Spying on Amricans

Why America spies upon Americans
From The Statesman
ND Batra
The Obama administration is keen to have a clean image at home and abroad. But spying is a dirty business and a necessary evil. The American spy outfit, the National Security Agency (NSA), is under scrutiny again for the right and wrong reasons, for example, that it over-spied and over-collected information on American citizens by tapping their private phone calls and e-mail messages and that its intelligence gathering activities went beyond the legal limits established by Congress last year.

Since NSA’s intelligence gathering is classified, no one exactly knows how much and what kind of excess the agency has committed and how much harm has been done to people’s privacy and civic liberties. Responding to the concern raised by The New York Times last week, the Justice Department promptly assured the public that it has taken steps to comply with the law and re-affirmed that it “takes its national security oversight responsibilities seriously and works diligently to ensure that surveillance under established legal authorities complies with the nation's laws, regulations and policies, including those designed to protect privacy interests and civil liberties." Times have changed. Americans are less ready to give the NSA the benefit of the doubt than they were a few years ago.

In 2008 Congress put stricter controls over the agency’s unbridled spying power that was given to it by George W. Bush after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. The NSA could still collect information by tapping e-mail and phone conversations without court warrants provided the target was believed to be outside the United States; but for domestic spying on suspects who might be collaborating with foreigners it must have the authority of the special court. But Congress did not ask the agency how it would distinguish between domestic and foreign communications as the digital stream passed through the telecommunication system. So the technology neutrality excuse could be used by unscrupulous agents to eavesdrop on domestic suspects for political reasons also.

Although Americans worry about the government agencies spying on them, Internet companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL and others automatically collect and archive huge amounts of personal data, which can be used to profile the behavior of the user. If a company accidently released search queries done by its users, digital crooks could profile the users. It would not be difficult to put together the profile of a web surfer Joe Doe, for example, and what’s preoccupying his mind. The questions a person asks and the searches he makes online reveal his mind. People quietly submit to whatever brings them a feeling of assuredness. Protests against intrusiveness by the government and businesses into their personal lives have become less vociferous.

People are being gradually pushed into a gentle non-obtrusive surveillance society not only to pre-empt terrorists and apprehend child molesters; but also for commercial and financial reasons.It is common knowledge that online surveillance devices are being increasingly used by businesses to track users. Tracking is done inconspicuously and the user can never suspect that he is being traced; nonetheless, the practice is questionable, especially when the website does not declare in its privacy policy. Cookies—small software programs the advertisers put on our hard drives to track where we surf so that they can customize the most appropriate advertising message for us to achieve target marketing, reaching the right person with right message—don’t seem to bother us. But you turn off cookies, though some websites won’t let a person search unless are cookies are allowed. On the other hand, a web bug, also called web beacon, can be programmed to collect whatever data is required without the knowledge of the user.

A web beacon can track whether a particular message, including junk mail, has been opened and acted upon or not. Any electronic image that is part of a web page, including a banner ad, can be programmed to act as a beacon and spy on the user. Search companies claim that the information enables them to personalize the surfing experience when a frequent user visits their portal. Similarly marketing companies use beacons to do demographic research on behalf of their clients, albeit they assert that no personally identifiable information gathered from the beacon research is shared with the clients. Users can opt-out, but most of them don’t know whether the option is available; nor do many of them pay attention to the privacy statement.

Surveillance technologies are not limited to Internet companies. Several companies are using biometrics, face recognition, radio frequency and global positioning system (GPS) technologies, to keep a watch on their properties and track suspects. Many car rental companies in the United States use GPS to keep track of their rental cars. If a car is stolen or is involved in an accident, the company would know the exact location of the car. GPS also enables them to check the speed of a rental car. Airports use digital fingerprint identification technology to conduct background checks with little protest from anyone. Face recognition technology is being extensively used not only in airports but also in ballparks, banks and other business establishments.

The US Customs and airports use body scanning machines to electronically scan a person for drugs, bombs and contrabands. A body scanner electronically scrutinizes a person and projects the image on the screen for examination without the person being asked to take her clothes off. Hundreds of air travelers, including women, are randomly subjected to electronic search.The radio-frequency identification tag (RFID) is another promising security technology, which is attached to a suspect’s baggage as he checks in. The tagged baggage is automatically routed to a security area where it is screened with special cameras and sensors for explosives and other hazardous materials.

Along with the baggage, in the future boarding passes too may have radio-frequency ID tags so that a suspect can be watched as he moves from one airport to another, from country to country via GPS. The only problem is that everyone is given the same treatment.

Both the government and corporate America have a common interest in keeping Americans under surveillance. They want to make their lives safer and better.
Although surveillance has not diminished American innovativeness, creativity and productivity, one does not know its long term effect.