Thank You Google

Google just announced that as of today, Gmail is more secure than ever before. And the company isn't shying away from the fact that it's actively trying to stop the thwart the government from spying on your email activity. Google made HTTPS encryption the default for its users back in 2010 when sending from point of use devices to get into and out of the Google network, but in it's efforts to continually make improvements wherever possible to keep out prying eyes and as an additional barrier between you and the NSA, Google is making the additional change that every single email message Gmail users send or receive will now be encrypted as it moves internally between the company's data centers. That would seem to defeat a popular strategy of the NSA, which involves the agency intercepting email messages as they move between data centers and servers located within Google's massive network. Google says this change became "a top priority after last summer’s revelations" from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

It's not so hard to see why Google is taking this action. There is a fundamental concept that the NSA is completely disregarding, that when you send someone a message that it is intended for the person that the message is addressed to. We no longer live in the era of wax seals and blood bound couriers. Is it so unreasonable that we be able to send a message to someone without it being logged by our government that I did it without first having a responsible suspicion case brought before a judge in order to issue a warrant?

Read 1984, see how the main characters in that story have to take extraordinary measures to avoid what is considered suspicious activity out of the massive web of Big Brother's surveillance and then tell me with a straight face that we are not moving in that direction. People are not pissed off because they have something to hide, they are pissed off because they now re forced to accept living in the world where our own thoughts and communications are no longer our own. They are pissed that another entity outside of their control has deemed the masses undeserving of a simple degree of trust and privacy. And we are pissed that there is so little that we, as individuals, can do about it. 

Thankfully for us, Google does appear to be slightly pissed as well and is in a position to do something about it. They, along with several other large communication and social media groups have launched the website http://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com/ where they outline governing concepts and principles that should be followed by the NSA and other spying agencies should the surveillance activities be allowed to continue under the law of the land. Yes, the people are telling the government how they should be acting, and their voice is very reasonable. It appears, at least for now, that Google is focusing its efforts on protecting our right to privacy – Thank you Edward Snowden for all the leaks!