Privacy group outlines cost of surveillance

Spying at the National Security Agency and elsewhere is hurting U.S. businesses, American foreign policy and security across the Internet, according to new analysis from a group of civil liberties advocates.

The 60-page report released by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute on Tuesday comes on the same day that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is introducing his new version of a bill to reform the contested spying outfit, and could provide a boost for critics of the agency. 

“Our findings indicate that the NSA’s actions have already begun to, and will continue to, cause significant damage to the interests of the United States and the global Internet community,” the organization wrote in its report.

At the top of the list are tech companies, who have suffered losses estimated to be in the billions of dollars due to people’s loss of trust in their services. They could be further hurt by foreign governments who begin to distrust the current structure of the Internet and call for new laws that data be held in their countries or assert more control online.

Additionally, disclosures that the U.S. had snooped on foreign leaders in Brazil, Germany and other countries have damaged the countries’ international alliances, and the friction could be felt for years.

“The U.S. government is fighting an uphill battle at the moment to regain credibility in international Internet governance debates and to defend its moral high ground as a critic of authoritarian regimes that limit freedom of expression and violate human rights online,” the organization said in its report. “Moreover, the fallout from the NSA’s surveillance activities has spilled over into other areas of U.S. foreign policy and currently threatens bilateral relations with a number of key allies.”  

Finally, NSA operations to find vulnerability online and ensure agents have “backdoors” to peer into people’s communications “have undermined trust in the security of the Internet itself,” the report declared.

The report comes as Leahy is set to introduce his new, more aggressive version of the USA Freedom Act, which tech companies and organizations including the Open Technology Institute have rallied behind.

Kevin Bankston, the organization’s policy director, said in a statement that the new bill “would go a long way toward stemming the costs of the NSA’s spying programs and restoring trust in the American Internet industry, by prohibiting bulk records collection and providing substantially more transparency around the NSA’s surveillance programs.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/213638-privacy-group-outlines-cost-of-surveillance#ixzz38uK1NEbd 

You need to be a member of Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community to add comments!

Join Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community

Email me when people reply –

Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

Latest Activity

Love & Joy posted a discussion
   SING to the WHALES: SWORD OF TRUTH & LEMURIAN UNION Meditation  From the sacred land of Moorea, ancient Lemuria, we unite with the whales through sound, meditation, and love — awakening truth, union, and remembrance.   In this 19th Sing to the…
23 minutes ago
Love & Joy posted a discussion
   THE CRYSTALLINE DRAGON AWAKENING   Recorded at the sacred shores of Lake Bohinj, Slovenia, this gathering carries the living resonance of a powerful local legend — the Crystalline Dragon sleeping within the mountain.  The legend says that when…
36 minutes ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a status
Consciousness is raising,vibrational frequency is raising. It cannot help but raise, because as these energies r flooding into the planet.
2 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
 I am Ashtar. I have not been with this group for some time. It is important now that I make my presence known once again, because things are, as you were saying earlier, ramping up, greatly across the planet, not only in this group and other groups…
2 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a status
2026,u may notice a shift in the energies, situations& people u attract.Relationships become more aligned, boundaries feel stronger ur s
2 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
 The year 2026 shines light on a powerful phase of integration for those on the ascension path. After years of clearing, awakening, and energetic recalibration, this year brings stabilisation, true self embodiment, and alignment. Many ascending…
2 hours ago
Malcolm commented on Malcolm's blog post 2026 BASIC ASTROLOGY WORLD PREDICTIONS: the U.S.A., China, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Iran, the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin.
"Correction on Trump's interpretation. Transiting Pluto will form a sesquiquadrate aspect with the North Node, and not a trine (ugh). This adds more probability of a health issue for Trump due to health issues associated more with the sesquiquadrate…"
3 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Drexk- why is Atlas headed toward the gas giants?
Another Time Lord will be here early next year? I think you said it's going contribute to raising the Schumann residence to 13? And how long will that take, do you think? That's obviously…"
6 hours ago
More…

YES THERE ARE: HELL,DEVIL,KARMA:CHAPTERS XX-XXI


                                                                                    CHAPTER XX

                                                                       THE LAW OF ETERNAL RETURN

 My friends gathered this afternoon in…

Read more…
Views: 7
Comments: 0