We'Re Losing Control of Our Digital Privacy - CNN.com

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E-mail is vulnerable to government surveillance, Rebecca MacKinnon writes.

Editor's note: Rebecca MacKinnon is a Bernard L. Schwartz senior

fellow at the New America Foundation, co-founder of the international

bloggers' network Global Voices Online, and a founding board

member of the Global Network Initiative. She is the author of

"Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet

Freedom."

(CNN) -- Last week, millions of Americans stood up against the StopOnline Piracy Act and the Senate's related anti-piracy bill. Given thepublic outcry, it is not surprising that all four Republican presidentialcandidates have come out against them.

But online censorship in the name of fighting piracy is only one ofmany issues affecting Americans' digital freedom. Americans whocare about their online freedoms should also be asking toughquestions about the government's expanding surveillance powers.

As we grow increasingly dependent on the Internet and cell phonesfor all aspects of our lives, government abuse of citizens' privacyrequires the cooperation of the private sector. This includescompanies running our Internet and wireless service providers,e-mail, and social networking services, as well as manufacturers ofthe devices we use to connect.

Google's announcement earlier this week that it will integrate userinformation across its search engine, Gmail, YouTube and its 57other services stirred criticism from privacy groups and somemembers of Congress. People have good reason to be unhappyabout losing control over who and what services know what aboutthem. But that is far from the only way in which we are losing control.

Under two successive administrations, new laws, policies and

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We're losing control of our digital privacyBy Rebecca MacKinnon, Special to CNNJanuary 29, 2012 -- Updated 1458 GMT (2258 HKT)

EDITION: INTERNATIONAL U.S. MÉXICO ARABIC

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Rebecca MacKinnon:Government's surveillancepowers have expanded

She says government andcompanies can spy on ourdigital communications

FBI can get records withoutcourt orders, she writes;companies can't be sued

We need to protect our security,she says, but also defend ourprivacy rights

Why she sold her daughter'svirginity

Macpherson's husband faceslawsuit

Colorado shooting: 80 secondsof terror

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We're losing control of our digital privacy - CNN.com http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/26/opinion/mackinnon-sopa-governmen...

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corporate practices have made it much easier for governmentagencies to track and access citizens' private digital communicationsfrom their storage "in the cloud" than it is for agents to search ormonitor our physical homes, offices, vehicles, and mail.

The erosion of privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment, written toprotect us against unreasonable search and seizure, began inearnest under President George W. Bush. The Patriot Act, passedoverwhelmingly but hastily after 9/11, allows the FBI to obtaintelecommunication, financial, and credit records without a courtorder. Moreover, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's 2008amendment act grants U.S. companies immunity from being sued bytheir customers when they comply even with blatantly illegalgovernment surveillance requests.

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama pledged toreform the Patriot Act and rescind the FISA Amendments Act, but aspresident he reversed his position. The Obama administration hasfought bipartisan efforts in Congress to bring the change he oncechampioned.

The result is the "new normal": surveillance, often of questionablelegality and sometimes clear illegality, against which Americans havelittle effective recourse, on the rare occasions that we even know thatviolations are taking place.

Most of what we do know is thanks to whistle-blowers, activists,academics and a few committed journalists. In 2004, Mark Klein, atechnician who had just retired from AT&T, disclosed that in 2003 theNational Security Agency built a secret room at the San Franciscofacility where he worked, routing all e-mail and phone traffic throughit.

Another whistle-blower, Justice Department attorney Thomas Tamm,confirmed that similar interception points were set up around thecountry to gather and analyze the e-mails and phone calls ofAmericans who were not suspected of any crime.

While the federal government is required by law to document publiclyits wiretapping of phone lines, it is not required to do so with Internetcommunications. Over 50,000 National Security Letters, a kind ofadministrative demand letter requiring no probable cause or judicialoversight, are issued each year. Yet we know few details. Companiescomplying with these secret letters were barred from even informingcustomers about them until 2009 when Nick Merrill, an entrepreneurwho ran a small New York-based Internet service company,successfully enlisted the help of the ACLU in challenging a blanketgag provision of the Patriot Act.

