Google, Yahoo, should secure data against US govt surveillance, say Amnesty International

BIG Brother is watching whether you like it or not. And despite the majority of us being opposed to mass surveillance, there’s nothing we can do it about, a new poll reveals.

America knows you’re reading this

BIG Brother is watching whether you like it or not.

The United States’ Big Brother mass surveillance is taking place at the expense of civil liberties and there’s nothing we can do about it, a poll out today has found

The poll, launched by Amnesty International which surveyed 15,000 people from 13 countries across every continent, found most people were opposed to mass surveillance.

However most of us are also unaware how widespread it really was.

The poll which forms part of Amnesty’s worldwide #UnfollowMe campaign reveals 71 per cent of people were strongly opposed to the United States monitoring their internet use.

It also found thirds wanted major tech companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to secure their communications to prevent government access.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden sparked global headlines in June 2013 and incurred the wrath of the US when he revealed how the US National Security Agency was authorised to monitor phone and internet use in 193 countries around the world.

Snowden revealed the NSA collected a staggering five billion records of mobile phone location a day and 42 billion internet records — including email and browsing history — a month.

This information the agency gains is shared with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom under the Five Eyes Alliance.

Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary-general amid the global survey showed that surveillance such as this was damaging the credibility of the US.

He said President Obama should heed the voice of people around the world and stop using the internet as a tool for collecting mass data about peoples’ private lives.

“Today’s technology gives governments unprecedented power to watch what we do on the internet. We need independent scrutiny to watch the watchers so that power is not abused,” he said.

“Yet today there is little or no legislation in any country that really protects our human right to privacy against indiscriminate mass surveillance. Indeed, more countries are actually considering laws granting wider surveillance powers, at the expense of people’s rights.”

Of 1000 Australians quizzed, more than 72 per cent opposed the idea of mass surveillance, with 20 — 28 year olds the most concerned.

However, the strongest opposition to the US intercepting, storing and analysing internet use came from Brazil (with 80 per cent) and Germany (81 per cent).
Even the majority of people in the US, 63 per cent, were opposed to it, the survey found.

Overall, those surveyed across all 13 countries revealed they did not want their own government to intercept, store and analyse their phone and internet use.

Amnesty said it is already taking legal action against the US and UK governments in a bid to curb indiscriminate mass surveillance.

It has launched its #UnfollowMe campaign calling on governments to create oversight and transparency around mass surveillance.

The issue of government surveillance in Australia has also come under the spotlight in recent months.

New counterterrorism laws — hastily introduced by the Abbott government last year — also came under criticism from Human Rights Watch.

According to its World Report 2015, the government’s controversial proposal that would force telecommunications companies to retain metadata for use by intelligence organisations was also slammed as vague and infringing on civil liberties.

The laws would essentially give Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) unprecedented power to monitor the entire Australian web with only one warrant.