Reflections on Ten Years Past The Snowden Revelations
This memo contains the thoughts and recountings of events that transpired during and after the release of information about the NSA by Edward Snowden. There are four perspectives: that of someone who was involved with sifting through the information to responsibly inform the public, a security...
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On June 6th, 2013, an article appeared in The Guardian that was the beginning of a series of what have come to be known as revelations about the activities of the United States National Security Agency (NSA). These activities included, amongst others, secret court orders, secret agreements for the receipt of so-called "meta-information" that includes source, destination, and timing of communications, tapping of communications lines, and other activities. The breathtaking scope of the operations shocked the Internet technical community, and led to a sea change within the IETF, IAB, and many parts of the private sector.
Now that some years have past, it seems appropriate to reflect on that period of time, what effect the community's actions had, where security has improved, how the threat surface has evolved, what areas haven't improved, and where the community might invest future efforts.
- Bruce Schneier begins this compendium of individual essays by bringing us back to 2013, recalling how it was for him and others to report what was happening, and the mindset of those involved.
- Next, Stephen Farrell reviews the technical community's reactions, technical advances, and where threats remain.
- Then Farzaneh Badii discusses the impact of those advances – or lack thereof – on human rights.
- Finally Steven M. Bellovin puts the Snowden revelations into an ever-evolving historical context of secrets and secret stealing that spans centuries, closing with some suggestions for IETF.
Readers are invited to reflect for themselves on what impact we as a community have had – or not had, and what positive contribution the technical community can and should make to address security and privacy of citizens of the world.
