News Report #3

U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet
Charlie Savage, New York Times
9/27/2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=technology

As the influx of people communicating over the Internet has continued to exponentially increase, our government is trying to combat new ways in which to monitor cyber conversations. A new Obama administration plan will work to combat an increasing problem that national security officials are having, tracking their suspect’s communications over the Internet as they have been with telephone communications. Internet services that enable communications, such as encrypted e-mail messages, social networking (Facebook), and direct “peer to peer” messaging (Skype) are all services in which currently the authorities cannot efficiently wiretap or decode messages sent by users. The proposed bill will require such communication-heavy Internet sites to themselves develop a way in which, when asked to do so, their company can provide the government with whatever raw text data one user sent or said to another user. This will have huge repercussions for the companies involved in that they will have to spend their time, money and resources to develop such a security system rather than promoting new advances in their services; as well as having to admit to their users that the services they provide will now be subjected to the government, whom has a lawfully sound way of obtaining the so called private conversations held over the Internet. If providers do not comply with developing the services the government will slap a fine on them or force them to face some penalty. While this seems like a necessary precaution to be taken by the government, some are worried that, “requiring interception capabilities” will create “holes” that will be predictably exploited by hackers who aim at making the government look foolish.

I understand where the government is coming from. There are some sick people in this world who want nothing more than to wreak havoc and cause harm to others. In this sense I sympathize with the government for wanting to be able to monitor those who could potentially be planning threats to our country and its citizens. The government has been lawfully able to listen in on phone conversations for decades and yet people still continue to talk freely on their phones. In the same sense I do not think that this bill will heavily affect those users out there who are communicating over the Internet for pleasure, as compared to those users that are constructing plans to take over the world. As the global population continues to increase exponentially the threat of disaster also increases, as does the need for people to feel safe. The government takes it upon themselves to, in the only seemingly small minded ways they know how, keep their people safe from harm. Although practices such as wiretapping may seem an infringement on the freedom of the general public, the general public has to realize that as long as they are not doing something that the government should be suspicious about, they need not worry. On the complete other hand, I hate that I just had to rationalize the right of someone to legally be able to snoop on other people. Will small steps like these being taken by our government now only lead to further people’s acceptance of being monitored? As technological advancements soar, won’t the need for interception also soar? How much will the general public be able to take?