Former US National Security Agency (NSA) analyst Edward Snowden warned about the risks of mass surveillance and the indiscriminate use of personal data, pointing out that these technologies are not only related to public safety or the fight against terrorism, but also to power, economic espionage, diplomatic manipulation, and social influence.
Snowden argued that digital surveillance allows governments
and large corporations to know, with an ever-increasing level of detail, the
activities of individuals, regardless of who they are or how ordinary their
daily lives may seem.
“This isn’t about
public safety. This isn’t about terrorism. This is about power.”
According to the former analyst, the development of
surveillance systems and the mass processing of information opens the door to
mechanisms capable of classifying and conditioning citizens based on their
digital activities, personal relationships, purchases, and associations.
Snowden specifically warned about the possibility that these
technologies could be used to build “social credit” systems, whereby algorithms
would determine what opportunities a person might have based on the information
collected about them.
In that scenario, he explained, family photos, online
activity, purchases, friendships, or associations could become elements used to
determine whether a person can buy a train ticket, board a plane, obtain a
passport, access a job, or even work for the government.
Everyday Data Can
Reveal an Entire Life
One of the main risks, according to Snowden, is that most
people are unaware of the enormous amount of information their electronic
devices generate daily.
A visit to a coffee shop, a prolonged stay in a hospital, a
phone call, or a conversation with a family member may seem like isolated and
irrelevant events. However, when this data is linked together, it can reveal
highly sensitive information.
For example, Snowden explained, records might show that a
person was in a coffee shop, then went to a hospital, stayed there for several
hours, and then called their mother until midnight. If the hospital is a cancer
clinic, the combination of this data could reveal information about that person's
health, even without accessing the content of their calls.
This information is known as metadata: records that reveal
aspects such as times, locations, contacts, and activity patterns, although
they don't necessarily directly reveal the content of the communications. The
problem, Snowden warned, is that these records are constantly being generated,
often without users being aware of it, and can be collected, shared, analyzed,
or intercepted by companies and governments.
“What they’re selling
is us.”
For Snowden, the debate isn’t limited to the economic value
of the data. The real risk lies in the fact that personal information can
become a tool for wielding power over people.
While companies build business models based on these records
and governments develop surveillance and analysis systems, he argued, the final
product is not just information.
“What they’re selling
is us.”
The former analyst stated that data allows people’s lives to
be turned into an asset that can be used to influence their present and future.
“They’re selling our future. They’re selling our past.
They’re selling our history, our identity,” he said.
In his warning, Snowden argued that the fundamental problem
is that citizens can progressively lose control over their own histories and
the information that defines their identity.
A warning about the
power of data
Snowden’s message raises an increasingly relevant discussion
in the digital age: who controls personal data and what can they do with it?
The expansion of artificial intelligence, automated
decision-making systems, and the massive collection of information have
increased the capacity of governments and companies to identify behavioral
patterns and make decisions based on them.
For Snowden, the risk arises when this capacity is no longer
used solely to prevent crime and begins to determine what a person can and
cannot do.Su advertencia resume el
dilema en una frase contundente:
“Cuando exponer un crimen se trata como cometer un crimen,
estás siendo gobernado por criminales.”
—Edward Snowden