The Wikimedia Foundation has announced it will soon be switching its services over to the secure–i.e., unsnoopable–HTTPS protocol. It’s a move that’s been planned for a while, but the foundation has been pushed to implement it now because of the revelations about the NSA’s global Internet surveillance system. The foundation notes that it is being “specifically targeted by XKeyscore.”

In a statement, the foundation says it “believes strongly in protecting the privacy of its readers and editors. Recent leaks of the NSA’s XKeyscore program have prompted our community members to push for the use of HTTPS by default for the Wikimedia projects.” Starting from August 21st the HTTPS protocol will be turned on for all logged-in users. The site also outlined six further technical steps it has to take to protect all its user data and activities from surveillance, although it acknowledges that it can’t predict a timescale for the moves to be completed. Instead the foundation urges its users to use other secure browsing services.

The NSA is embroiled in an international controversy at the moment, after revelations of its widespread surveillance of phone calls and Net activity of citizens all around the world.

[Image via Flickr user: Jessica Paterson]