"OPEN SECRET"

Recently, we have witnessed more and more stories that in reality look a lot "cooler" and more comical any Hollywood thrillers and tragicomedies. Everyone remembers the remarkable film "The Terminal" where Tom Hanks' character - Viktor Navorski - learns to survive at a New York airport. In life everything is much more interesting. How and most importantly, where exactly in the depths of Moscow's Sheremetyevo former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden survives interests the whole world, but yet very few people know about it for sure. This is the main difference between the cinema character and the news character. If Navorski's fate involved only a pretty stewardess, then what is happening with Snowden is commented on by the first persons of world politics. And it is all because this man revealed unpleasant information, but in fact, a kind of "open secret" of the United States - it turns out that this country runs a programme called PRISM, which allows intelligence agencies to monitor Internet users and customers of mobile operators.

The world media quote various sources as saying that Snowden spent years preparing for the "leak" of classified information. The former CIA agent secured himself very well - he produced digital copies of all the stolen classified documents and gave them to several people to keep in different countries. These people can get access passwords only if something happens to the American. In an interview with the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, Snowden, who worked at the CIA until 2009, said that in the spring of 2013 he specifically took a job at the company Booz Allen Hamilton, which fulfils orders of US intelligence agencies, to collect data about telephone conversations of Americans and their activity in the World Wide Web. Thus, the system administrator was given access to confidential files. Now, in a written statement, Snowden says that he acted against violations of the US Constitution by the authorities, namely, its fourth and fifth amendments. In particular, the Fourth Amendment speaks of "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures..."

In turn, the US government accused Snowden of divulging classified information and damaging the national security of the country. As a result, the former CIA agent had to flee. After spending some time in Hong Kong, on 23 June Snowden arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, from where he was planning to travel to Havana and later to Quito, as the authorities of Ecuador are willing to grant him political asylum. However, the journalists who spent three days at the airport and on the Moscow-Havana plane, as well as near the embassies of Ecuador and Venezuela just in case were left with nothing. Snowden, together with the WikiLeaks lawyer Sarah Harrison accompanying him, vanished into thin air - he did not get on board and no one saw him in the transit area. At the same time, the US authorities revoked Snowden's passport, and he did not apply for a Russian visa. Later the Univision TV company published a copy of the transit document, which was allegedly issued to former CIA officer Edward Snowden by the Ecuadorian authorities.

As a result, Russia and the United States, just a few days after the not very confidential conversation between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama at the G8 summit, ended up on the brink of a diplomatic war again. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who fruitlessly urged the Russian and Chinese authorities to turn over the former CIA operative, threatened the countries that are not cooperating with Washington with some mysterious "consequences". Although Kerry then noted that "there was no need to escalate the confrontation with Russia", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there are no grounds to accuse Russia of conspiring against the United States and violating American law because of Snowden.

"We proceed from the fact that Snowden, as emphasized by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a free man, and we have no legal claims against him. He did not break our laws, did not cross our borders, is in the transit zone of the airport and has the right to fly in any direction he likes," the Russian foreign minister said. As for Putin, he also said that the Russian security services "never worked, and are not working, with Mr Snowden".

The United States also argued with China, which does not seem to want to surrender someone who showed how much Washington is interested in monitoring the Chinese in cyberspace (especially considering the fact that the White House itself likes to accuse Beijing of the same sin), but on the other hand, China does not want to damage relations with the Americans. As a result, the Hong Kong authorities announced that Snowden was not detained because of a bureaucratic error - incorrectly written name.

Where does this attack on the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies come from? It all started with Julian Assange, who still lives in the embassy of the same Ecuador in London. Now there is Snowden, who is presented not as a spy or a mentally ill person, who suddenly wanted to become famous, but as a lone fighter acting for the rights of all ordinary people. It is a strong position. From this point of view, Vladimir Putin made an interesting comment: "Assange, like Snowden, considers himself a human rights activist and claims to be fighting for the dissemination of information. Ask yourself whether these people should be handed over for imprisonment? In any case, I would have preferred not to deal with such issues, because it's like shearing a pig - there is a lot of squealing, but little wool." By the way, this approach to the problem was really liked by the WikiLeaks leadership, and in their Twitter account, they publicly thanked "President Putin for his support".

And what about people-on-the-street and ordinary Internet users? At the very least, the Russian blogosphere and social networks are making fun of the whole thing. For example, Snowden's photo is roaming Facebook with the words: "Attention! Wanted! Edward Joseph Snowden."

Indeed, is this a big deal? Is it news that the security services are wiretapping politicians, each other and mere mortals? After all, the famous Watergate scandal happened because people of Republican Nixon installed "bugs" in the headquarters of the Democrats. At the same time, BuzzFeed refers to documents in the possession of its editorial staff, saying that the intelligence services of Ecuador, the very country that harbours Assange and is ready to shelter Snowden, are trying to buy special equipment to monitor electronic communications.

If you think about it, we certainly seem to be concerned about what is happening. But on the other hand, we ourselves posted all our lives on the Internet. And did the same social networks swear allegiance to us as long as we live? And while ticking the user agreement, do we read the little information they provide? Do not forget that the very idea of the Internet was born in the walls of a military establishment - yes, the same Pentagon! Who knows, maybe initially the goal of creating the World Wide Web was not to share information, but to keep this information under control and be able to dose it, direct and control with its help? Have you never heard of it? Stop acting against your conscience. Now this is a topic for discussion even among school children. Besides that, everyone knows that information is the most important and most powerful weapon. So, God be with them, people-on-the-street, who needs them - the endless reposts of corny cats and endless gatherings in cafes? But it is quite a different matter if you have access to corporate secrets ... That is why German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has already demanded an answer from London (which is regarded as a kind of right-hand man for Washington in Europe in the issue of "wiretapping"). And this is a powerful argument and a serious claim. After all, a threat to a trade secret is no less dangerous than the terrorist threat...

In short, watching and listening is not something that should be done, but it is clear that everyone is involved in it. It is just unpleasant when you get caught red-handed. And it is even stranger when the USA gets caught red-handed - for so many times in a row and so publicly. It is reported that after the disclosure of the secret intelligence programmes, the US authorities launched a criminal investigation against US Investigations Services (USIS), a company that selects staff to work with state secrets. It turns out that when recruiting Snowden for Booz Allen Hamilton, neither the company nor the USIS paid attention to the fact that the information in the man's CV was incorrect. For example, the CV contained false information that Snowden studied at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Liverpool. But how could the CIA miss this? It is hard to believe that lone fighters can so easily cheat one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world. But then, in whose interest and with what end goal is Edward Snowden acting?