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This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection past columns.

I want to go back to a recent point in the history of the United States government spying on American technology companies. Big Tech helps us better understand the current climate of distrust between US politicians and the American public.

in 2013, reporting It was revealed by The Washington Post – based on documents from former US government contractor Edward J. Snowden – that the National Security Agency and its British counterpart were essentially hacking reams of information from customers of Google, Yahoo and other American internet companies without these companies. information. Spy agencies did this by interfering with internet traffic. submarine internet cables or other access points Among corporate computer centers outside the United States.

Reasonable people can argue whether the NSA is justified in using it, and other programs Siphoning billions of information from phone calls, texts, emails and other digital records in a mission to protect the United States from terrorists. The reporting by numerous news organizations about the documents started a public debate on the balance of privacy rights, rule of law and national security.

I want to focus on how these revelations of US government surveillance have changed the technology we use and ended post-9/11 cooperation between the federal government and tech giants, for better or for worse. A moment can bend the course of history just a little bit Reaction to Big Tech In part, it goes back to the deepening distrust between Silicon Valley and the US government after the Snowden revelations.

First, a 2013 article in the Washington Post started shock waves in Silicon Valley. technology managers inside public or (mostly) privately that the NSA hacking was a betrayal – a step too far in the name of national security.

Technology company customers, particularly non-US companies and government officials, are also worried about the possibility that information from their emails or sensitive documents could fall into the hands of US spies by tech companies following legitimate US government orders or sneaking through Big Tech’s backdoors. There were tech giants ethics and business dilemma.

technology companies most visible answer was to bring secure technology into the mainstream and build more of its own digital installations. like submarine internet cables. U.S. officials are understandably concerned about the risks of both of these changes, but they tend not to take the government’s own role in making them happen.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo accelerated the use Encrypted technologies that scramble the contents of messages or phone calls so that anyone spying on them can only access meaningless information.

Encryption is one of the toughest technologies in the world because both protect ordinary people’s information. communication from prying eyes and does harder to track down criminals. Again, US officials product technology companies On the detrimental effects of encryption, like Apple and Facebook, they rarely admit that government actions have helped spread the technology.

And perhaps the biggest change in the NSA’s data siphoning was to help deteriorate the relationship between the U.S. government and the tech superpowers that still exists today.

“The era of quiet collaboration is over,” my colleagues David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth Wrote In 2014, nearly a year after news outlets reported on the Snowden documents. (Nicole has more on this last published bookI highly recommend it.)

The trust gap between tech giants and leaders in the United States and other countries was probably unavoidable and in many ways healthy. Companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple are so rich and their products are so important in our lives that they have become almost as powerful as governments. It makes sense to weigh in whether Big Tech needs more government scarecrows.

There are areas of cooperation between the government and Big Tech. military projects some technical staff to believe Dangerous. But there are other ways the remnant of Snowden disclosures has made it harder for tech companies and government officials to work together on common interests. as election security. and to develop technology expertise within government agencies.

Tech companies are responsible for hostility, yes, but the government’s willingness to intrude on American companies is also partly to blame.

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Tip of the Week

How to schedule a new phone purchase

If you bought an iPhone 12 last week, you may have felt like an idiot when Apple came out this week. Introduced the iPhone 13. (Or maybe you didn’t? Well done!) Brian X Chen explains How do we know when a newly purchased device is at risk of becoming old news soon after purchase?

I’ve written a lot about how to determine when it’s time to give up on a piece of technology, and consider upgrading. And when you’re ready for a new model, it’s also important to find the right time to buy.

If you bought an iPhone 12 or Pixel 5 a few weeks before Apple and Google released the iPhone 13 and Pixel 6for example, this may be less than ideal. If you had waited a little longer, you could have paid the same price for a phone with more advanced features or discounted the previous model.

The upgrade timing isn’t intuitive, so I’ll share the resources I refer to:

• For Apple products, MacRumors buying guide It tracks the average shelf life of iPhones, iPads and Macs to predict when new models are expected. If a product is nearing the end of its cycle (about 360 days for iPhone), the guide will warn you of the coming of new devices.

• There is no comparable guide for non-Apple devices. I will only share with you what I know. Tech makers often stick to a pattern. Many, including Google, Microsoft, and Samsung, tend to launch flagship products like smartphones and computers in the fall for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

So overall, if you’ve decided you’re ready for a shiny new device, try not to buy it in the summer. If you wait, you will get your reward.

Before you go …

• Reshaping the internet as we know it: Brian X. Chen and Kate Conger have a plain English explanation of the changes Apple and Google have made. change the ads we see online by using less of our personal dataand may force businesses to raise product prices or otherwise adapt. In a separate column, Brian asks: Who can win and lose when Apple and Google determine how the internet pays for itself??

• The envy of the international sports media: The Twitch streaming channel of 26-year-old Ibai Llanos has had his first interview with Lionel Messi after the football superstar changed teams. My Colleague Rory Smith explains How Llanos became a sports powerhouse thanks to the pandemic isolation, informal interview style, and football player’s love of video games.

• Farhad Manjoo believes computers will be the next big thing for our face. “I hope unlike smartphones we’re going slow this time” Times Opinion columnist writes. (At Wednesday’s On Tech, the ubiquity of smartphones holding back new technologies like computers for our face.)

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