While former NSA employee Edward Snowden hides out in Hong Kong, or Russia, or Cuba, or Monaco, or wherever, citizens back in the U.S. are starting to wonder what their government knows about them. And they’re beginning to take action to find out.

That effort got a boost this week when Julie Brill, a member of the Federal Trade Commission, put forth an initiative that, if successful, would give consumers access to the information held on them by data brokers. Those are the folks who, in some people’s opinions, know way too much about our buying and living habits in an effort to market to us more effectively.


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According to The New York Times, Brill calls her proposal “Reclaim Your Name,” and the idea is gathering steam.

“‘Reclaim Your Name’ would empower the consumer to find out how brokers are collecting and using data; give her access to information that data brokers have amassed about her,” Brill said in a speech at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. “[It would] allow her to opt-out if she learns a data broker is selling her information for marketing purposes and provide her the opportunity to correct errors in information used for substantive decisions – like credit, insurance, employment and other benefits.”

The movement to find out who in government knows exactly what isn’t limited to our shores. Website Ars Technica reports that a group of Austrian students have filed complaints under European Union data protection laws to get access to blocked information about themselves. The students are taking on Apple, Facebook, Microsoft (News - Alert), Skype and Yahoo because of those companies’ alleged cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service under the PRISM program. And in an ironic twist, the companies being questioned are run under subsidies to avoid paying U.S. taxes, making them subject to European privacy laws.

Naturally, those against Snowden’s actions and in favor of bringing him to justice are ramping up their own efforts to strengthen their case against him. The Seattle Times reports that Al-Qaida operatives are changing how they communicate in the wake of Snowden’s disclosure of U.S. spying initiatives.

“Two U.S. intelligence officials say members of virtually every terrorist group, including core al-Qaida members, are attempting to change how they communicate, based on what they are reading in the media, to hide from U.S. surveillance,” the Times said.

Such media reports seem to have everyone on edge.

"I assume my communication is being monitored," Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch, told the Seattle Times. “I would be shocked if terrorists didn't also assume that and take steps to protect against it.”

How this will eventually play out is anyone’s guess. But in the meantime, the question has to be asked: If the U.S. could find Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in a hole in the ground, and Osama Bin Laden in a fortified safe house in Pakistan, why can’t they find Edward Snowden?