The Obama Internet policy is taking a bit of a different turn apart from calling for increased internet connection access. As if the Patriot Act wasn’t enough, the Obama administration and the law enforcement and intelligence agencies are putting together legislation that will expand government access to the telecommunications industry. The bill isn’t really anywhere close to done. That said, the monitoring powers of the federal could be dramatically expanded if it does. Washington already has accessibility to a broad array of communications for monitoring purposes, and this will expand that access. Post resource – Obama Internet policy expands to include greater surveillance by Personal Money Store.
Obama Internet spying plan
According to the New York Times, the White House wants to pass a bill expanding monitoring and wiretap access for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The bill builds upon existing jurisdictions. The White House is on board, and the Obama Internet surveillance bill will likely go to Congress next year. A great deal of communications is already mandated to permit federal access for monitoring purposes. The list will simply get bigger. Some forms of digital communications are private and encrypted, while many others are not secret at all to the government.
Law will discipline small businesses
Though this law would certainly favor large corporations that have the engineering staff to deal with new specifications, startup tech firms can be at a disadvantage. The recent ban of the Blackberry in several countries was due to Research In Motion having designed the phone so e-mails and texts are encrypted, private communications. RIM is in the process of complying with monitoring needs of several governments, and companies such as Skype and other VOIP, or voice over internet protocol, businesses could have to re-engineer their products to regulatory standards. Law enforcement and intelligence services do rely on monitored communication to catch criminals, and as a result of the decreased accessibility, have seen their capabilities “going dark” to do their jobs.
All hearing ears
There have been many laws passed giving government the ability to look or listen in. Few methods of communication, except maybe sign language, are exempt. Obama has been mum about repealing some of the almost Orwellian laws which were part of Bush domestic spying controversies. Though further potential encroachment on privacy seems almost egregious, there is the security issue to deal with. The government maintains that it isn’t overstepping its bounds in requesting higher access. A greater degree of surveillance may seem a good tool for catching criminals within the act, but can very easily be misused.
Articles cited
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1
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