Secret Espionage

Secret Espionage

            Through social media or basically internet, word travels faster, it is the medium towards knowledge as what Thomas Friedman implied in his article ‘It’s a Flat World’. Accessing information and articles about a certain topic became easier rather than skimming the library for hours and trying to find the correct book.

            To make it even more convenient, devices can now connect to internet. You could easily take a photo of where you are and upload it instantly. The downside however is that being always connected means the world can easily locate where you are and could even monitor your activity via satellite. They could use that to track where you are.

Action movies often portray the government as monitoring citizens with spies disguised everywhere and technology that could track your location. Movies don’t include it without a basis, there is always a basis for everything. The question is, are the governments really like that or have they surpassed the movies’ portrayal of spying?   

            An article regarding secret espionage was published last March by Ben Quinn, Quinn stated in his article that the ministry of defence is developing a software that will emerge in a popular social media to influence people’s beliefs for military purposes. This peaked my interest because this is alarming, they are using social media to influence people when social media is practically everywhere and is a major part of everyone’s lives.

 My interest about this topic started before this was assigned as a project (specifically around March 2014), therefore, I started gathering articles earlier and I might have exceeded the required amount but it all adds up to the information.

            There are rumours spreading around globally about the secret intrusion of privacy among citizens, most particularly in the United States of America, it was said that their government was collecting information through social media. This is possible because social media have a lot of workers indirectly assisting you whenever you access it and whatever you posted there would be saved in the internet (Facebook for instance, you can’t delete your messages there). The government is powerful enough to be able to look through a civilian’s account in social media.

Lately, a different case was opened. Rumours now state that through electronics, laptop, smart phones and the like, the government can monitor each person’s activity and even gain access to each civilian’s information, private messages, pictures etc. This is said to be done to prevent terrorist attacks from occurring (most especially after the incident in 911) but a lot disagree and call it ‘invasion of privacy’.

            Google, Reddit, Mozilla and other major internet companies are holding a “Reset the Net” protest campaign against NSA’s (National Secret Agency) secret surveillance.

            This issue does not end in spying in general. Recently, there are events that made 

Germany wary of the United States of America.

            It was discovered that the United States is or was spying on Germany. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was revealed to having been a victim of this. Edward Snowden, a former system administrator of CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) was the one who leaked details of the global surveillance of the United States National Security.

            According to the research and reports I have read, Angela Merkel’s phone is the one that is being observed by the United States. However, this is a big thing since Angela Merkel uses her phone to contact fellow politicians, she uses it to pass through political information.

            In response to Unites States’ secret espionage action, Germany has escalated their counter-espionage efforts. Merkel, the German Chancellor, deemed this secret espionage of United States as ‘serious’ and ‘unscrupulous’, as a result, Germany became wary and has arrested a number of government workers suspected of spying. Germany demanded a promise from the United States to end spying, both countries will be forming a pact this summer (July or August).

            Apparently, not only the United States is accused of spying on other countries but also China. Chinese hackers were able to break into the United States federal personnel’s databases.

Even Finland had experienced a breach on its Foreign Ministry’s communication network. However, they still have yet to confirm who was able to breach their security.

         

           With these instances continuing, this secret espionage issue may become a global issue, it is already getting international. This situation is becoming alarming because states are getting wary of each other and if they are not too careful, another round of disputes may start. Secret espionage isn’t just “low politics”, it is classified under “high politics” because it involves the security of the state.

           

             Even though, states are now capable of cooperating with each other, the presence of wariness and precaution never disappears, there’s always a realist’s aura. You wouldn’t just disclose your motives to some stranger, which is the same way as the states act.

            If this continues on, it may lead to something worse. Currently, security dilemma is already happening between Germany and United States or even China and United States. The United States was discovered of spying on Germany and now Germany is trying to be more protective of itself by tightening its security. This is no joking matter anymore if it gets worse.

