrying is not good for anyone, but when it comes to entering private information on the interwebz….when it’s not actually private at all…is kinda worth worrying about.
I read this article in VICE Canada yesterday titled Canadians Should Be Concerned about the NSA and PRISM, and it totally confirmed all of my own paranoia I’ve always had about this stuff. Here are the highlights of the article:
Since 2007, the [Amercian Government] has been recording anything and everything they can (from Apple, Facebook, Google etc) through the capabilities of a massive surveillance net that grows exponentially in size.
If they want to [build a case on] you, they can, and the danger of innocent people being portrayed as threatening individuals is a real concern that people need to be discussing.
In Canada, some people may not feel too alarmed by these revelations. For one, this is the work of the US Government, not the Canadian government. …BUT…the data a Canadian stores on Facebook—photos, check-ins, private messages, friends list….is all data living inside of American servers. There is no Canadian alternative to Facebook.
[By participating in these services] we have willingly begun to trust all of our online conversations to American corporations, in an environment where the government has decided to examine whatever they want, whenever they want. [for example: Scanning text for key words that are give-aways to criminal activity]
[The American government] is defending this leak by stating PRISM is only used to target non-US Citizens; a fact that should make PRISM even more concerning for Canadians.
This new, online surveillance monster has jeopardized the privacy of Canadians.
This revelation should really make everyone realize the amount of data we have entrusted into US corporations that are being wholly wiretapped is a misguided way to operate in a digital society.
Stephen Harper was in Peru last month to chat with the United States and a coalition of other countries (none from Europe) to discuss a new plan to control the internet
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