Last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a reportanalyzing the FBI's use of National Security Letters from 2001 to2008, concluding that the FBI might have violated the law as manyas 40,000 times during that period. In many cases the companiesinvolved -- including phone companies, Internet service providers,financial institutions, and credit agencies -- "contributed in some wayto the FBI's unauthorized receipt of personal information."

In the Internet age, it is inevitable that corporations and governmentagencies will have access to detailed information about people'slives. We willingly share personal information with companies for theconvenience of using their products. We accept that a certain amountof surveillance is necessary in order to protect innocent people fromcrime and terror. But as a nation we have failed to address theresulting dilemma: How do we prevent the abuse of the power wehave willingly delegated to government and companies?

If anything is clear from the political arguments raging throughout thecountry, it is that Americans worry, with good reason, aboutmanipulation and abuse by both the private and the public sector.

The Republican primary field is not unified on how to handlesurveillance: Romney and Gingrich advocate expanding the PatriotAct's surveillance powers. Ron Paul would repeal it.

In Congress, debates about surveillance cross party lines. ThePatriot Act and FISA Amendments Act have staunch supporters aswell as fierce opponents among Republicans, Democrats, and

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independents. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of2011, which exempts companies from liability for sharing data withthe government, is one of several bills introduced in Congress lastyear that civil liberties groups -- and in this case even the WhiteHouse -- warn will lead to further erosion of consumer privacy.

The advent of the Internet does not change a bedrock truth uponwhich our nation was founded: The survival of American democracydepends as much on the defense of liberty as it does on the defenseof our physical security. Those two ideals always have been andalways will be in tension; but without a healthy balance betweenthem -- online as well as offline -- we cannot live free of fear.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court takes our Fourth Amendment rightsseriously -- even when the executive and legislative branches of ourgovernment fail to do so -- as demonstrated by Monday's unanimousruling that these rights were violated when police secretly plantedGPS devices on a suspect's vehicle without a court order.

Rather than waiting for the Supreme Court to reverse bad law andunconstitutional law enforcement, however, Americans can exercisetheir power through the ballot box to prevent violations fromhappening in the first place.

In 2012, the American people rightly expect presidential andcongressional candidates to explain how they plan to protect us fromcrime and terror. In the Internet age, that inevitably requires somedegree of surveillance. Yet it is equally vital we demand a clear visionof how they will protect us from abuses of government surveillancepower through the corporate-run digital platforms upon which we areincreasingly dependent.

Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter.

Join the conversation on Facebook.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rebecca MacKinnon.

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132 comments

Comments for this thread are now closed.

Best

•

MikeyZ3 •

Just remember, kids: if you're getting the service for free, you're not theconsumer. You're the product.

•

georgetown •

Dear Google,

You are not my Big Brother.

Because of your outrageous new privacy violations, I have deleted my googleaccount. I will also not use your google maps service, and my Android is up forsale.

I realize that my departure does not cost you anything directly, but if enough of ustake action, it will hit you when you suddenly aren't getting the revenue you oncewere.

My replacement communication service is not free, but my privacy is moreimportant than saving a few dollars per month.

Kind regards,Former Google Sucker

•

nero1090 •

Yeah - I did the same. I am sick and tired of internet giants depriving me ofprivacy and have the audacity to call this "Privacy Policy".

•

LaughingMan7 •

Lol CNN. "Worry about your online privacy!" then a link to "Join the conversationon Facebook"

•

LaughingMan7 •

@Ruddy Yeah - I am not worried about my online privacy. I don't sayanything online I wouldn't say in person. It is my right as an American tohave radical opinions if I want to. If someone wants to tell me otherwise,I'm happy to settle it in court.

•

NS151 •

Download the "Facebook Disconnect" for Chrome/Firefox and Facebookcan't follow where you go anymore.

•

Ruddy •

If that's not bad enough, sites can read your Facebook cookies and link thetwo together. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your Facebookbuddies opinions show up on an article your reading on CNN?!

•

Ruddy •

I agree with your philosophy laughingman, but (the proverbial 'but') thesecompanies should not be able to share info via cookies on your computer. CNN and Facebook are two different entities, therefore, if either wants toaccess the others' cookies on my computer, in my house, they should haveto ask permission each and every time. I find just being logged intoFacebook and another site at the same time can facilitate theconnectivity....

Rad666 •


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