By Paolo von Schirach
June 13, 2013
WASHINGTON – Allow me to be a bit conspiratorial. The timing of the “Big Revelations” by now world famous Edward Snowden about Obama/NSA/Big Brother spying on everybody and collecting a gigantic data base of all phone calls and Google searches of everybody in America and beyond is a bit suspect.
Heroic whistle blower?
Mr. Snowden, now portrayed by most world media as a courageous and noble whistle blower, chose to reveal the ugly truth about our Nefarious American National Security State, cooked up by the National Security Agency and other sinister actors, right on the eve of the Obama Xi Jinping California summit in which well documented instances of Chinese hacking into hundreds of US systems were supposed to be discussed. Well, guess what, on account of the timing of the Snowden disclosures, no more talk about the real damage inflicted to America by Chinese systematic theft of valuable American information. Instead we have now endless blah, blah on Washington snooping on innocent Americans and in so doing infringing on our privacy.
Snowden is in Hong Kong
And where did our beloved whistle blower flee to? He went to Hong Kong. Last time I checked, Hong Kong is part of China, even though it retains a special status. And what else did Snowden have to say about the evil American spying programs? You guessed it. He said that US spies on China. Therefore, at least in the court of public opinion, the US no longer has a case. China is snooping. But so is America; and so is everybody else. This is the way the world works and, nobody can do much about it. Next subject? Again, may be I am just paranoid. But allow me to say that the timing of the Snowden “revelations” is really suspect.
Not the same
As to the substance of US snooping versus Chinese snooping, if we could stop the hysteria, it is abundantly clear that there is a world of difference.
The US is trying to catch terrorists. Sure enough, once you have a green light on activities that infringe on people’s private communications it is hard to establish and respect clear boundaries. Therefore, those who worry about our freedom, civil liberties and privacy do have a point.
Theft of intellectual property
But China, whatever it may be doing at home to its own people, is engaged in large scale theft of intellectual property. The Chinese relentlessly steal information with huge economic value. And why? Because China is not an innovative country. And so what they cannot produce at home they decided to steal from others who are more advanced than they are.
No distinction
This huge distinction makes the two snooping cases entirely different. But now, thanks to Mr. Snowden, our heroic whistle blower, as far as world opinion is concerned, it is all the same. You steal, I steal, that’s how it works. America may not have lost the technology battle against Chinese cyber theft. But it has lost the moral high ground. Sad but true. All this thanks to Mr. Snowden.