            

                 I think the best way to resolve this conflict is to take their secret surveillance action to their own country and just report to the UN (United Nations) if there are any suspicious activities. The United Nations is a trustworthy-enough institution since it aims to ensure the welfare globally and with that way, they can prevent security dilemma among other states.

            

                  There is a presence of a world government because it regulates the tension among countries. Members of the world government help each other economically and politically, those are their goals. If a tension is to happen between the members like spying on each country, the world government will collapse because their alliance is shattered.

       They can no longer trust the other for they betrayed the trust given by the other state. It is the same to how we work our friendship. We interact with a person thereby forming a friendship between both of you: acquaintance (states interact, thereby forming a friendly relation). We bond and communicate with that person to strengthen trust and to further the friendship: friends (states interact some more through international relations to strengthen their relation and form a reliable alliance). One of the two friends betrays the other, if they other one finds out, there will be an aura of uneasiness and will ultimately lead to confrontation then to argument, the friendship will not be the same (one state betrays the other, the alliance will be broken, there will be a rising tension between both and may ultimately lead to war).

It is the same as to how friendship works but the stakes are higher: Think of each friend representing billions of people, if one friend disagrees, billions of people disagree. If the two friends have a conflict, the billions of people will suffer because they can cut trade (meaning, less profit and fewer products), they could influence other friends (states) to think of the other state as lowly, this will be a disadvantage to the other state because other states (friends) may be influenced and as a result, they might also cut their alliance. However, worst of all is that if this conflict ensues, there will be a war. Each friend represents billions of people, therefore, if there is a war, even just between two friends, a lot of lives are in danger. Maybe after the war, each friend will only represent millions of people.

International Relations or diplomacy is a risk. Being sent as a representative of one state to another or a diplomat, especially when those two nations are on the edge of each other is very risky because the relation between both countries all depends on you, your state is relying on you and how you handle their situation. You must exercise great skill in maintain the peace between both countries.             

            

            That is what is happening between Germany and United States, there is a rising tension. United States was found to be secretly spying on Germany. On Germany’s side, it is an indicator that the United States either doesn’t trust Germany or wants information about Germany for a specific reason (to mimic their security plan or perhaps a plan to invade). Germany has the right to be angry, United States went past its boundaries and tried to pry information.

I’m in agreement to spying for protection against terrorists (especially after the 911 attack) because it will help protect the country and possibly stop another terrorist attack which may claim several lives but it will still be an invasion of privacy. Though, it will be inconvenient to most people, it is a small price to pay if it means security and if you really have nothing to hide, then you shouldn’t be afraid of this threat. However it is wrong to pry upon other countries’ government’s information, the state has the right to share what it wants to share. We must respect what they want to share and what they do not to maintain a peaceful relation.

             

Reference list:

1.    Ben Quinn, “Revealed: the MoD’s secret cyberwarfare programme” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/16/mod-secret-cyberwarfare-programme, published on March 16, 2014

2.    Spencer Ackerman, “Harry Reid asks CIA to limit Congress interaction during spying investigation” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/21/harry-reid-cia-spying-brennan-letter, published on March 21, 2014

3.    Martin Pengelly ”NSA targeted Chinese telecoms giant Huawei-report” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/22/nsa-huawei-china-telecoms-times-spiegel, published on March 22, 2014

4.    Spencer Ackerman, “Obama formally proposes end to NSA’s bulk collection of telephone data” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/27/obama-proposes-end-nsa-bulk-data-collection, published on March 27, 2014

5.    Spencer Ackerman, “NSA chief Keith Alexander avoids Snowden in retirement speech” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/28/nsa-chief-keith-alexander-snowden-retirement-speech, published on March 28, 2014

6.    Martin Pengelly, “NSA listed Merkel among leaders subject to surveillance-report” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/29/nsa-merkel-leaders-surveillance-documents-snowden, published on March 29, 2014

