The NSA Scandal was a global surveillance scandal. The dates of this scandal range from:
November 3rd, 1999 when the the BBC revealed the existence of the global spying network Echelon up to June 6, 2013 when president Obama addressed this issue.
The NSA and it's international parterns were found to be guilty of performing mass surveillance of foreign nationals as well as US citizens. During the 2009 G-20 London Summit, the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had intercepted the communications of foreign diplomats. The Guardian revealed that XKeyscore, a formerly secret computer system, allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals. This problem was not just based in the United States, it was a global problem as well.
During specific episodes within a four-year period, the NSA hacked several Chinese mobile-phone companies, and universities in Beijing.Top secret documents were leaked by ex NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Documents provided by Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA spied on various diplomatic missions of the EU, including the EU's delegation to the United States in Washington D.C. It was reported that the NSA had collected phone records from over 120 million Verizon subscribers, according to a top secret court order leaked by Snowden.
This scandal attracted major public attention when it was published by The Washington Post and The Gaurdian.
How does this affect human rights?
Restore the Fourth was largely involved and very active. Restore the Fourth is an organization that works on strengthening the 4th ammendment
The 4th Ammendment - Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires a warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.
This video does a wonderful job of explaining the situation and also addressing the human rights issues.
Jen, this is a great and relevant post. Many people place the blame specifically on president Obama for allowing such searches to happen. This article made me consider about how much of the problem is Obama's fault specifically, and how much of it is a cultural problem in America in general? Unreasonable surveillance of citizens is something that has happened in several American administrations throughout the years. Why is the surveillance necessary? Does the government have this inherent paranoia that its citizens are actively trying to destroy the government? Is it an issue of power, and discovering threats that threaten the governmental structure and those in power? This is a very serious issue that deserves to be asked some serious questions.
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