Les passes on this little gem:
US intel chief wants carte blanche to peep all ‘Net traffic – ArsTechnica.com
While short on specifics, the New Yorker piece recognizes that any plan requiring the kind of authority McConnell envisions is apt to be a hard sell: “Americans will have to trust the government not to abuse the authority it must have in order to protect our networks, and yet, historically the government has not proved worthy of that trust.” McConnell acknowledges that his initiative is bound to spark debate that will make recent wrangling over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act seem like “a walk in the park compared to this.”
Ya think? McConnell himself admits the government “has not proved worthy of that trust” in the past, but now we’re supposed to give it? Why?
How broad are the powers needed to keep our servers safe? According to the article, in order for cyberspace to be policed, Internet activity will have to be closely monitored. Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer, or Web search. “Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation,” he said. Giorgio warned me, “We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.’”
And, of course, in order to police the real world against criminals and terrorists, it is essential that the government have the authority to examine the content of your pockets, person, house, car, or body at any time they want. After all, privacy and security are “a zero-sum game.”
Sayings like that, says security guru Bruce Schneier, “are why the police aren’t in charge; security and privacy are complimentary. Privacy is part of our security against government abuse. If they were really zero-sum, we would have seen mass immigration into East Germany.”
Folks keep these sorts of proposals up, we won’t have to mass migrate anywhere for that sort of “protection.”
I do realize there are differences between the virtual and real worlds. But there are a lot of similarities, too, and taking the “easy” approach of just letting the cybercops pat us down whenever we take a virtual walk is both lazy and dangerous.