{tech}.Ben Buckman.net

I have been donating monthly to the American Civil Liberties Union for several years and get their email newsletters. The last several letters have been focused on Google's (self-proclaimed) relationship with the NSA following the China hacks. I think the ACLU's focus on that issue is misguided and wrote the following to tell them:

Hello,
I'm writing as a longtime supporter, a continuing monthly donor, and an IT professional deeply concerned about online liberties generally:
I believe your recent focus on Google and the NSA is misguided and a sub-optimal use of the ACLU's resources. This is for a number of reasons:

1) Despite certain statements by its CEO Eric Schmidt, I believe Google has a fundamental self-interest in preserving the privacy and liberties of its users. The company's recent actions in China speak to this: whatever ulterior motives may be imagined, at the end of the day they've given up a huge market (which their US-based competitors will be happy to fill) because their presence in China enabled government spying, censorship, and human rights abuses. The move doesn't jibe with a company that would willingly lets any government abuse its users' private data.

2) That said, I don't doubt that US law (or pseudo-law) requires Google to give certain backdoors to the US government and the NSA. (Indeed, it was alleged that the Chinese hackers entered precisely those backdoors.) But to ensure that the US government's use of our data is limited, subject to due process and the 4th Amendment, and used solely for legitimate purposes, the ACLU should be demanding transparency and reform from the NSA as its own entity, and the legality and consequences of the NSA's actions broadly, not the NSA's relationship with any particular corporation.

3) We know about Google's work with the NSA because they have been more transparent about it than their competitors. I am sure the NSA gets the same kind of data ("legally" or not) from Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AT&T, and a thousand other companies. Google is the most honest about their relationship (and about attacks on their systems by governments in general); targeting them specifically therefore seems almost perverse.

4) Most importantly, I believe the gravest threat to online freedom, and creative freedom generally, is the secret ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) Treaty being negotiated by the US and its allies. From leaks we know that ACTA would impose a "Three Strikes" law restricting all internet access to people without any due process, for "crimes" which harm narrow corporate interests and no one else. ACTA would force ISPs to monitor all traffic, making any additional surveillance the NSA wants to conduct much easier. And ACTA could be enacted by executive treaty powers with no Congressional or public involvement.

By all means, keep an eye on Google's relationship with the NSA, and make sure our data is not being abused. But I believe it is a poor use of the ACLU's email newsletters and campaign resources to focus on Google, when the real dangers to our online freedom lie elsewhere.

(I will be posting a copy of this letter on my blog, BenBuckman.net.)

Sincerely, and continuing to donate monthly,
Ben Buckman

What do you think?