Can We Resolve the NSA Fiasco Cooperatively?

Data centers are under high lock-and-key, and the locations of these centers are classified information (rf. Google).  But the cables that transmit data are, by contrast, apparently not.  So the snafu arising from secret surveillance by the National Security Administration is reverberating globally.

I imagine the NSA is caught between the proverbial rock-and-a-hard-place: They must protect Americans, but they need information to do so.  The highly combustible balance between security and liberty is at issue.  Yet, the handling of this issue by President Barack Obama and his administration has at best not inspired a whole lot of confidence among Americans and has at worst only reinforced their amateurish, inept efforts.

Bloomberg Contributing Editor Richard Falkenrath discusses the popularity of apps that delete all data after use as a tool against NSA spying. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg Surveillance."

Because technology is ever evolving, such an app is welcome.  Yet, it must be an ongoing development.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer

“As you know, there have been a number of reports over the last six months about the U.S. government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies, including Yahoo,” says Mayer. “I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever.”

Reference:  Yahoo Will Follow Google In Encrypting Data Center Traffic, Customer Data Flow By Q1 ’14.

Reports of NSA spying on our data are very disturbing. Google began protecting our data last year, and Yahoo! is scrambling to do the same by January 2014. Microsoft is late to the party. What about the hordes of other companies that collect our data?

Yet, the fundamental issue I raised at the outset remains a quandary indeed.  Are we to play a high-tech cat-and-mouse game with the NSA, or more importantly are we all to band together, address the heart of the matter, and come to a working solution and resolution?  We can compete, and we can battle.  But at the end of the day, the question is why?  

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD