Less than two weeks ago the encrypted email service Lavabit shut down rather than comply with NSA surveillance. This followed Silent Circle shutting down for the same reason.
Now another organization, Groklaw, has shut down "saying it cannot operate under current US surveillance policies."
Pamela Jones, Groklaw's founder, cited the alleged US practice of screening emails from abroad and storing messages "enciphered or otherwise thought to contain secret meaning" for five years.
Groklaw had promised its sources anonymity, but said it could not now ensure contributors would stay secret....
"There is no way to continue doing Groklaw, not long term, which is incredibly sad," Ms Jones wrote, adding: "There is now no shield from forced exposure."
She added: "What kind of world are we living in if the governments of the world think total surveillance is an appropriate thing?"
Groklaw was a valuable research tool that in no way could be connected to terrorist activities. But when you destroy a fundamental civil liberty there is inevitably collateral damage.
"I'm saddened to hear about the demise of Groklaw," said Michael Meurer, a professor of law at Boston University.
"It has been a great source for information about the latest developments in technology law and policy. Several of my students launched their research projects based on what they learned reading Groklaw."
London-based patent lawyer Andrew Alton, of Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said: "It's been a great resource because it brings together all the available documents, instead of reading second or third hand analysis.
"I understand why Ms Jones has decided it cannot continue.
"There is a danger that, by encouraging people to contribute, those individuals might be incriminating themselves."
The NSA surveillance program has gotten completely out of hand. By forcing sites like Groklaw to shut down it is also forcing self-censorship.
And it is doing much more than that. Recall Lavabit shutting down? Well, there was
more to that story.
The saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business, rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a violation of the order:
... a source familiar with the matter told NBC News that James Trump, a senior litigation counsel in the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., sent an email to Levison's lawyer last Thursday – the day Lavabit was shuttered -- stating that Levison may have "violated the court order," a statement that was interpreted as a possible threat to charge Levison with contempt of court.
Trying to force the owner of a company to stay in business so that he will snitch on his clients? What exactly is going on behind closed doors? How far along are we to being a police state?
Beyond the civil rights question there is the economic question: how many jobs are being destroyed by this domestic spying program?
A report issued by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation stated that U.S.-based cloud computing computers could lose between $21 and $35 billion because of the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program.
That’s how much U.S. companies could lose if foreign customers stop using U.S. cloud computing services because they don’t want to be subject to federal eavesdropping. The report found that U.S. companies could lose 10% of the global market to European or Asian competitors over the next three years. That would be worth $21.5 billion. The losses could be higher; as much as $35 billion.
That's probably a high-end estimate, but there is no doubt that forcing out tech companies to spy on their customers is
bad for business. Why? Because it hurts the reputation of the companies. It allows overseas competitors to paint them as tools of Big Brother.
Even if the proven-liar James Clapper was telling the truth and we were only spying on foreigners, how does that
effect the overseas business of tech companies?
If you lived in Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, or Brazil, and you used Gmail, or synced your photos through iCloud, or chatted via Skype, how would you feel about that? Let's say you ran a business in those countries that relied upon information services from a U.S. company. Don't these revelations make using such a service a business liability? In fact, doesn't this news make it a national security risk for pretty much any other country to use information services from companies based in the U.S.? How should we expect the rest of the world to react?
Here's a pretty good guess: Other countries will start routing around the U.S. information economy by developing, or even mandating, their own competing services.
But this is all speculation, right? Foreigners wouldn't abandon Google and Facebook, right?
Wrong.
Yes. It's already happening. Asian governments and businesses are now moving their employees and systems off Google's Gmail and other U.S.-based systems, according to news reports. The issue is becoming a stumbling block in negotiations with the European Union over a new trade agreement. Technology experts are warning of a big loss of foreign business.
One of the few things that Democrats have been able to hold over Republicans for the last five years is that we are actually trying to create jobs and they aren't.
Well, the
mini-tech boom we've experienced over the last few years could simply go away because of this spying program. It's already destroyed good-paying American jobs and it will continue to do so unless it is stopped. Not reformed, stopped!
Even if you support giving up freedoms to protect you from terrorists who live in caves on the other side of the world, you still have to support the idea of good jobs in America.
Obama says we have to
chose between security or privacy. What he didn't mention is that we have to chose between security or privacy
AND tech jobs.
1:48 PM PT: Here are some hard numbers:
Computer World UK reports a recent Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) survey found 10 percent of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies canceled contracts with U.S. providers after the leaks, and 56 percent of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with U.S.-based cloud operators.
This is bad news for U.S. tech companies because cloud computing and storage is a huge, expanding market. Research firm Gartner forecasts the public cloud services market will grow 18.5 percent in 2013 to a total of $131 billion worldwide.
Nothing in the global economy is growing at 18% a year, and now our tech companies are going to be locked out of it?!? This is going to cost
a lot of jobs.
1:53 PM PT: And yet another economic cost:
Fear of NSA spying could curtail tech innovation, and that’s why it’s time for the NSA to be transparent about what data they collect and how they collect it, and allow data to continue fueling technological innovation—not consumer insecurity.
2:43 PM PT: Before we feel too sorry for the tech giants, let's not forget their history:
So for the tech and telecommunications industries, the relationship has always been a delicate balance of patriotism and public image, and a public-relations tightrope walk between getting along and appearing not to bend to the NSA’s demands. “They have been, on the whole, cooperative,” says Greg Garcia, who served as the Homeland Security Department’s first Internet czar under President George W. Bush. “But at the same time, they are wary of being seen as instruments of the government.”