US Has Trouble Closing Door on PRISM

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/229831/us-has-trouble-closing-door-on-prism/

To the international community as well as the American public, the U.S. presents itself as having firm morals. This can be considered a joke when we look at Obama's current public relations crisis.

US Has Trouble Closing Door on PRISM
China Network, China
By Zhang Jingwei
Translated By Renee Loeffler
30 December 2013
Edited by Eva Langman


Giving Obama a headache recently is a certain Snowden, who exposed the U.S. PRISM program and created great embarrassment in U.S.-European relations. The White House has received constant questions from U.S. allies; the Brazilian president even canceled a visit to the U.S. The worst part is that Snowden doesn’t feel put off at all by the “traitor” label given to him by members of the U.S. Congress, and Russia has granted him political asylum.

Snowden was by no means sitting idly in Russia. He continued to make moves against Obama, his whistle-blowing an embarrassment for the U.S. When the information leaked out, almost no U.S. ally was seen to be exempt from NSA monitoring; even officials from the loyal U.S. ally Israel had their phone and email communications continually monitored by U.S. spy agencies. If the U.S. wants information on any person in any corner of the world, it will get it; nothing is private, even normal everyday communication.

What is worrisome is that Obama, an advocate of counterterrorism, is the one who gave the OK for eavesdropping, making his advocacy not the least bit convincing. American citizens’ attitude toward the White House has gone from understanding to resentful. Escalating backlash from public opinion has influenced court rulings. Currently, Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia says that the years of NSA data monitoring is “almost certainly” unconstitutional. A Financial Times editorial stated, “PRISM has taken a hit rather than giving one.”*

Previously, major U.S. telecommunications companies publicly shared information until the public appealed to the U.S. government to restrict intelligence agencies from eavesdropping and collecting phone and Internet data. These major companies include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, U.S. AOL, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. After the PRISM incident, these technology companies have come under great pressure from the public. In a statement to the public after the latest information leaks, they claim that not only are they not eavesdropping “accomplices,” but they are supporters of the protection of privacy and can even themselves be considered victims.