Loss of User Privacy Undermines Internet as a ‘Commons’: Snowden

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Aaron Ricadela
June 1, 2016 — 1:40 PM EDT

Collection of citizens’ data online by governments in the U.S. and elsewhere to counter terrorist threats is undermining the internet as a "commons for communications and trade," former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden said at a technology conference in Berlin.

"Increasingly we’re losing our seat at the table of government," he said. "These programs were never truly about terrorism, at least not solely. They were about power."

In addition to online surveillance in countries including China, Russia and Iran, Snowden named U.S. allies including the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada as participating in data collection in ways he doesn’t think are legitimate uses of espionage, citing an example of those countries cooperating to surveil U.S. law firms negotiating on the prices of clove cigarettes and shrimp.

Snowden spoke from Moscow where he has sought asylum amid theft and espionage charges from American authorities. His 2013 revelations about government internet monitoring and data collection sparked a public debate and compelled many technology companies to strengthen data protections.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-01/loss-of-user-privacy-undermines-internet-as-a-commons-snowden

[Igel]

1. I think it's the other way around.

Many of the groups that are abusing the Internet are collaborating to do unscrupulous or unethical things.

That distorts the commons and eventually will lead to its demise. Its "demise" may just be a lot more regulation and monitoring, but the fundamental abuse of the commons are those who misuse it. The commons failed because certain private parties overused it, appropriated it for selfish ends instead of there as a last resort for the public good.

That said, I think the commons analogy is a poor analogy for the Internet. It's built on private "lands" that can be expanded at private cost.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. The oligarchy is working toward total control of the internet and total intrusion into our private

modern day papers.