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Despite Snowden Leaks, Few Americans Curb Online Habits

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WASHINGTON

Some two years after Edward Snowden revealed that he leaked classified documents about government snooping, some Americans say they have taken extra precautions to protect themselves online.

But by and large, most seemingly have not changed their Internet or mobile phone habits.

Those are the conclusions of a report released this week by the Pew Research Centers Internet project that explores U.S. attitudes about electronic surveillance.

Titled "Americans Privacy Strategies Post Snowden," the study is the first to probe not only Americans opinions about alleged National Security Agency monitoring of phones and the Internet, but also how those opinions are shaping their behavior.

"In this report, we have indications that a sizable segment of Americans are changing some of their behaviors in response to the Snowden leaks," lead author and Pew senior researcher Mary Madden said. "But most of these changes are not highly technical and instead point to self-censoring behavior."

Nearly 90 percent of the 475 respondents had heard at least a little about the NSA programs revealed in the Snowden leaks, with about 30 percent saying theyve heard a lot.

Of that 90 percent, just about one-third say theyve altered their behavior in some way to help shield their activities and guard their privacy on the phone or online. These steps included changing privacy settings on social media like Facebook (17 percent), avoiding certain apps or programs (15 percent), or communicating more in person than electronically (14 percent).

One possible reason more adults didnt change their behavior, Madden said, is a lack of awareness of available tools or a perceived lack of technological knowledge.

"Things like encryption, proxy servers, anonymity services these are all technologies that are being used by a pretty small segment of the population right now," Madden told VOA. "We find that over half of Americans say they in fact it would be difficult for them to find tools and strategies for them to be more private online."

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Despite Snowden Leaks, Few Americans Curb Online Habits

Snowden leaks ‘put spies at risk’: May says traitor has damaged intelligence agencies across the world including MI5 …

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Theresa May says Edward Snowden leaks have hit MI5 and MI6 resources Home Secretary launches scathing attack on harm caused by the fugitive He stole 1.7m files from America's National Security Agency and GCHQ

By James Slack, Home Affairs Editor for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:59 EST, 17 March 2015 | Updated: 20:02 EST, 17 March 2015

Leaks by the US traitor Edward Snowden have damaged intelligence agencies across the world and drained vital resources from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, Theresa May warned last night.

The Home Secretary made a scathing attack on the harm caused by the fugitive who stole 1.7 million top-secret documents from Americas National Security Agency and GCHQ.

The secret techniques revealed by the subsequent leaks to the Guardian newspaper have made it easier for terrorists, jihadis and organised criminals to avoid detection.

Leaks by the US traitor Edward Snowden (pictured) have damaged intelligence agencies across the world Theresa May has warned

Last night, it emerged vital safe houses had also been lost.

Security officials have had to abandon buildings used to house top-secret sources for fear they have been compromised at huge cost to the British taxpayer.

In evidence to MPs, Home Secretary Mrs May said: I assess and so does the director general of MI5 that the Snowden leaks did cause damage.

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Snowden leaks 'put spies at risk': May says traitor has damaged intelligence agencies across the world including MI5 ...

Reports of NSA spying on Canadian companies fuel calls for more transparency

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Critics say a crisis of transparency surrounds modern spying methods in Canada after revelations that a close ally the U.S. National Security Agency has been looking at the communications traffic of at least two Canadian corporations.

There are people from the NSA working inside of CSE as we speak, said NDP defence critic Jack Harris, referring to U.S. intelligence analysts embedded inside the Communications Security Establishment, the NSAs Canadian counterpart.

Mr. Harris said he has many questions about the extent of Canadas close surveillance partnerships with the United States, but Parliamentarians are not authorized to get answers.

Were reaching a crisis point on this, he said in an interview, pointing out that the Conservative government faces several spying controversies.

