U.S. Proposes Centralized Internet Surveillance

Mr.Intel writes "The Times is reporting that President Bush is 'planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users.' The recommendation is part of a report entitled 'The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace'. It is due to be published early next year."

But...

[unterderbrucke]

AOL already does this!

great news!!

[oZZoZZ]

That I live in Canada!

Big Brother, coming to an internet near you...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why watch "Big Brother" the stupid show on tv when you can have it as part of your internet experience!!

America....

[am_human2]

Communism:
IN SOVIET RUSSIA the Internet reads YOU for information.

Capitalism:
IN US of AMERICA the YOU re....

Never mind....

My take

[Queelix]

I think this sounds like a great idea. Sincerely, Satan

Re:It's about time

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't wish to see another 9/11

Why? Did something happen on 9th November?

I gotta say...

[Tar-Palantir]

This is double-plus-ungood.

Here we go again.

[Mostly Harmless]

This is from the same person that asked, "Will the highways on the Internet become more few?" (Dubya, January 29, 2000, Slate.) Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Internet Proposes Centralized U.S. Surveillance

[Anonymous Coward]

REUTERS -- The Internet is planning to propose requiring the Bush administration to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the White House, and, potentially, surveillance of its cabinet.

The proposal is part of a final version of a report, "The National Strategy to Secure the Bush Administration," set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the theft of the 2000 election.

-- Hey, turnabout's fair play!

It is really quite simple

[jmcwork]

Just read alt.terrorists.currentplans and that will keep you up to date. Do NOT get it confused with alt.binaries.terrorists.erotica or you will be really sorry.

I can see it now

[blowdart]

"Mr President, there seems to be a large flow in identical messages"

"Ah, must be terrorist code. Let me see it"

It says "Increase your penis size."

or

"Mr President, thousands of americans are visiting this web site every day, www.goatse.cx".....

Re:My take

[Anonymous Coward]

Me Too, Bill

Re:But...

[blowdart]

No no, AOL centralises all the spam on the internet.

I just hope they arent able to

[JeanBaptiste]

match all the ac postings to the users real ID (shudder)...

Re:great news!!

[FilthPig]

That I live in Canada!

Mmm-hmm... well, thankfully if these go through you won't be able to keep your schemes against us a secret, and we'll topple your regime in no time. That'll teach you that we know better than anybody what's appropriate and allowable in the world.

Re:great news!!

[jez9999]

Wonder how they gonna persuade Irak and Iran to send such data to Bush though ;-)

Maybe by bombing the shit out of them?

Re:The thing is...

[will_die]

The problem is that searching for messages such as "Attack this Thusday at Place X--Bring Explosives" is likly to be just people playing on-line games.
At a minimum you are going to get alot of messages about killing another person, or one group planning to attack the home/base of another group.

Okay, that's it...

[quantum bit]

I'm going to start e-mailing naked pictures of my ugly ass to known terrorists. Cruel and unusual? Maybe. But,

1. Terrorists deserve the torture
2. So does any asshat listening in

Re:Guess who's next?

[eXtro]

A communications network that was pervasively encrypted could be built on top of the existing network infrastructure, but there are still opportunities to become exposed. If you're just trying to remain anonymous as opposed to doing "bad things" as defined by the government this is probably good enough. An ICQ type client based around public key technology would be a simple example, or only using encrypted email would be another example.

Since your packets, encrypted or not, pass through potentially monitored infrastructure you could still be associated with a particular message, or sequence of messages, but the contents of the message could be protected. You could also be associated with other people as well, though what information passes between you may not be known.

If the persons you communicate with are considered suspicious then this could infect you as well according to the axiom "You're known by the company you keep".

It might be possible to build obsfucating points via a laser or microwave network that rides outside of the traditional infrastructure though. I'm thinking along the lines of having listening posts who's only job is to propogate signals from say microwave onto the internet to another point that propogates the signal out via microwave.

You'd only be able to tell that a message was transmitted within the detection range of the receiving network and sent to a transmitting network that was broadcasting over a certain range. If the message was encrypted with a public key then anybody in range would receive it, but only the intended recipient would be able to decrypt it.

Re:"The Times"

[Anonymous Coward]

One could almost believe you are implying that there are human intelligence beyond Canada and Mexico... Didn't those rumors die out with Area 51?!

Re:My take

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so fucking gay.

Hello Police State

[swagr]

Wow. Who was surprised? Anyone?

Maybe one day you can tell your children what it was like to be a free person.

I support this! But it will take a bit...

[mrjb]

The U.S. are looking to control the internet in a centralized manner? I wish them a lot of luck, as there will be countries unwilling to cooperate (China, anyone?).

If the efforts would be successful enough, this would at most result in the internet being split up in 'sub-internets'. Doesn't sound very much like centralized control to me.

Unless *all* countries in the world cooperate, of course. That would require world peace first; so, I fully support this initiative!

Re:great news!!

[tomhudson]

<quote> surveillance of its users.' </quote>

Ok, - get me a webcam, and I'll show Bush a part of Canada he's never seen before! :-)

In Other News...

[NeuroManson]

Al Qaeda released a statement that they would be hiding all future communiques in spam, hoping after the 10,000,000th copy of "Enlarge Your Penis By 8 Inches!" spam, that anyone watching would inevitably lose interest.

Here's how it would REALLY work.

[LazloToth]

Remember, this is the US saying it's going to monitor the entire Internet. So, how would it REALLY be done, and what would be the results? I foresee the following: 1) Engage in lengthy debate in Congress. Have several failed bills. When the final bill emerges, it addresses not only Internet security, but also the planting of genetically altered grapefruits in economically depressed regions with a high percentage of illegal immigrant migrant workers. 2) Create an oversight board to monitor the activity of the department created by the President's Bipartisan Commission on Genetically Altered Citrus Crops and Suspicious Internet Activity (PBCGACCSIA). 3) Staff oversight board and department with board members from failed megacorporations whose CEO's have already burned through their golden parachute funds. 4) Employ technical people who are capable of formulating, within 12 months, a 14,521 page document outlining methods of collecting and analyzing data from Internet activity of migrant workers picking brocolli in North Dakota. 5) Declare genetically altered fruit "illegal combatants" and issue sanctions against imported Kiwi fruit.