FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity
In 2008, the FBI called for a new legislation that would allow the federal police to monitor internet activities in order to filter "illegal activities".
Yes, this might sound like a very good idea. This plan will make sure that there won't be cyber attacks such as DOS or DDOS and the government will also be able to effectively root out inmates who are planning to carry out "illegal activities" by announcing it in the world wide web. FBI director, Robert Mueller, said "to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well."
Mr. Mueller's plan will surely ensure that we won't encounter child pornography or have our websites shut down because of cyber attacks. Then major companies such as Amazon that solely rely on the internet would not have to worry about having their websites shut down, which if it were to happen, it could mean tons of loss. Another advantage is that governments could locate terrorist plans in the web and prevent them preemptively.
However, should we sacrifice our rights for these benefits?
If the plan were to be passed, then this would be a breach of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution where it guards citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures". To me it seems a little ironic that the federal government is trying to "legalize" the internet by ignoring the rights that individuals in the United States hold as citizens. Also we have to question what is the FBI's standard of "illegal activities". This is such a broad term that could range from DOS attacks to "talking bad about the president".
Consequently this will create fear amongst internet users because they do not know what, how or why they are being monitored. For example, right after 9/11, the FBI investigated an old man because he was speaking about Osama BinLaden. The same scenario could happen in the net where if an internet user were to speak about Osama BinLaden, then the government could label the user as "performing illegal activities". Then the internet would become an anarchy rather than a place where people can freely express their opinions.
After looking at the video, do you think that it was it just for the FBI to arrest Michael for its internet activities in Twitter?
Since this project was called by FBI in 2008 and today we are in almost end of 2009, I would like to know how is this project going on, has it shown impact on internet; whether the cyber crime has decreased or not.
ReplyDeleteBut what I disagree and not sure about is that what makes "legal" or "illegal", the border of the two. Also the question i have, why is FBI monitoring legal and when random person monitors becomes illegal? can we fully trut the FBI just because they are FBI?
SEXYASIAN, thank you for replying. In response to your questions, I do not think that the FBI still has access to private networks. Also regarding your question of why the is legal for the FBI to monitor internet activities, we can use a metaphorical example. Let's say that you are the owner of a small store. Then it would not be illegal for you to take something from the stores without paying it. However, if a customer were to take something without paying it, then it would be considered theft.
ReplyDeleteEven though i agree to monitoring the web, I would accept it only if the law was very clear and imparticularly separate from intellectual abuse and free speech.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with the government trying to stop any ilegal actions through the internet in order to secure their country and stop cyber attacks from terrorists, but i think they should limit to just find those who try to comit cyber crimes or hack into a government webpage. they shouldnt have the right to read anyone's conversation on internet, just if someone writes words that MIGHT seem to threat the country, because first of all they will loose tons of time, as people could just argue weather or not osama bin laden is good or bad, and that doesnt mean that people is terrorist.
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