The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday that a leaked NSA document from 2012 includes Royal Bank of Canada and Rogers Communications Inc. on a list of global firms whose private communication networks the U.S. agency appeared to be interested in mapping.

The document which The Globe obtained from a confidential source suggests the agency was describing efforts to identify and analyze computer networks controlled by corporations.

Markings on the document, a presentation for intelligence officers, indicate it may have been shared with Ottawa nearly three years ago. Rogers and RBC told The Globe they had no idea the NSA had any interest in their networks, which they insist are secured against intruders.

The NSA has said it will not discuss allegations about its intelligence activities.

There is no indication the NSA went as far as getting at any data inside individual computers or reading communications related to the Canadian companies. However, the presentation suggests the agency went further in using its mapping techniques to look at the computer systems controlled by a Chinese telecom giant.

The name of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. appears in the presentation, and the NSA appears to have had a keen interest in isolating the corporations data channels. These links are likely to carry Huawei traffic, reads one slide.

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Reports of NSA spying on Canadian companies fuel calls for more transparency

Is using encryption suspicious? Half of Americans say yes, according to Pew.

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Nearly two years after former government contractor Edward Snowdenrevealed details of extensivegovernment surveillance programs, a PewResearchreportsuggeststhat the news hasprompted some Americans tochange their approach to online privacy.

The group surveyed about500 adult Americans, finding that nearly 90 percent of themhad heard about government surveillance programs and more than a third of those aware of the programs "have taken at least one step to hide or shield their information from the government," the report said.

Though the report found thata majority of Americans are skeptical of governmentsurveillanceprograms, it also foundvery few are taking the extra step of encrypting the content of their e-mails. In fact,half of those surveyed said using encryption software gives the government enough suspicion to monitor a U.S. citizen's communications.

Most free e-mail providers automatically use a security feature known as SSL encryptionthat obscuresthe content of messages from third parties but leaves service providers such as Gmail or Yahooable to access the message themselves. To guarantee thatonly the sender and receiver can access the contents of messages, you have to use end-to-end encryption a process that typically involves specialized software and several additional steps.

Using end-to-end can be overwhelming, especially for less technically adept users, because some of the tools are difficult to use, said independent security researcher Runa Sandvik.

So it's not a huge surprise that Pew found e-mail encryption adoption rates are pretty abysmal. Only 2percent of Americans who had heard about government surveillance programs had since started using e-mail encryption tools, and only 10 percent more had even considered adopting it. Nearly half of the respondents said they hadn't adopted or considered such tools while anotherthird didn't evenknow what e-mail encryption is.

In the wake of the revelations about NSA snooping, big tech companies have made privacy and security bigger parts of their public strategy sometimes garnering the ire of law enforcement officials who warnsuch effortscould limit the government's ability to track terror and crime online. And both Google and Yahooare working on plug-ins aimed at making it easier for users of their e-mail services to use end-to-end encryption.

[Yahoos plan to get Mail users to encrypt their e-mail: Make it simple]

But there's evidence that efforts to expand encryption may actually result in the U.S. government holding on to someAmericans'communications longer because it views the use of encryption as generally suspicious. An intelligencefunding bill passed last December said that Americans' communications incidentally collected under a controversial executive order could be retained longer than five years if "enciphered or reasonably believed to have a secret meaning."

According to Pew, Americans are pretty evenly split on on whetherusing encryption is enough to let the government monitor the communications of U.S. citizens.Nearly half, 49 percent, said it was acceptable for the government to monitor Americans if they "used encryption software to hide files."

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Is using encryption suspicious? Half of Americans say yes, according to Pew.

UK: Assange supporters mark his 1,000th day in Ecuadorian embassy – Video

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UK: Assange supporters mark his 1,000th day in Ecuadorian embassy
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Monday to mark the 1000th day of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange #39;s imposed stay in the building. -------------------------...

By: RuptlyTV

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UK: Assange supporters mark his 1,000th day in Ecuadorian embassy - Video


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