Revelations about the shadowy US programme called Prism have raised fears that governments are using technology for increasingly Orwellian reasons.

According to documents allegedly leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, Prism gives the US government direct access to the servers of nine major internet companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter.

The programme is ostensibly intended to monitor data of suspicious non-Americans worldwide that passes through US servers.

“George Orwell or Aldous Huxley would not be amused,” remarked Antonio Ghio, a lawyer specialised in data protection and internet law.

Indeed, worldwide sales of 1984, George Orwell’s dystopian novel about surveillance and control, have rocketed on Amazon in recent days.

Dr Ghio said he was “shocked but not surprised” to learn of Prism.

“Technology is too powerful for any government to ignore and the US is no exception. Developments in cloud computing and big data processing make snooping so much easier and schemes like Prism were to be expected,” Dr Ghio said.

The nine companies allegedly involved have denied allowing the US Government direct access to their servers. They claim data is shared only upon request and in accordance with US law. Facebook and Microsoft have revealed that tens of thousands of data requests were made by US authorities in 2012. Dr Ghio said: “The little we publicly know about the scheme is raising even more questions, especially the distinction that apparently exists between the rules and procedures applicable to US citizens as opposed to foreigners.

“While the NSA and FBI might have appeased national concerns during their initial reactions, the rest of the world is even more concerned that there is a big brother on the other side of the Atlantic.”

Provided US officials are 51 per cent certain that their target is “foreign”, they are allowed to use any Prism data they have on them.

Data Protection Commissioner Joseph Ebejer said his office had no knowledge of the programme before it was revealed in an article in the Washington Post on June 6.

Neither Prism nor any of the nine companies allegedly involved in the programme fall under the scope of the Maltese Data Protection Act.

The Act applies only to data controllers in Malta or in a Maltese diplomatic mission abroad, and to controllers in third countries if the equipment used for the processing the data is situated in Malta.

It was widely reported last week that crucial passages of EU data protection rules, tabled 18 months ago but not yet agreed, were dropped after intense American lobbying.

Dr Ghio said: “Surely, the EU regulations’ primary intention was to ensure that technological development experienced throughout the past 15 years is also taken into consideration when establishing the basic data protection norms.”

Digital strategist Alex Grech has no doubt that other governments have programmes similar to Prism.

“Most of whatever we do or say – particularly if it’s online – is simply big data that is ripe for surveillance,” Dr Grech said.

Questions sent to the US Embassy were referred to Washington DC. Replies had not been received by the time of going to print.

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