“Report: Feds to Push for Net Encryption Backdoors”
Declan McCullagh, Chief Political Correspondent for CNET
9/27/2010
The Obama Administration is attempting to enforce a new federal law for Internet surveillance: a law that will force all Internet communication providers (e-mail, instant messengers, etc.) to provide a “backdoor” method that allows the government access to private information that would otherwise be blocked by security encryptions. This law will make completely secure, Internet communication sites non-existent. The federal government will have the right to invade a user’s privacy to monitor for criminal/terrorist suspects and to help with investigations. The article states that the federal government will only access such information if there is a court-order to do so.
In the past, with telephones as the main source of communication, it was fairly easy for the government to conduct wiretaps on potential suspects. Unfortunately this is not the case today: the encryptions on Internet communication sites have made it harder for the federal government to serve and protect against potential threats to our society. With this in mind, the government may enact this law sooner than later: the Internet is becoming the main source of communication for the majority of citizens. In my opinion, such a law may not be a bad thing. It would allow the government, under just cause and a court order, to monitor the behavior of potential terrorists, child molesters, gang-related individuals, serial killers, etc. With this new law, the government could monitor their suspects and carry out their investigations a lot sooner and more efficiently. Can you imagine the amount of lives that could be protected and saved from such a surveillance?
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