According to a New York Times report the Obama administration is planning new Orwellian legislation to make it easier for US intelligence services to eavesdrop on the Internet, including email exchanges and social networks.
Despite outrage over George Bush’s limited ability to wiretap into American phone calls, Obama wants to take it a step further and be able to monitor every single form of communication any American citizen uses.
The White House intends to submit a bill before Congress next year that would require all online services that enable communications to be technically capable of complying with a wiretap order, including being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages, the Times reported. The services would include encrypted email transmitters like BackBerry, social networking websites like Facebook and peer-to-peer messaging software like Skype.
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, brings up new concerns about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. Security services around the world are facing the same issues, so this legislation could set a global precedent.
Federal law enforcement and national security officials are seeking the new regulations, arguing that extremists and criminals are increasingly communicating online rather than using phones.
“We’re not talking expanding authority,” FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni told the Times. “We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”
Past history of reinterpretation of federal laws is no comfort to privacy advocates. The definition of “terrorists,” “extremists,” and “criminals” can quickly change.
The Obama mandate would be expanded even further to include foreign corporations and communications providers. It would also apply to companies whose servers are operated abroad, such as Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry smartphones.
