Trapped in a Shadow Network

Since June 5, 2013, our view on the world has changed. This was the day when the American Edward Snowden, then 29, first offered us a glimpse into the surveillance work of Western intelligence agencies, revealing a style of mass surveillance that by far exceeds everything intelligence agencies usually do.

This day brought major change, since fundamental feelings of certainty and security were shattered — as was the case with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Since Snowden’s revelations, the world has completely changed: We know that everyone is a potential suspect. Public authorities systematically collect and analyze data without our knowledge.

In a post-Snowden world, the principle of constitutionality does not apply anymore; even basic rights are no longer respected. Initial suspicion of criminal activity is not needed to access computer or telephone data, as it is common in a constitutional state. The assumption that there is such a thing as privacy or security on the Internet has vanished. While passwords may have a placebo effect, they no longer offer protection.

Even the government is not able to protect its citizens from attacks by foreign institutions. Not even German Chancellor Angela Merkel was safe from attacks by the U.S. intelligence agency that tapped her cell phone. The German Internet activist Sascha Lobo speaks of a “digitally failed state.”

By now not only central Internet nodes are being tapped, but intelligence agencies have also managed to hack into products enabling them to completely control every citizen in the world: E-mail clients and webcams can be misused to spy on people and phone calls can be intercepted.

It is not only the Internet that is being watched, but also the whole world, with the help of the Internet. By now we know of this shadow network — a second world. However, since the revelations made by Snowden one year ago, not much has come to light about their activities. The intelligence agencies continue to refuse to disclose their information. In the U.S., President Barack Obama has mandated a few cosmetic corrections after public discourse — like the storing of data with telecom companies instead of intelligence agencies. However, the principle of surveillance has survived. European intelligence agencies are also proceeding as always.

Investigations into the NSA affair were terminated in Germany as well as in Austria, with the exception of the issue of Merkel’s cell phone. And yet, especially in Austria, there is suspicion that not everything is known: In a recent interview published by Der Standard, journalist Glenn Greenwald, the only one with access to Snowden’s documents, said that there is not only occasional, but continuous cooperation between Austria and the NSA.

After his revelations, Snowden said that his biggest concern was that nothing would change. One year later, his fears seem to have come true. While on an institutional level nothing has changed indeed, on an individual one it has. He has changed our behavior on the Internet — we have become more careful.