“Those
who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either
one.”
Benjamain
Franklin quoted by whistleblower Edward Snowden
“You
can’t have 100 % security and then also have 100 % privacy and zero
inconvenience. Society has to make choices”
Barack
Obama’s reaction to the disclosure that his government has put US citizens
under surveillance
India is the fifth most
spied upon nation in the world. Iran tops the list of being spied upon. But
India is being spied upon despite the fact that Government of India is the
strategic partner of Government of USA. It is now open that Indian Government
is also involved in putting citizens under surveillance at the behest of
corporations of USA and Government of USA.
Twenty nine years old,
whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations constitute one of the world’s
biggest intelligence breaches of United States of America (USA). World came to
know about it after Guardian and Washington Post published the disclosures made
by Snowden.
It is now open that UK and
US intelligence agencies spied on world leaders at the G-20 Summit in
2009. In 2005, New York Times revealed
that officials in the George W. Bush led government were eavesdropping on
telephone calls and e-mails of citizens of USA without warrants or judicial
oversight, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a ten thousand
dollar fine for each offence. Clearly, the laws were violated and the criminals
responsible for breaking the law got away with murder. In 2003, Katharine Gun, a translator had
revealed that US intelligence agency was eavesdropping on the United Nations. The
violators have been granted immunity by the same government which operates
world’s largest prisons for the powerless and the poorest.
The way Obama administration
is pursuing the surveillance policies his predecessor, George W Bush is
reminiscent of what happened during the Watergate scandal and what Gerald Ford
did to Richard Nixon as according to him “law is a respecter of reality.” Republican
President Richard Nixon had to resign from the presidency on August 9, 1974
fearing impeachment in the House of Representatives and a strong possibility of
a conviction in the Senate for putting Democratic Party’s National Committee’s
headquarters at the Watergate complex under surveillance. But his successor,
Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974 issued a full and unconditional pardon of Nixon,
immunizing him from prosecution for any crimes he had "committed or may
have committed or taken part in" as president. In a televised broadcast to
the nation, Ford explained saying it "is an American tragedy in which we
all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the
end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I
must." Pardoning Nixon contributed to President Ford's loss of the
presidential election of 1976. There were allegations of a secret deal made
with Ford, promising a pardon in return for Nixon's resignation, led Ford to
testify before the House Judiciary Committee on October 17, 1974. Obama’s
defence of putting citizens and world leaders under surveillance echoes what
Ford did earlier.
When Ford died in December
2006, Dick Cheney who was Ford’s former Chief of Staff and the then
vice-president hailed Ford for having pardoned Richard Nixon for Watergate
scandal. Cheney who is accused of involvement in the establishment of “worldwide
torture regime, spying on citizens of USA, outing a covert CIA agent and
obstructing the resulting investigation” has called Snowden as ‘traitor’ for
revealing the surveillance which helped set up.
White House chief of staff,
Denis McDonough has defended the surveillance regime stating that it has helped
prevent potential terror attacks in the US and in more than 20 countries around
the world. This claim merits scrutiny although it is an indefensible effort to
justify undermining of privacy for security.
Government of USA stands
exposed. Its arrogance has been challenged by a citizen who loves and fights
for democratic rights. Those who cherish rule of law disapprove of attempts by
Government of USA to arrogate to itself the right to put anyone, anywhere,
under surveillance.
`War on terror’ unleashed by
discredited Bush regime has become an excuse for social control by any
unethical, illegitimate and illegal means. It is using undemocratic companies
who are technology vendors with least regards for civil rights.
What started as a
wiretapping and surveillance exercise to defeat communism at any cost finds
application on its own citizens and non-communist democratic countries.
Snowden has informed the
world that George Orwell’s prophesy about emergence of a surveillance state in
communist countries has actually been found to have taken birth in capitalist
countries. Led by Government of USA, these governments are ignoring, changing
and manipulating the law to allow warrantless surveillance.
In a bizarre and ridiculous
situation, a warrant is obtained from a secret court. This court issued orders
that are secret and cannot be disclosed to the public making a mockery of
judicial process and rule of law.
Snowden’s disclosure that
even the online communication of the President of USA is under surveillance by
NSA conclusively establishes what was predicted by President Dwight Eisenhower.
He gave the nation a dire warning about threats to democratic government from
the military-industrial complex, a formidable union of defense contractors and
the armed forces. On January 17, 1961, he had said, "In the councils of
government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential
for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."
World is witnessing a
scenario where these fears have come true. A sliding door is being witnessed
wherein personnel are moving between the
government and corporations and facilitating surveillance and data mining
companies for profit at any human cost.
The first set of documents which
Snowden was about previously undisclosed PRISM programme of USA’s National
Security Agency (NSA), the biggest spy surveillance organization of the world. PRISM
programme was initiated in 2007 under surveillance laws passed under Bush
regime. This was renewed by Obama
administration in 2012.
