Within the past few months the cyber world has been rocked to its very core because of recent revelations that have come to light concerning the U.S. government. One of the most disconcerting details showed the amount of data the U.S. government has on its citizens. This past week, however, new information has been revealed that suggests the situation is not limited to within our borders. It appears the U.S. government has been spying and gathering an ethically unacceptable amount of data on a global level. This marks a major turning point in the Internet that will have huge ramifications.
This week the Brazilian government canceled an upcoming state visit. This is a major diplomatic message and is a direct result of the U.S. spying on Brazilian citizens. The Presidency had this to say: “Thus, the two presidents decided to postpone the state visit, because the results of this visit should not be conditional on a topic whose satisfactory solution to Brazil has not yet been achieved.” This marks a huge turning point in the age of the Internet.
As a result of this news, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will bring up U.S. espionage at the United Nations General Assembly in a week. He said “his speech will emphasize the need to maintain the neutrality of the worldwide web and the prohibition of using the internet for espionage,” according to Globo.com.
The internet is going to be a major diplomatic issue very shortly. Each month reveals more and more U.S. internet spying conducted on sovereign nations. When the Brazilian president brings this up, he will have many European supporters.
Another recent revelation concerns the U.S. spying on international banking, something which has infuriated many European nations who are calling for a strong message to be sent to the U.S. How many other cases like these two are there?
The amount of similar situations could be staggering, but it is the idea itself that is inherently wrong. The U.S. government has no right to interfere in a sovereign nation in the real world or in the cyber world. As the Internet grows out of its infancy, we need to talk about many difficult issues. We must begin to figure how to use this global connection in an honest, trusting manner.
The U.S. must lead this discussion because we are the main perpetrator of cyber crimes. We must take the initiative in begging to create a better global cyber world. If we do not, there is a possibility that the global network will begin to fracture. If this happens, we will no longer have a world wide web but national webs that are connected in some ways.
The U.S. government has no right to collect internet users’ data from sovereign nations. Whether they have the right to gather their own citizens’ data is an entirely different topic. The fact that the spying takes place in the cyber world does not justify the unethical assumption that the government can peek into someone’s private life. This is still someone’s personal data that is being collected without their knowledge or consent. Intercepting online data is the same as bugging phones and ransacking houses and none of these are acceptable practices for a nation.