The Obama web plan has expanded to contain something besides more internet connection for everyone. The Obama administration, along with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, want even more surveillance powers online, which can be part of a new bill going before Congress sometime in the near future. If these new laws pass, it will grant the government greater access for surveillance purposes. Basically, it will mean that fewer means of communication can be beyond the all watching eye of Washington.
The Obama web plan
There is a bill that is prepared for next year, according to the NY Times, that will expand wiretap and surveillance powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The bill is due sometime next year. The Obama administration backs the idea. A good deal of communications is already mandated to permit government access for surveillance purposes. The list will simply get bigger. Land lines and cellular phones are easy enough to get into. However, you will find some forms of electronic communication which are private and encrypted.
Small companies will miss out
Polices tend to favor the corporations that can afford to keep up with them. A large tech firm with a nice engineering staff will hardly be fazed, whereas a little startup could be disadvantaged. Recent bans of the Blackberry due to the way Research In Motion intended it occurred, over exactly this type of issue. The device keeps emails and other messages encrypted and private, off limits even to the business itself. RIM is in the process of complying with monitoring needs of several governments, and businesses such as Skype and other VOIP, or voice over web protocol, businesses can have to re-engineer their products to regulatory standards. Fewer individuals are relying on traditional phone communications. Law enforcement and intelligence personnel have warned that the ability to monitor criminals is “going dark” as a result of less access.
Electrical ear
There are few methods of communication, apart from speaking in person, that are not subject to domestic surveillance. Obama has been mum about repealing some of the almost Orwellian laws which were part of Bush domestic spying controversies. The government maintains that its requests for access aren’t unreasonable, nor unprecedented. Powers of this sort could be used for good, however are easily misused.
Information from
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1