Under this programme NSA
gathered information from world’s leading technology companies. It has now come
to light that telephones and internet of US citizens and foreigners were under
the programme. This creates a case for boycotting companies like Facebook,
Google, Microsoft and others.
Of the two programmes of
surveillance, one was for collecting data on phone calls made by all customers
of Verizon telephone company. A secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA) court had ordered Verizon to hand over millions of records called “meta
data” to NSA.
It included access to
details like the numbers of both the parties on a single call as well as the
duration of the call. NSA accessed servers of nine internet firms.
The other programme called
PRISM to track online communication provided access to emails of foreigners
wherein US internet companies like Google, Apple and Yahoo are complicit. It is clear that Government of India has made
itself subservient to this programme.
Snowden leaked highly
classified secrets of Government of USA using four computers that made them
accessible to him in Hong Kong’s Mira Hotel on Nathan Road in Kowloon district.
He came to Hong Kong on May 20, 2013.
Snowden has been working for
the private defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton at the National Security
Agency (NSA), the biggest spy surveillance organization of the world. He is the
most wanted man according to the Government of USA for violating the law and
for committing crime against the nation. Snowden has been charged with
espionage and theft of government property.
World over after Julian
Assange and Bradley Manning, Snowden has joined those who reveal how crime
against humanity and privacy is being committed in the name of illegitimate
laws by governments against their own people.
While the documents that was
leaked by Bradley Manning to Wikileaks was only ‘classified’ those leaked by Snowden
are top secret whose access was highly limited.
Snowden’s crime is that he
informed his fellow citizens that their Government is illegitimately putting
them under surveillance.
It is a revelation akin to
the earth shaking disclosure Lenin had made the Sykes-Picot Agreement of May
16, 1916 during the First World War which was printed in the Manchester
Guardian on November 26, 1917. It was an agreement between France and Britain
for sharing the territories of Middle East after the fall of Ottoman Empire. It
partitioned the Ottoman Empire into regions which were to be controlled by
Britain, France, Russia and allied powers. The agreement revealed the war was
meant to benefit the control of bankers and ruling classes.
Secret treaties of Europeans
then and surveillance of world leaders by government of USA now reveals that
such trust deficit creates an insecure world.
The way Snowden’s disclosure
has embarrassed Government of USA, in the same way France and UK were
embarrassed then. Lenin’s disclosure is
deemed the turning point for the relationship between the West and the Arab states.
Several years ago a
Professor of journalism from USA was asked by a student at the Indian Institute
of Mass Communication as to what should a journalist choose when there is a
conflict between truth and national interest. Without blinking his eyes, the
Professor said, national interest. They say in times of war truth is a
casualty.
In the current era of embedded
corporate interests which are masquerading as national interests, supreme
public interest faces bipartisan assault making truth a casualty even in times
of peace.
When UK Prime Minister David
Cameron was asked about his intelligence agencies snooping on world leaders, he
hides behind the veil of conventional deafening silence.
It may be remembered that
Wikileaks has revealed that USA is deeply interested in the implementation of
biometric UID/Aadhaar surveillance program which is unfolding dressed as a
welfare measure. During his visit to India, President of USA had come with the
heads of biometric and surveillance technology companies and had visited the
UID/enrolment centre.
Has Indian Government
protested against it? Why Indian National Congress led government facilitating
the cyber hegemony of US corporations and US government? In what appears to be
one of the most successful secessionist ventures ruling political class have
seceded from India and joined the elites in USA. There is no other way to
describe the complicit and treacherous silence of the ruling parties in India.
In the aftermath of
Snowden’s revelations, it is clear that Obama is defending the indefensible and
in the process has unmasked himself. He had presented himself to voters in 2008
as someone who will undo the acts of his predecessor George W Bush like
warrantless wiretaps. If the culprits responsible for putting citizens and
world leaders under surveillance are not held accountable and liable for their
acts of omission and commission, this will signal the end of rule of law and
equality before law, the only equality promised by the constitution of USA. Law is no more the King in USA. President was
expected to be subordinate to law has made the law subordinate to him. A
bipartisan consensus of sort has emerged in Washington to once again silence
the voice of truth and Obama is manifestly complicit in it.
US Senator Mark Udall, a
leading critic of the secret programme has announced that he intends to put
forward a bill that would limit the scope of what is allowed under the Patriot
Act. Udall said, "We owe it to the American people to have a debate in the
open about the extent of this programme – you have a law that has been
interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to
generate a secret programme." The citizens world over are outraged at such
unpardonable acts but the "approach of Government of USA" to pardon
likes of Nixon and those responsible for inhuman torture regimes does not
inspire even an iota of confidence. Their sophistry about the problem of
balancing privacy with threat reduction does not sound convincing.
Governments which have
entered into strategic alliance with the Government of USA are colluding with
those who endanger public liberty. No amount of Obama’s oratory can hide the
fact that a centralized government is replicating the abuses of the kings that
divided the human society into favoured and the oppressed.
