Google, in association with the FBI, is spying on some of us. Don’t freak out, I said, “some of us” – but yeah, there will be a day when it’ll include everyone on the planet. What’s happening now is that Google, being the biggest search engine, is weaving our lives on the internet. The law making authorities want to have a piece of it, and they want it bad.

What happens when the FBI Wants to Spy through Google?

There are a few protocols that need to be followed. Someone from the Federal Bureau of Investigation gets a little itchy seeing to the state of national security. That particular “someone” sends down a letter to someone sitting in a cubicle. The person in the cubicle sends an NSL: National Security Letter to someone at Google.

A notification is sent this way. Later on, Google processes these NSLs, and seeing to their priority, leaks the information to the concerned authorities. Got it? The overall number of NSLs is big. Think about hundreds and thousands of NSL sent out to Google each year. Right after the 9/11 incident and during the last few years, there was a spike in these formal requests.

Whether Google fulfilled all those requests, or some of them, that’s a debate for another day, but it is true that this is how things are rolling at the company’s offices. Google controls the internet; it is everywhere. You, on the other hand, are given the illusion of freedom when every single thing is being closely monitored on priority basis.

State of Privacy on the Internet:

There is no such thing as online privacy. Some companies, the ones with a bit of social networking, may have a shred of decency left. But overall, privacy is off the menu. Yes, it is true that the FBI and many other law making authorities keep tabs on people, but they do it on the basis of threat levels. If you, or I, am not the threatening kind, at least we know that they are not gonna bother us.

A few days ago, Wired Magazine said that the NSL (National Security Letters) “allow the government to get detailed information on Americans’ finances, communications without the oversight from a judge.” Speaking of communication, several bills have already been passed in the parliament, stating that cellphone companies need to hold and release records of SMS and telephonic conversation to law making authorities.

Google also wrote down a Transparency Report regarding FBI requests. You can read the report here. For now, I don’t have much to say. In fact, I don’t have anything to say about online privacy, and stuff like that. The FBI or any other authority is going to take “privacy” as an excuse to harass people soon enough. Wait for it.