AfterEdward Snowdenleaked information about a wide range ofgovernment surveillance programs, many peopleexpected a majorlegal shift in the world of Internet security. But calls for stricter laws may be missing the point. <\/p>\n
Most people want to see statutory change or policy change as evidence that theres been some real impact from the Snowden leaks,\" explains Bobby Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas. \"But, in a way, I think thats turning out to be the wrong place to look, <\/p>\n
Chesney says the real changeis in the private sector specifically, in the changing relationship between the private telecommunications and internet companies and the US government. <\/p>\n
Thanks to the way that the Snowden story has catalysed interest in privacy, [there's] pressure on companies to be more privacy-protective,\" he says. \"Theres something of a sea change underway. <\/p>\n
Just look at your smartphone: Apple and Google have made encryption a default setting on their devices to ensure the privacy of the user so much so that even the providers, let alone the government, can'taccess the devices information. <\/p>\n
The default encryption model, in theory, makes it hard if not impossible for the company themselves to unlock data on, say, a suspects or targets cell phone or iPad, Chesney says. <\/p>\n
That hascaused an obvious rift between intelligence agencies and private technology companies. The claim isits not that [the FBI] is seeking new authorities, but that their existing authorities dont mean what they used to because of this technological change,\" Chesney explains. <\/p>\n
The new Congress will also have to tackle the issue of whether government agencies cancontinuebulk metadata collection the practice that allows them to vacuum up information about phone calls regardless of whether they've been identified with crimes or terrorism. <\/p>\n
All theyre really talking about is whether the government will hold that haystack of data itself, or if, instead, it will all be held in a disaggregated way in the hands of all the telecommunication companies that are involved, Chesney says. <\/p>\n
With legal change on the horizon and private change well underway, the legacy of Snowden is hard to ignore especially for Chesney. In his basic course on national security law, he used to coverinternet securityin just four or five days. Last year, he says, we had to more than double that, and it wasnt nearly enough. <\/p>\n
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