Snowden effect and the internet in the future

After the statement by Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, that NSA had continuously accessed to the data possessed by some of the big companies such as Yahoo and Google, distrust against these companies has been raised. Huff Post named this as 'Snowden Effect'.

'Snowden Effect' Threatens U.S. Tech Industry's Global Ambitions

 According to Huff Post, not a  few European companies have reconsidered to deal with the companies which did cooperate with the US government. They said that European laws of confidentiality are stricter than those in the US. It seems that the cause of dismissals is not only the difference of the legislation of each country, but also disbelief against the US.

By the way, what will occur subsequently? I do not think the US will quit gathering the data secretly. Neither US citizens hope so, I guess. The US government has a responsibility to protect the citizens from recurrence of the 9.11 terrorism. It would never relax the grip of control upon the threatening of aliens.

Then, there are three assumable scenarios.

First, the internet and cloud will be separated completely by each nation. Even now, China and some other countries are attempting to interfere the citizens from getting information published in foreign countries. In contrast, some European industries are establishing a new service which will guarantee secure communication based on the national regulation, Huff Post says. If this hypothesis are realized, the internet in the future will be more inconvenient. We will be able to access only the limited data. We will compromise the right to know in exchange for our own privacy.

The second hypothesis is the reverse. All people will abandon keeping their privacy hide from others. All personal information will be revealed easily. Anonymous activity will no more available. Everyone accepts the surveillance, not only be the governments, but also by the neighborhoods. This is that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, states. But actually this assumption is a little ideological, and even fantastic.

The last one is more realistic. Most people will forget this matter. We are sure that the government always watch at us. However, we are seldom conscious of this fact. We will continue to use some cloud services at the same as before Snowden. The world never changes. I think that this hypothesis is more solid, at least in a short term. However, if a similar case occurs immediately, it is difficult to predict what will happen after that.


*Sequel