The Upstream Collection

Upstream collection is a term used by the National Security Agency(NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from the Internet backbone. Basically, it means that the U.S government is inspecting and tracking on the people who are suffering the Internet, both domestic and foreign. It is a violence to the privacy of the Internet users. Imagine that whenever we use the Internet, there is always someone watching at us. It is not only a violation of our privacy but also a restriction of our freedom.

The upstream collection is conducted under the following four major surveillance programs: Fairview, Blarney, Stormbrew, and Oakstar. The first three programs are responsible for collecting data in United States, while the Oakstar is is an umbrella for eight different programs used for collection outside the US. Many telecommunication companies are implicated in this program, such as AT&T.

The Founders of Wikipedia, Wales and Tretijkov, also expressed their anger and dissatisfaction toward NSA and the Upstream collection program. For example, they required NSA to stop the program under the pressure of law: the First Amendment protects the freedoms of expression and association while the Forth Amendment protects the right to privacy. They also stated that the users who would like to discuss some politically sensitive issues are less likely to share their perspectives because of the fear of reprisal.

Wales and Tretijkov also argued that privacy is an essential right to everyone. I totally agree with this idea because that is one reason why I choose to study in America. As an international student from China, I personally believe that the protection of the citizen’s privacy in China is, although not too bad, worse than that in United States. Many people prefer to sharing experiences and knowledge anonymously on the Internet. If the privacy is being violate, I doubt that the Internet will still be widely used.

(Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/stop-spying-on-wikipedia-users.html?_r=0, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstream_collection, https://www.aclu.org/blog/guide-what-we-now-know-about-nsas-dragnet-searches-your-communications)