At first, the Obama internet strategy for the nation appeared to be a call for internet connection accessibility befitting a first world nation. However, the White House has something else it wants done online. The Obama administration, along with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, want even more surveillance powers online, which could be part of a new bill going before Congress sometime within the near future. The ability of the federal to observe communications will greatly expand if the bill becomes regulation. There are few methods of electronic communication that aren’t already under monitoring. This will shorten that list even further.
Brand new Obama web style
According to the NY Times, the White House wants to pass a bill expanding monitoring and wiretap access for intelligence and regulation 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. The bill will mandate that all methods of communication be designed to permit government monitoring. Land lines and cellular phones are easy enough to get into. However, there are some forms of electronic communication which are private and encrypted.
Small business are affected
The disadvantage to polices of this sort is that small independent shops have to work double time to keep up with mandates, whereas an already large company can effortlessly comply. The recent ban of the Blackberry in several nations was due to Research In Motion having intended the phone so e-mails and texts are encrypted, private communications. RIM is within the process of complying with monitoring requirements of several governments, and corporations for instance Skype and other VOIP, or voice over web protocol, companies could have to re-engineer their products to regulatory standards. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have complained that their surveillance abilities are “going dark,” as fewer people rely totally on phone communications.
All hearing ear
Except for sign language, few methods of communication are exempt from the ability of government to listen in. Obama has been mum about repealing some of the almost Orwellian laws that were part of Bush domestic spying controversies. The government maintains that its requests for access aren’t unreasonable, nor unprecedented. A greater degree of surveillance may seem a great tool for catching criminals within the act, but can easily be misused.
Articles cited
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1
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