Storefront TeK: 2013 - the year that Big Brother took the name ... - TeK.sapo

When Edward Snowden revealed the first contours of the PRISM system maintained by the NSA were confirmed many of the suspicions and warnings that had previously been disclosed, but we managed to mostly a mass of global awareness on access to private and confidential information of citizens and governments by some North American entities

The idea that the U.S. government -. governments and others – can spying shared through information email messages, phone calls, conversations Skype, photographs and posts placed on social networks is old, and many of the scandal of the global surveillance system Echelon and its use for industrial espionage on European companies will remember. But the analyst Edward Snowden managed by disclosing information to some newspapers bring the problem to the conversations of coffee, and popularize this awareness that little (or nothing) than share in electronic form is private.

alt=”votação” src=”http://imgs.sapo.pt/gfx/572161.gif” So it is not surprising that among the technological themes selected by the editors as the TeK more relevant in 2013 does end up to be so among the most voted on by readers, achieving 50% of the more than 1,200 votes.

Since June, when the first information about the Prism were revealed, the data flow has not stopped, and still is learned that the National Agency for North American Security (NSA) can intercept the shipment of some equipment in order to put under surveillance prior to their arrival to their rightful owners.

manhunt that was opened to locate and arrest Edward Snowden helped popularize the information, but also the positions that have been taken by some countries, clearly against the U.S. massive use of technology by the government to spy on others countries, businesses and citizens, as is the case of Brazil, whose president opened the 68th Summit of the United Nations with a speech focused on this issue.

The reports gathered around the information related to the PRISM indicate that 75 % of Internet traffic is monitored by the NSA. And the giants of technology and communications have not escaped unscathed this black film, having been proven that information was shared in the context of surveillance, even if some have opposed frontally and exerted pressure for greater clarity of procedures.

known details of the technological park that sustains the surveillance system show how the ability of information processing and data processing is being used, justify investment in large datacenters. But the collection processes extend the Internet and communication services, mobile phones, video cameras and microphones and portable smartphones.

And the tentacles own NSA and CIA are scattered around the world, revealing former NSA analyst that agencies of the U.S. intelligence have 80 offices scattered across the globe, 19 of which are in Europe. One of them will be operating in Portugal, as indicated by a document revealed by Edward Snowden and published by Dutch newspaper “NRC.”

The interest of the reporting agency is not limited to terrorist activities, as could be justified by Patriotic Act, but also includes games like World of Warcraft, titles on Xbox Live, or activity in virtual worlds like Second Life through a monitoring plan that it started in 2008.

It seems nothing and no one is safe from this monitoring system and the rate of release of information that has been made, it is very likely that in 2014 new contours know if this scandal.

This week we will continue to address the various themes that marked the year 2013, chosen by the editors and voted on by readers. And as usual, the comments box is open to all who wish to contribute to the balance of the year now ending.

Written under the new Orthographic Agreement