World of surveillance is our responsibility: Privacy should not have to be defended
World of surveillance is our responsibility: Privacy should not have to be defended
February 2014 Noam Chomsky interview in the Bangkok Post, on surveillance, internet privacy, and the Edward Snowden revelations
STUART ALAN BECKER: Do you see any positive outcomes from a moral or
universal perspective from Edward Snowden's revelations? Do you think
this kind of spying will face any kind of overhaul, or will nations
continue to conduct international eavesdropping in an unscathed and even
romanticised manner?
NOAM CHOMSKY: The revelations certainly have created an outcry. Thus in
its Jan 1 lead editorial, The New York Times editors wrote that thanks
to Mr Snowden's courageous and honourable actions, "the public learned
in great detail how the [NSA] has exceeded its mandate and abused its
authority, prompting outrage at kitchen tables and at the desks of
Congress, which may finally begin to limit these practices". It is not
quite true that the public is outraged, though some are. Many are
confused by the claims of "security breaches" and "protecting us from
terrorism", claims that have considerable force among a population that
lives in constant fear, an odd characteristic of American culture that
goes back centuries, disconnected from reality in a country with unique
security and power. These security claims are highly dubious at best.
The Times editors observe, that "the shrill brigade of his critics say
Mr Snowden has done profound damage to intelligence operations of the
United States, but none has presented proof his disclosures hurt the
nation's security".
My suspicion, and fear, is that the genie is out of the bottle. New and
more exotic techniques of surveillance and control are constantly being
developed. Thus components of computers are now being designed to
provide data to manufacturers and authorities about every key stroke.
Robotics has proceeded to the point where there may soon be fly-sized
drones that can be inside a room for spying, and perhaps eventually
lethal actions. It is also well-understood that these new technologies
can become perfect weapons for jihadis, but that in no way impedes their
development, just as [US President Barack] Obama's global terror
campaign, by far the most extreme in the world, is not impeded by the
understanding that murder of suspects by drones generates potential
terrorists more rapidly than it eliminates them. Contrary to many
illusions, security is not typically a high priority of state planners.
And while the US is the leader in developing new and more effective
technology of surveillance and control, it is certainly not alone in
these criminal endeavors.