7.    Rory Carroll, “Senate NSA critic urges Barack Obama to end bulk data collection now” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/30/senator-ron-wyden-nsa-barack-obama, published on March 30, 2014

8.    “From the archive, 4 April 1914: German spy to serve six years before being deported” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/apr/04/german-spy-first-world-war, published on April 4, 2014

9.    Amanda Holpuch, “Journalists who broke NSA story in Guardian dedicate award to Snowden” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/11/journalists-nsa-guardian-polk-award-snowden, published on April 11, 2014

10. Martin Pengelly, “Glenn Greenwald books to contain ‘new stories from the Snowden archive’” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/glenn-greenwald-stories-nsa-snowden-archive, published on April 20, 2014

11. Spencer Ackerman, “NSA to test legal limits on surveillance if USA Freedom Act becomes law” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/19/nsa-surveillance-limits-usa-freedom-act, published on May 19, 2014

12. Charles Arthur “US accusations of Chinese hacking point to eight-year spying campaign” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/19/us-accusations-chinese-hacking-eight-years, published on May 19, 2014

13. Spencer Ackerman, “Chinese military officials charged with stealing US data as tensions escalate” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/19/us-chinese-military-officials-cyber-espionage, published on May 20, 2014

14. Jonathan Kaiman “China reacts furiously to US cyber-espionage charges” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/china-reacts-furiously-us-cyber-espionage-charges, published on May 20, 2014

15. “China demands halt to ‘unscrupulous’ US cyber-spying” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/27/china-demands-halt-unscrupulous-us-cyber-spying, published on May 27, 2014

16. Dan Roberts, “NSA releases email in dispute over Snowden ‘internal whistleblowing’” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/29/nsa-email-snowden-surveillance-internal-whistleblowing, published on May 29, 2014

17. Daniel Ellsberg, “Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial –and Kerry is wrong” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/30/daniel-ellsberg-snowden-fair-trial-kerry-espionage-act, May 30, 2014

18. Lenore Taylor, “Tony Abbott downplays revelation Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono let reporters listen in to phone call” in “The Guardian”  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/03/tony-abbott-downplays-revelation-susilo-bambang-yudhoyono-let-reporters-listen-in-to-phone-call, published on June 2, 2014

19. Benjamin Mueller, “Why we need a cyberwar treaty” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/02/we-need-cyberwar-treaty, published on June 2, 2014

20. Eric Hal Schwartz,” Google, Reddit Protest NSA Surveillance” in “InTheCapital”
 http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2014/06/05/google-reddit-protest-nsa-surveillance/, published on June 5, 2014

21. Rolf Winkler and Alistair Barr, “Nest to Share User Information With Google for the First Time” in “blogs.wsj.com” http:// blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/24/nest-to-share-user-information-with-google-for-first-time/, published on June 6, 2014

22. Bridie Jabour, “Tony Abbott defends role of Five Eyes intelligence alliance” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/09/tony-abbott-defends-role-of-five-eyes-intelligence-alliance, published on June 9, 2014

23. Kris Hollington, “Inside England’s NSA” in “Newsweek” http://www.newsweek.com/inside-englands-nsa-253816, published on June 9, 2014

24. Zack Whittaker, “US appeals Court rules warrantless phone location tracking is illegal” in “ZD Net” http://www.zdnet.com/us-appeals-court-rules-warrantless-phone-location-tracking-is-illegal-7000030442/, published on June 11, 2014

25. James Ball, “Our citizenship can no longer protect us from state surveillance” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/17/citizenship-state-surveillance-facebook-twitter-google, published on June 17, 2014

26. Matthew Taylor, Nicholas Watt, and Kevin Rawlinson, “Liam Fox calls for greater surveillance powers for security services” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/22/liam-fox-surveillance-powers-british-jihadists,  published on June 22, 2014

