Last week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. is spying on router company Huawei to get information about the Chinese government and to learn how to surveil our allies and other countries that might purchase Huawei routers. On Just Security, I refute the argument of some that it is not “in the public interest to reveal how democracies spy on dictatorships”. The special characteristics of the Internet mean that nuclear security, “cyber-war” rhetoric, and other Cold War ideas are poor models for modern network security because:
- the techniques we use to spy harm security for Americans and the rest of the globe;
- the same tools we use to spy on China we also turn against our allies and our citizens (target creep); and
- spying initially justified for national security purposes becomes about less worthy things, or even improper, goals—like economic espionage (mission creep).
Read more here.