Are we safe on the internet, and what does internet security even mean for an ordinary person?

With Edward Snowden’s recent decision to expose the PRISM project of the American National Security Agency, the NSA, the world was shaken for a short while. Sadly not long enough for anything to change, but then again, you have to start somewhere, and every step counts, and this one was a pretty big one.

As you can see from the NSA’s logo itself, they’re watching. They watch everything and everyone and collect information of every kind and from every direction in order to better protect their fellow citizens, the people of the United States of America. They’ve been doing it since forever, and it was always perfectly fine because they had a noble and humane goal: to stop terrorists from attacking the USA and so protect the people. With the internet spreading far and wide, their job got even easier. With the explosion of social networks, the job got easier still. After September 9th 2011 their hands were untied even further, and the trouble started when they began taking a bit more information than was necessary and, more importantly, moral, and they made the mistake of hiring someone who did have a bit of morals and conscience, and on top of that gave him a responsible and influential role in the whole story. For all their worrying that someone might threaten them from the outside, they forgot to comb through things a bit on the inside.

Anyway, the world, ordinary people all over the world, were a little bewildered, surprised, offended, whatever. That day everyone read various statements and news, talked about it a bit, searched Edward’s name online, only to be searching, the very next day, for the name of his ex-girlfriend and her blog where she posted nude photos of herself. What can you do, people love porn, especially when some famous person is involved. So, whatever effect it had, it had; it won’t take long before it’s forgotten, just like with WikiLeaks, which everyone has forgotten even though they haven’t published even a quarter of the documents. Still, it left enough of an impression on me to make me ask myself what this actually means for me, a resident of Serbia, a student, someone who uses the internet and all sorts of internet services every day, what does it mean for me and people like me?

What is privacy? Is it your right to do whatever you want in your own flat without having to worry whether someone will see you? Is it the feeling of security in knowing that the secrets you keep to yourself and a chosen few won’t go beyond the limits you think you’ve set for them? Is it the right to your peace and your time that nobody can ruin or take away from you? Well, for me it is, and I’m sure nothing has changed in that respect. As for privacy on the internet, it doesn’t exist, and anyone who hasn’t figured that out yet is badly mistaken. At the end of the day, people’s letters were opened, first landlines and later mobile phones were tapped, and that’s how they collected the information they wanted, so why would they stop now that everything has got easier? And the fact that it’s easier for them is something we alone made possible. We agreed to all the terms of service of internet services, and it says right there, in one form or another, that they can use information about us if they see the need and see fit. So they’re taking information that I give them, what do I have to complain about, then? The fact that I didn’t read the terms of service suits them even better when it comes to proving they did nothing wrong.

Should this worry me? Well, I wouldn’t say so. If I decide to share something on one of the social networks, I wanted to post it, so I don’t see why it should bother me if some random people worrying whether I’m a terrorist or not see it, or even collect it. As for email, if I ever decide that the service I use is bad and that the terms of service are bad, I can always switch to another one. The internet is big and there’s always competition. And right now I don’t even mind getting personalised ads, I pay them about as much attention as I pay “Sulejman Veličanstveni” on all our national channels.

In the end I’d just like to point out that what happened is a really good thing, and I hope something will change because of it, though I doubt it, and until then, just as I behave normally out on the street, I behave normally on the internet too. Be yourself, tilt your hat and don’t give a damn. Unless you’re planning some shady business, then you’ve got to make an effort and watch your back.