Through the leak of documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to The Washington Post and the Guardian, a variety of formerly classified surveillance programs: PRISM, Blarney, Oakstar, Lithium have come to the attention of the public. Although initially President Obama gave assurances that these programs only collect metadata the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that some of these programs retain the content of emails between domestic U.S. citizens and tracks calls made using internet technology.
The NSA has said that they have programs in place to streamline the collection of citizen’s data. However, considering that the NSA offered the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court misleading statements about the nature of collection programs, such reassurances offer little solace. Even more concerning, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton revealed to The Washington Post that the FISC is limited in its ability to investigate compliance with court orders. It is unclear if there exists any institutional check on the NSA’s unconstitutional collection of data.
In true Orwellian fashion, last week, British intelligence officials took to harassing the partner of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter responsible for writing many of the NSA articles.
Granted, confiscating hard drives has little effect on their future reporting, but if journalists cannot operate freely, there will never be a meaningful debate on the value of personal privacy weighed against the importance of national security.
It is almost impossible not to have a digital fingerprint today. With such formidable security apparatuses being constructed, there is a real danger that sources will never again be fully confidential and the press will no longer function as a check on government.
It is highly unlikely our society will ever become “unplugged,” so it is crucial to establish the limits of digital security. Without free press, that dialogue can not happen. Rather than crack down on reporters, the government should focus on fixing its systems so they operate within both the letter and spirit of the law.
