The Obama Internet policy is taking a bit of a different turn apart from calling for greater internet connection accessibility. Currently, the Obama administration and law enforcement and security agencies are pushing for new regulations of the Internet and the telecommunications industry. The ability of the federal to observe communications will greatly expand if the bill becomes law. You will find few methods of electronic communication that aren’t already under monitoring. This will shorten that list even further.
Obama web regulations
According to the New York Times, the White House wants to pass a bill expanding monitoring and wiretap access for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The bill builds upon existing jurisdictions. The bill is due sometime next year. The Obama administration backs the idea. A good deal of communications is already mandated to allow federal accessibility for surveillance purposes. The list will simply get bigger. 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 will suffer
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 easily comply. Research In Motion does not even have access to the private and encrypted transmissions from the Blackberry, which led to bans of the phone in some countries. RIM, along with other tech businesses such as voice over internet protocol business Skype, would have to re-engineer products to allow for federal intervention. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have complained that their surveillance abilities are “going dark,” as fewer people rely totally on phone communications.
Electrical ear
Except for sign language, few methods of communication are exempt from the ability of federal to listen in. Granted, Obama has not had a scandal comparable to the 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, but are effortlessly misused.
Citations
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html?pagewanted=1
