Google Begins Encrypting Web Searches To Thwart Government Surveillance
Google has had enough of government surveillance. The search giant has been encrypting web searches in China to more effectively circumvent the government’s sensors, and that encrypting is rolling out globally, too. Within months, all Google searches made over a modern browser will be encrypted.
Make no mistake, this encryption is a not-so-subtle one-finger salute to the NSA, too. We’ve said before that when the scope of the NSA’s spying program came to light and its demands for customer data from Internet agencies became heavy-handed and shadowy, the agency poked the bear. Although Internet companies aren’t necessarily the “good guys” looking out for us and our interests, the government angered and embarrassed them; now, the backlash from those powerful companies is coming, and consumers stand to benefit.
“The revelations of this past summer underscored our need to strengthen our networks. Among the many improvements we’ve made in recent months is to encrypt Google Search by default around the world,” Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff told the Washington Post. “This builds on our work over the past few years to increase the number of our services that are encrypted by default and encourage the industry to adopt stronger security standards.”
Technically, this development apparently makes Google a “suspect”.
Make no mistake, this encryption is a not-so-subtle one-finger salute to the NSA, too. We’ve said before that when the scope of the NSA’s spying program came to light and its demands for customer data from Internet agencies became heavy-handed and shadowy, the agency poked the bear. Although Internet companies aren’t necessarily the “good guys” looking out for us and our interests, the government angered and embarrassed them; now, the backlash from those powerful companies is coming, and consumers stand to benefit.
“The revelations of this past summer underscored our need to strengthen our networks. Among the many improvements we’ve made in recent months is to encrypt Google Search by default around the world,” Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff told the Washington Post. “This builds on our work over the past few years to increase the number of our services that are encrypted by default and encourage the industry to adopt stronger security standards.”
Technically, this development apparently makes Google a “suspect”.
