The Malaysian
Insider
June
12, 2013
Reports
suggest that the US shared information captured by the PRISM eavesdropping
programme with ally states. — Reuters picSINGAPORE, June 12 — Dissident and
opposition groups in Asia, including those supported by the United States, are
voicing concern over reports that Washington may have monitored and collected
their conversations and e-mails.
Some
of these groups include legitimate political parties, others are dissidents
given US assistance. But they are worried that data collected by the National
Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI from US Web giants like Google Inc, Facebook
Inc and Yahoo inc could some day be used against them.
“We
share a lot of sensitive data, election-related data, using Google Docs,” said
Ong Kian Ming, a DAP federal lawmaker.
“That’s
definitely something we are concerned about because we don’t know what kind of
messages are being tracked and who these messages would be given to.”
Under
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who won a second term last month,
Malaysia has strengthened economic and security ties with the United States
that had occasionally been strained in the past.
A
Malaysian government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment but
Najib has said in the past that he is committed to internet freedom.
In
a factsheet issued in Washington last week, the US government said it can only
target someone for internet surveillance if “there is an appropriate, and
documented foreign intelligence purpose” for collection.
Those
purposes include countering terrorism, weapons proliferation and cyber threats,
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a statement after
Edward Snowden, a contractor working for the National Security Agency, revealed
the government’s top-secret internet surveillance programme.
There
was no word whether US agencies were sharing such gathered information with
allied governments but British and US newspapers have suggested that the NSA
has handed over information on Britons gathered under PRISM, the name of the
eavesdropping programme.
In
Singapore, where authorities keep a close eye on opposition groups and political
commentary, some people use encryption programmes to avoid surveillance.
“If
you are concerned about electronic eavesdropping, you can use pidgin IM — it
has an encryption module for instant messaging,” said Donaldson Tan, editor of
socio-political website New Asia Republic.
“There
is also TOR client for online anonymity,” he said, referring to two popular
free software programmes developed by volunteer programmers to guard against
network surveillance.
Asked
if he was concerned whether the US government would share surveillance
information with Singapore authorities, given the friendly ties between the two
countries, Tan said: “The US is really hard to read”.
A
Singapore government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Several
people in the region said the reports of government access to e-mails and phone
calls were not surprising.
“This
latest revelation, if true, is really no more than putting proof to suspicion,”
said Howard Lee, a blogger who often writes about political and social issues
in Singapore.
“As
citizens of democracies, our response should not be fear, but a concerted voice
to demand accountability and transparency. I believe this is the current aim of
civil society groups in Singapore.”
One
nation where dissidents are relatively unconcerned about the snooping
revelations is China, where government critics view Washington as an ally and
domestic Internet servers as subservient to Beijing.
“I’ve
never considered abandoning Twitter, YouTube, Google, Gmail or Gchat,” said Hu
Jia, a prominent Chinese dissident, who has to use a VPN to get round China’s
ban on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. VPN or Virtual Private Network software
allows users to bypass Internet restrictions.
“These
are the only weapons we have to get our message out and the only safe way to do
so. The US would never monitor us. They are using it to fight terrorism. It’s
totally different to what the Chinese government does to listen in on us,” he
said by telephone.
“Using
Chinese sites like Weibo or (online messaging service) QQ is like opening a
direct line to the Ministry of Public Security,” said Hu, noting that few
Chinese dissidents had access to foreign sites like Twitter.
Tibetan
activists opposed to Chinese rule in their homeland are similarly unconcerned,
since they do not see Washington and Beijing exchanging information any time
soon.
“I
don’t see that happening anytime in the near future with all the other
cyber-related issues both countries have,” said Lobsang Sither, who works for
the Tibetan Action Institute, which focuses on teaching Tibetan exiles how to
take advantage of digital communications and non-violent resistance.
Sither,
who is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala, said the snooping revelations
will however make him redouble emphasis on using encryption technology whenever
he talks about or communicates sensitive information.
Nathan
Freitas, a New York-based activist who helps Tibetans defend against Chinese
cyber-surveillance, said the reports on PRSIM were nevertheless troubling.
“I’m
concerned that from a Western perspective, or at least a US perspective, we are
losing some of that moral high ground from which we can pressure China,” he
said.
“It’s
just going to be harder to say what they are doing is fundamentally wrong, when
maybe it’s just becoming statecraft.” — Reuters
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