Indian
Situation
It is relevant to note that
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given contracts to US
companies like Accenture who will have access to the database of biometric
information of Indian residents?
UIDAI’s Chief Nandan
Nilekani's promotion of Hernando de Sotto's book 'The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails
Everywhere Else' through his own book Imagining
India argues that national ID system would be a big step for land markets
to facilitate right to property and undoing of abolition of right to property
in 1978 in order to bring down poverty!
When surveillance is the
real motive such inexplicable assumptions do not appear surprising.
So far the entire political
class in India and informed citizens has remained insensitive to the decision
of the European Court of Human Rights about violation of the right to privacy
and citizens’ rights. The case was heard publicly on February 27, 2008, and the
unanimous decision of 17 judges was delivered on December 4, 2008. The court
found that the “blanket and indiscriminate nature” of the power of retention of
the fingerprints, cellular samples, and DNA profiles of persons suspected but
not convicted of offenses, failed to strike a fair balance between competing
public and private interests and ruled that the United Kingdom had “overstepped
any acceptable margin of appreciation” in this regard. The decision is
nonappealable.
Unmindful of this, in India,
National databank of biometric data is unfolding which is proposed to be linked
to electoral database amidst the political myopia of political parties in the
face of the onslaught of the foreign biometric and surveillance technology
companies. The only saving grace has been Parliamentary Standing Committee that
has taken on board studies done in the UK on the identity scheme that was begun
and later withdrawn in May 2010, where the problems were identified to include
" (c) untested, unreliable and unsafe technology; (d) possibility of risk
to the safety and security of citizens;
and (e) requirement of high standard security measures, which would result in
escalating the estimated operational costs."
It may be recalled that S.Y. Quraishi, the previous Chief
Election Commissioner had sent a dangerous proposal to Union Ministry of Home
Affairs asking it “to merge the Election ID cards with UID”. The same appears
to have been accepted. Such an exercise would mean rewriting and engineering the
electoral ecosystem with the unconstitutional and illegal use of biometric
technology.
This would lead to linking of UID, Election ID and
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which is not as innocent and as politically
neutral as it has been made out to be. It is noteworthy that all EVMs have a
UID as well. In the meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that voter registration in
Manipur is happening using biometric data. This makes a mockery of the
recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on UID which notes that “The
collection of biometric information and its linkage with personal information
of individuals without amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955 as well as the
Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards)
Rules, 2003, appears to be beyond the scope of subordinate legislation, which
needs to be examined in detail by Parliament”.
In India, opposition parties at the Centre and in the
States appear to be feigning ignorance about these attempts at re-plumbing the
electoral ecosystem and a complicit section of civil society seems guilty of
practicing ‘the economics of innocent fraud’.
This is being done to put entire populations under
surveillance forever.
Notably, such biometric IDs
have been abandoned in the US, Australia, UK and China. The reasons have
predominantly been privacy. In the UK, the current Home Secretary explained
that they were abandoning the project because it would otherwise be `intrusive
bullying’ by the state, and that the government intended to be the `servant’ of
the people, and not their `master’.
While the current UK
government assures its citizens that they will not put them under surveillance
as their masters. But they admit by implication that they continue to put world
leaders under surveillance.
In an interview to the US
Public Broadcasting Service, Nilekani said that “the very nature of privacy is
being redefined”. He says, “I think privacy and convenience are opposites. It’s
always a trade-off”. Giving a speech at the Center for Global Development, Washington,
he argues that it is about “giving up something for something”. He is clearly
indulging in linguistic corruption because UID/Aadhaar is being made mandatory
without citizens being given the choice to trade privacy for convenience. This
choice has been made by the project proponents without any law to define its
limits and its liabilities.
When a question was posed to
him at the Center for Global Development as to “whether or not you think by the
year 2050 there could be a global system … (which) would be a real influence on
knocking down the nation state, which I think needs knocking down” and the
chair of the session asked, “is this the edge of the wedge for the end of
sovereignty?” Nilekani responded, “I have no pretensions. But there is nothing
technologically limiting for having the whole population of the world on the
system.”
Like in US, in India
surveillance, convergence, profiling and tracking systems, a government ridden
with corruption, fake encounters and unregulated intelligence agencies is
gathering sensitive information of their masters, the unsuspecting citizens to
turn them into servile unquestioning and obedient subjects. It is evident that USA
and India do not spare even their own citizens.
Underlining the assault
faced by sovereign citizens, whistleblower Edward Snowden proclaims
courageously and rebelliously, “I don’t want to live in a world where
everything I do and say is recorded.” Government of USA faces isolation on the
issue of Snowden’s heroic whistleblowing act because a human life under
constant surveillance is indeed not worth living. Wheels of the surveillance regime are on the
move but the silence of legislatures and citizens in the face of such lethal
assault is deafening.
Gopal Krishna,
Member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL),
Mb: 9818089660, 08227816731,
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