Reporters Without Borders maintains a list of “Enemies of the Internet,” and the United States occupies a spot on that list, which I suppose should be unsurprising in the wake of the Snowden disclosures:
In June 2013, computer specialist Edward Snowden disclosed the extent of the surveillance practices of the U.S. and British intelligence services. Snowden, who worked for a government sub-contractor and had access to confidential documents, later exposed more targeted surveillance, focusing on the telecommunications of world leaders and diplomats of allied countries. Activists, governments and international bodies have taken issue with the Obama administration, as the newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post have revealed the extent of the surveillance. The main player in this vast surveillance operation is the highly secretive National Security Agency (NSA) which, in the light of Snowden’s revelations, has come to symbolize the abuses by the world’s intelligence agencies. Against this background, those involved in reporting on security issues have found their sources under increasing pressure.
The U.S. edition of The Guardian is still able to publish information from Edward Snowden, while the British edition is not, but the country of the First Amendment has undermined confidence in the Internet and its own standards of security. U.S. surveillance practices and decryption activities are a direct threat to investigative journalists, especially those who work with sensitive sources for whom confidentiality is paramount and who are already under pressure.
They go on to detail the role of the NSA, Snowden, FISA, and other items (my favorite name: The Five Eyes Alliance). Naturally, RWB looks at events from its own perspective, with its own priorities, which for journalists includes confidential sources – which the United States officially often hates. So I suppose it’s no surprise that we’re on a list that includes unsavory countries such as North Korea, Cuba, and Russia.
