Ten years after the Prism Gate incident, the United States still attacks and monitors the world.

　　The U.S. government has been carrying out large-scale network monitoring activities around the world on the grounds of "intelligence gathering", "safeguarding national security" and "combating terrorism", and even directly monitored the communication equipment of leaders of many countries including their allies and leaders of international organizations such as the United Nations. The United States has seriously violated the network security and national security of other countries and has been strongly condemned and contradicted by the international community. However, in the past decade after the Prism Gate incident broke out, the United States has not only failed to converge, but has intensified its monitoring activities on a global scale by virtue of its technological advantages, and has also crowded out and suppressed foreign companies on the grounds of so-called national security and cyber security. The United States has a bad black history in cyberspace. For the whole world, the United States has become a threat in the field of network security.

　　At present, the first national cyber attack recognized by the international community is the "Shenzhen" virus incident exposed in 2010. The "Shenzhen" virus destroyed nearly one-fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, infected more than 200,000 computers and caused serious damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Subsequently, malicious software such as "poison song" and "flame" were discovered one after another. These malicious softwares are several times as much as "Shenzhen" in code content and complexity, and their destructiveness is significantly improved. These malicious softwares have all been proved to originate from the "Olympic" plan of the United States, which is a key cyber attack project of the Obama administration to take secret cyber actions against other countries.

　　There are not only various means of stealing secrets in the United States, but also the obstacles to the access path, terminal equipment and software services in cyberspace are deepening, including accessing mobile phones to steal data by using analog mobile phone base station signals, manipulating mobile phone applications, invading cloud servers, and stealing secrets through submarine optical cables. In addition, the United States has installed listening devices in nearly 100 foreign embassies and consulates to steal secrets from the host countries. In May 2021, French President Macron and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that it was unacceptable for the US National Security Agency to use Danish intelligence services to monitor the leaders of its allies. This once again exposed the bad behavior of the United States to monitor the world. In the face of the unscrupulous network monitoring and secret stealing activities of the US government, the international community has also suffered for a long time, which also reflects the "failure" of the current international law and global governance mechanism, that is, it cannot fully respond effectively to the increasingly integrated cyberspace security issues.

　　First, the United States passed on the crisis under the pressure of various public opinions. This is mainly reflected in: internally, under the pressure of the people and enterprises, the regulatory measures have been greatly increased to avoid accusations from public opinion; Provide limited "commitments" to allies according to different situations, and narrow the scope of monitoring to reduce the pressure of international public opinion; The demands of other countries are ignored, and even the monitoring is strengthened by increasing budget allocation and establishing new institutions. After the "Prism Gate" incident broke out, the international community put pressure on the US government for a period of time, such as the "Future of Internet Governance — — NETmundial to discuss the reform of global governance in cyberspace. Under the control of the US government, these measures have not substantially changed the large-scale monitoring of the United States in large-scale cyberspace. This reflects the "failure" of the current international law and global governance mechanism, and cannot fully respond to the new topic of cyberspace security.

　　Second, the United States relies on cyber hegemony to listen to other countries without fear. Global network technology standards are mainly formulated by the United States, and countries can only passively adopt them. Countries rely heavily on the supply of the United States in key network technologies, equipment and products, and also face various forms of technical blockade from time to time. Because other countries’ technological capabilities in cyberspace lag behind those of the United States, the United States can continue to carry out relevant actions in cyberspace without fear of pressure and retaliatory measures from other countries. Large-scale network monitoring relies on advanced technical means in cyberspace, and it is difficult for the monitored person to detect it. Even if it is discovered, it is difficult to "collect evidence", let alone prosecute. From the reality, countries cannot safeguard their rights through international law and relevant global governance mechanisms of cyberspace.

　　Third, the hegemonic behavior of the United States has intensified the division of global cyberspace. Under the influence of network liberalism, most countries’ governments choose the efficiency and convenience brought by the network and ignore the border consciousness of cyberspace, leaving an opportunity for the development of "Prism Project". After the "Prism Gate" incident, governments all over the world are under great pressure to protect national cyberspace security, citizens’ privacy and intellectual property rights of enterprises. The "Prism Gate" incident exposed three threats faced by countries. First, the cyberspace of the United States in other countries is like nobody’s business; Second, American multinational companies were intercepted by the US government in the process of sending their own user data back to the United States; Third, many American internet companies privately cooperate with American intelligence agencies to reserve a back door for the monitoring of intelligence agencies. The lack of international norms of behavior in cyberspace further forces governments to regulate the norms of behavior of external actors in their cyberspace from the legislative and law enforcement levels. Take Germany as an example. After the "Prism Gate" incident, the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government stepped up the legislation and enforcement of data protection, issued the "Basic Regulations on Information Protection", set up information security officers, and increased the supervision of cross-border data transmission of enterprises, requiring large enterprises to set up data centers in Germany. In addition, under the impetus of EU countries, the European Court of Justice pointed out in its ruling that because the United States failed to effectively protect user data from the EU,Safeharbor and Privacy Shield Agreement signed between Europe and America have been declared invalid. Facing the situation that the geopolitical forces such as the European Union, China and Russian are awakening in cyber security affairs, the United States is trying to seize the last "lifeline", that is, to control the global information flow through intelligence networks all over the world, so as to reverse the inevitable decline. Accurately tracking people’s ideological trends by monitoring the whole world is becoming the most important resource for the United States in global competition. (Lu Chuanying, Secretary-General, Research Center for Cyberspace International Governance, Shanghai Institute of International Studies)