Why Obama’s NSA Reforms Won’t Solve Silicon Valley’s Trust Problem

Technology companies will have more freedom to disclose the number and the nature of requests from the government for data related to national-security concerns. So we can expect more detailed transparency reports from the companies showing that they only provide a fraction of their information to the government. Additionally, the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will add members with expertise in civil liberties and technology and will declassify more of its decisions. And President Barack Obama announced that for the first time, the US would grant privacy protections to overseas individuals similar to the ones that people in the US already enjoy. He specified that the government would access that information only when it felt that a target threatened national security.

The State Department will add a “senior officer to coordinate our diplomacy on issues related to technology and signals intelligence.” The tech companies undoubtedly hope that this as-yet-named official will launch a diplomatic effort to forestall the attempt of some nations to require that their citizens’ data be held locally. This so-called Balkanization could spoil the open nature of the Internet and make it hard if not impossible for businesses to operate globally. But don’t expect celebrations in Silicon Valley -- their blues are far from over. Generally, the Obama reforms tweak or constrain existing surveillance programs. But the overseas customers of US companies aren’t micro-analyzing the protections the NSA takes when it accesses customer data: They are incensed that the U.S. collects the data the first place.