27. Qin Dexing, “Merger of wireless with industry” in “Shanghai Daily” http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/biz-special/Merger-of-wireless-with-industry/shdaily.shtml, published on June 23, 2014

28. Stephen Dinan, “Supreme Court bans warrantless cellphone searches, updates privacy laws Major ruling updates privacy laws for 21’st century” in “Washington Times” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/25/supreme-court-bans-warantless-cell-phone-searches/?page=all, published on June 25, 2014

29.  “Spyware, phone tracking apps rampant in Vietnam: pundit” in “Tuoitrenews” http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/20593/spyware-phone-tracking-apps-rampant-in-vietnam-pundit, published on June 26, 2014

30. Ewen MacAskill,  “New NSA chief says ‘sky not falling down’ after Snowden revelations” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/nsa-chief-michael-rogers-snowden-intelligence-leaks, published on June 30, 2014

31. “Secret Services: Cyber spies twice penetrated Foreign Ministry” in “yle.fi” http://yle.fi/uutiset/secret_services_cyber_spies_twice_penetrated_foreign_ministry/7334589, published on July 3, 2014

32. Philip Oltermann, “Germany arrests BND member on suspicion of spying for US” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/04/germany-arrest-bnd-spying-allegations-double-agent-us, published on July 4, 2014  

33. Philip Ottermann, “Germany to escalate counter-espionage efforts in wake of US spying allegations” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/07/germany-counter-espionage-escalate-bnd-arrest-maziere-policy, published in July 7, 2014

34. “Angela Merkel says allegations of US spying on Germany are ‘serious’” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/07/angela-merkel-allegations-us-spying-germany-serious, published in July 7, 2014

35. Dan Roberts, “White House on the back foot over CIA role in German spying scandal” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/07/white-house-response-german-spying-scandal, published on July 7, 2014

36. Philip Ottermann, “Second German government worker suspected of spying for US” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/09/germany-arrest-second-spy-accused-us-cia, published on July 9, 2014

37. “Chinese hackers ‘broke into US federal personnel agency’s databases’” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/10/chinese-hackers-us-office-personnel-management-databases, published on July 10, 2014

38. Jonathan Kaiman, “Kerry hits out at Chinese cyber-spying” in “The Guardian”  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/10/john-kerry-hits-out-at-chinese-cyber-spying, published on July 10, 2014

39. Philip Ottermann, “German spy agency searches for more moles after US breach” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/german-spy-agency-search-moles, published on July 11, 2014

40. Dan Roberts, “Germany demands public promise from US to end spying” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/germany-us-john-kerry-talks-espionage, published on July 11, 2014

41.  “Chinese man charged with hacking into US fighter jet plans” in “The Guardian” http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/12/chinese-man-charged-with-hacking-into-us-fighter-jet-plans, published on July 12, 2014

42. YasminSulaiman, “I-Spy talk examines history of espionage at 2014 Edinburgh Festival of Politics” in “edinburghfestival.list.co.uk” http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/62163-i-spy-talk-examines-history-of-espionage-at-2014-edinburgh-festival-of-politics/

The list, published on July 15, 2014

43. Ken Broader, “California Businessman Sentenced for Economic espionage to help China” in “InShare”   http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/california-and-the-nation/california-businessman-sentenced-for-economic-espionage-to-help-china-140717?news=853709, published on July 17, 2014

44.  “German spies clamor for counter-espionage funding” in “dw.de” http://www.dw.de/german-spies-clamor-for-counter-espionage-funding/a-17781269, published on July 27, 2014

45. Ed Adamczyck “World’s biggest spy center is Vienna, book says” in “upi.com” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/07/31/Worlds-biggest-spy-center-is-Vienna-book-says/2691406828919/, published on July 31, 2014

46. “Lawyering’s Ins and Outs” in “attymheanneojeda.blogspot.com” http:// attymheanneojeda.blogspot.com/2009/11/surveillance-cameras-in-workplace.html, published on October 30, 2009: Found Locally