Ο Edward Snowden now holds a permanent seat in the pantheon of the national security leakage service along with Daniel Ellsberg, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.
The former employee of the US National Security Service (NSA), Edward Snowden became a front page around the world when thousands of confidential records were leaked describing the NSA spy programs in detail.
Today it has been a year now, since then its records have begun Edward Snowden, to be released by The Guardian, which for the first time revealed that the NSA was collecting the telephone data of millions of Americans. But what did we really learn from this story?
The revelations
Τα κωδικά ονόματα των τεράστιων προγραμμάτων συλλογής δεδομένων της NSA είναι πλέον γνωστά σε όλους – PRISM, Tempura, Upstream, xkeyscore.
The program, called PRISM, was the first to be leaked by Snowden through Glenn Greenwald in June 2013, revealing the collection of data directly from the servers of major Internet companies - such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft. .
Public opinion came to a truth that everyone suspected but nobody wanted to believe. The refusal was made with evidence that testified it.
Along with the above, we learned that the NSA had entered our homes, not only through our computers but also by monitoring billions of phone calls, text messages, emails, conversations and pictures. All files are stored in the huge data-centers of the service. The XKeyscore news confirmed that an NSA network of 500 servers around the world is being used to store data collected from the internet and telecommunications communications of almost each of us.
Intelligence programs leaked through Snowden report NSA collusion with other spy agencies, including GCHQ, Britain, and others in France, Germany, Israel, and Australia.
The above leaks were the beginning. A storm followed and according to the information there are still too many unpublished data.
But the question that arises is: why are not the other files published? Is it a matter of national security? If it is a question of national security, who decides to do so, or to make it better, who defines it? Is there free and unbiased journalism?
According to his words Edward Snowden there are millions of files on some encrypted discs that have not been published.
What we learned from him Edward Snowden and what do we continue to learn? what have we not learned and what we will never learn?
The reaction
After the first publications that brought the first cold shower, to the romantics who believed that with an OpenSSL they were safe, the reactions began. We saw the companies surprised technology to deny any involvement in NSA programs, and it has always been known that they must provide data by order of the prosecutor.
There has been a general reaction to NSA espionage by companies, organizations, politicians and diplomats. So what; The measures taken by Obama were ridiculous and of course they cannot stand in the way of the agency's global espionage activities.
Companies such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook are reported to be taking steps to offer stronger encryption. Ultimately, who should the end user trust? One thing is certain, the Internet of 1990 no longer exists. 2013-2014 brought us to reality, or rather to a part of the truth. There is no security. All the information traveling on the internet you don't know where it ends up. Cryptography now seems like a myth and not a myth with a happy ending.
What we learned we probably knew before. The secret services will continue their work. But this places responsibilities on me. because if we assume that we can not trust our data to any service, what do we go on and do? Waiting for the next one Edward Snowden, is rather a very passive reaction.
For all of you who are interested…
