It's up to citizens to save US

Former CIA agent and US National Security Agency operative Edward Snowden's expose of Washington's Internet surveillance program is getting on the nerves of the US government. But the scandal reveals the US government's hypocritical policies and the double standards it adopts when it comes to cyber security, democracy and human rights, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

The US government has accused the Chinese military of encroaching on American cyberspace and hacking into its intelligence network. It's an irony that the US government is trying to play the victim despite possessing the most powerful information technology network in the world.

The fact is that the US not only uses military might to further its foreign policies, but also tampers with its own taxpayers' data.

Apart from the PRISM project, which Snowden exposed, other US spying programs of the US government may remain undetected and undisclosed. And American citizens, who supposedly enjoy the right to privacy, may remain under constant surveillance, which is a far cry from the avowed US principle of giving the public the final say.

Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the most influential NGOs, sued the US federal government for running the surveillance program which infringes on individuals' rights and privacy. Internet giants such as Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo, too, have been implicated in the surveillance scandal.

The response of the American public and media to the surveillance program is a test for the country's democracy. Spying projects like PRISM violate individuals' privacy and freedom of expression. The US is standing at a crossroads, and only the American people can save it from becoming a police state.