Two New Reports Show the Terrible Costs of NSA Surveillance

http://www.nationofchange.org/two-new-reports-show-terrible-costs-nsa-surveillance-1407254491

A report from the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute probes the broader implications of NSA surveillance. Surveillance Costs: The NSA’s Impact on the Economy, Internet Freedom and Cybersecurity considers how the spying scandal has hurt American business, damaged relations between the U.S. and other countries — and weakened Internet security.

You read that correctly: In the course of conducting activities designed to boost national security, the U.S. has actually made the Internet more vulnerable. “The NSA’s work to undermine the tools and standards that help ensure cybersecurity — especially its work to thwart encryption — undermines trust in the safety of the overall network,” the report notes.

And this is not just about eroding public trust; by exploiting security glitches in software and hardware, breaking encryption codes and hacking into networks, the NSA has undermined the stability of the Internet itself.

Both “With Liberty to Monitor All” and “Surveillance Costs” urge the U.S. government to safeguard Americans’ privacy rights and boost transparency about spying activities. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s version of the USA Freedom Act, introduced on Tuesday, is a step in the right direction.