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

rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
Posted on 01/31/2026 by EraOfLightInhabitants of the Earth,You are entering a phase where your biology responds to light in ways never before observed. The change is occurring not in visible chemistry, but in the subtle parts of your DNA: those…
3 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
Posted on 01/31/2026 by EraOfLightDear friends,I am Jeshua. I greet you all from a deeply felt love for who you are as a soul and as a human being. You enliven the Earth with a new light, with a consciousness that is different than before. This is…
3 hours ago
rev.joshua skirvin posted a blog post
Posted on 01/31/2026 by EraOfLightBlessings. We are Thymus. We are the collective of ascended masters.We welcome you to disagree with one another as you simultaneously look for your commonalities. In other words, many of you feel so divided…
6 hours ago
Love & Joy posted a discussion
      Tending The Flame Of Compassion By Terra Lea  Tending We gather at a sacred threshold.The hearth fire of Imbolc burns softly.The full moon offers her clear mirror.The great turning stirs—not to frighten us,but to realign us with truth and…
11 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
14 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Bad karma for him and all of the satanists involved-could take it all down this year-or a good chunk of the cabal. 'Goes around, comes around!'"
15 hours ago
Movella left a comment on Comment Wall
"It has been, we can see how the Vatican placed its own protection over the safety of the vulnerable, yet they stupidly think they’re the ones qualified to hold any authority. As for Gates, his interest in managing the global numbers speaks for…"
16 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Some of the Corruption at the Vatican, they say, has been incredibly evil."
17 hours ago
More…