Have you changed the way you use the internet since you first heard of Edward Snowden?
Edward Snowden’s revelations about the existence of a complex global surveillance network set up by governments around the world to spy on us via the internet were first published in June 2013 simultaneously in The Guardian and The Washington Post. If you have any doubts about the magnitude of what Snowden brought to light, you need only look at the length and density of the two corresponding articles in Wikipedia on the subject of global surveillance prior to that date, and subsequently.
But perhaps the immediate question, more than 18 months into the post-Snowden era, is to what extent these revelations have changed our lives. Do we use the web differently, have we adopted different tools, are we more inclined to share data or to use certain services now we know that a significant part of the information we generate is being carefully collected and analyzed by government organizations around the world?
A survey carried out by a Canadian think tank on more than 23,000 people in 24 countries worldwide affirms that more than 60 percent of the global population has heard of Edward Snowden, but “only” 39 percent of them have changed their online habits. I say “only”, because the results of the survey have generally been interpreted as demonstrating the lack of concern that most people seem to feel about what we now know our governments are up to: most internet users know that they are being watched, and have decided not to do anything about it, believing surveillance as simply the rules of the game, and that taking measures to prevent being spied on is not worth the effort.
Is it necessarily a negative thing that this number of web users say they have in some way changed their online habits in the light of the Snowden revelations? I would say not. Furthermore, my impression is that this actually represents a major change, a huge shift in public thinking, the repercussions of which we will feel in the coming years in all sorts of ways.
Regardless of your individual situation, and whether you have changed or not your online behavior over the last 18 months as a result of proof we are being spied on by our governments, I believe we are still talking about a very important phenomenon, and not just in terms of the internet, but for humanity as a whole.
The internet is an environment with a wide range of users, from people old enough to remember the news of the first data sent between UCLA and Stanford, up to people who typed their first message on a social network or an instant messaging service today. We now access the internet using desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, video consoles… Some of us work with sensitive information every day, while others use the internet solely to check the news or the weather, to see what their friends are up to, or watch videos of kittens. Some of us are able to make informed decisions about all types of security, while others simply turn their machines off and back on again if they have a problem with them.
In all honesty, given the heterogeneity of internet users, the fact that such a large proportion have decided to change the way they use the web or think about it is truly remarkable, prompting me to question why so many headlines talk about “a few” or a “limited effect”, rather than seeing this for what it is: a dimensional change, the beginning of a major shift in public attitudes.
After all, we are talking here about the way we use the internet, something that is now a central part of huge numbers of people’s lives and professional activities. The fact that a percentage of these people have decided, in their own words, “to take some kind of measure” to protect their privacy is the same as a similar number of us deciding over the last 18 months to start wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, or a ski mask to avoid being recognized by the authorities while out in public. Such a change, aside from attracting the attention of the media, would be seen to have a profound impact on every aspect of the way society works.
The coming generations will doubtless have a different take on this matter, and will base their decisions to adopt new technologies on a series of considerations very different to those of their predecessors. I think we are beginning to see this today: more and more tools whose appeal is precisely the anonymity they offer; on messages that self-destruct or are stored in your device without being looked at by any kind of search engine; as well the appearance of social networks whose business models are not about using your data for commercial purposes. The use of private networks is growing throughout the world, particularly in countries where there are restrictions on content. At the same time, growing numbers of people are beefing up their knowledge of online security, anonymity, data handling, and cyphering.
And what about you? Have you changed your online habits or thought differently about which platforms and applications you use since June of last year, when you first heard about Edward Snowden?
(En español, aquí)
