It Is Not Just Us Yanks

Trey Smith

As I remarked a week or so ago, one of the dangers of writing ahead is that circumstances can change in the blink of an eye.  This is particularly true when it comes to evolving issues in the news.  While I think my point in the post below was right on target on Friday when I wrote it, new information has come to light that underscores the point in a more dramatic manner.  I will share these later developments in a my early afternoon post tomorrow morning.

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One thing that I think has been lost on the mainstream media as it roils over the revelations of domestic spying by the US government is that this is NOT solely an area of concern simply for Americans. As The Guardian and Washington Post reported in their exposes about the PRISM program, the US government has gained access to the "back door" of many of the world's key internet-based corporations. It is not just Americans who utilize Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo. This previously clandestine invasion of privacy impacts users all across the globe.

Since a good number of the servers for these companies are housed in the US, it really is immaterial where a user hails from. If you call Australia, England, France, Kenya or Japan home, chances are that your private information is being slurped up too. Even if some servers are located in your home country, don't you think your national spy agency isn't working hand-in-hand with the NSA?

America's ever expanding police state is collecting data on almost everyone that uses a cell phone or the internet. In order to try to thwart the few, all of us are now being treated as potential suspects. While citizens in some nations do not have an expectation of privacy, the same cannot be said for those of us who live in one of the western democracies. And yet, all of us now find ourselves in much the same boat.

While I sincerely hope that my fellow Americans are finally waking up to this new Orwellian reality, I hope the same outrage is welling up in the world over. There is now a distinct tie that binds the unwashed masses of this planet together -- We are all victims of the same monster.