Sunday, October 3, 2010

More spying to match more internet connection in Obama web plan

The Obama internet plan has expanded to consist of something besides more broadband for everybody. The Obama administration, along with intelligence and regulation enforcement agencies, want even more monitoring powers online, which can be part of a brand new bill going before Congress sometime within the near future. The ability of the government to observe communications will greatly expand if the bill becomes law. Basically, it will mean that fewer means of communication can be beyond the all watching eye of Washington.

The Obama web plan

A bill will propose more accessibility for wiretap and surveillance purposes for intelligence and law enforcement officials, according to the Brand new York Times. 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 surveillance. The reason is that some communications, especially those on the Internet, are encrypted and private.

Small company are affected

The disadvantage to rules of this sort is that little independent shops have to work double time to keep up with mandates, whereas an already large company can very easily comply. Research In Motion does not even have accessibility to the private and encrypted transmissions from the Blackberry, which led to bans of the phone in some countries. RIM is working double time to comply with monitoring needs of governments. Other corporations, such as Skype and other voice over internet protocol or VOIP companies will have to re-engineer their products to keep up as well. Fewer people are relying on traditional phone communications. Regulation enforcement and intelligence personnel have warned that the ability to monitor criminals is “going dark” as a result of less access.

Electrical ear

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. Granted, Obama has not had a scandal comparable to the Bush domestic spying controversies. You will find legitimate threats to public safety that can be dealt with by this legislation, and the federal insists it isn’t overstepping its authority by asking for the access. You will find people that do pose a threat to public safety that could be caught using these methods. However, this type of power is easily misused.

Information from

NY Times

nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1



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