Snowden’s stint in isles stirs awareness of leaks

That the fellow who leaked details of now-not-so-secret government surveillance programs lived in Waipahu and worked downtown brought heightened attention in the islands to the revelations.

There are surely local people wondering if they had encountered Edward Snowden sometime in the past year or so, whether they’d stood in the checkout line with him at Longs or foamed up a latte for the fresh-faced government contractor who fired a global bang when he made public information about programs that gather data about Americans and foreigners through phone records and Internet communications.

Reports about the leak also reawakened awareness of Hawaii as well-suited for collecting intelligence with the prominence of military and less conspicuous civilian components.

So often these matters seem distant from the land of aloha. Not that the fact that the admitted leaker rented a three-bedroom, two-bath house in a Central Oahu subdivision makes the issue more important, but the local angle stirs consciousness.

This is a good thing.

Most people already knew that the government monitors the communications of individuals and organizations in the post-9/11 world. Though recent polls show more people disapprove of the programs, even more say tracking Americans and people outside the country who are suspected of terrorist activity is necessary. As for themselves, the majority are not overly concerned about the government amassing their phone and Internet data.

Yet I wonder if data collection causes people to hesitate about saying what they think or about trolling the Internet for worry that certain words or phrases will trigger a deeper look into their activities.

For example, a foodie wanting to buy an in-vogue pressure cooker might take himself to a bricks-and-mortar store rather than searching Amazon for the device that was used to make the bombs that devastated the Boston Marathon last April. What seems trivial becomes noteworthy in such a context.

Internet biggies like Google also gather and sell data, the results of which generally pop up as ads on Web pages a person might scan. But endless promotions for Coach handbags, while annoying, aren’t intrusive and do not infringe heavily on a purse-loving person’s privacy.

Now that Snowden’s leak has blown their cover, Google and other tech companies want the government to allow them to make public details about legally authorized requests for personal information they receive. Google, which has previously denied it participates in the practice, wants the government’s gag order on data-sharing lifted, though it has published a limited “transparency report” for the past three years.

Granting the request would be a step in the right direction. Although advocates for data-gathering contend public knowledge would compromise the programs, a balance is needed between protection of personal privacy and efforts to counter terrorism.

The president and members of Congress say they would like discussion about how to achieve that balance. So would their constituents, but those discussions must result in curbs and checks on the programs.

Americans have a right to know what their government is doing, and how it is safeguarding their civil liberties.

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Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.