Feds Recruiting ISPs To Combat Cyber Threats 59
ygslash writes "The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have established a pilot program with leading private defense contractors and ISPs called DIB Cyber Pilot in an attempt to strengthen each others' knowledge base regarding growing security threats in cyberspace. The new program was triggered by recent high-profile hacks of the International Monetary Fund and many others. But don't worry — Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn promises that the new program will not involve "monitoring, intercepting, or storing any private sector communications" by the DOD and DHS."
Re:Fantastic... (Score:5, Informative)
Your company is incorrect. That said, most of the Constitution's restrictions are on the government specifically, and not on interactions between private entities, like you and your employer. So while your employer is most definitely incorrect, they probably meant to say something like, "you do not have an unlimited right to free speech in the workplace" or "you should not have any expectation of privacy whatsoever in the workplace," which is perfectly valid.
Of course, there is a real problem when the government uses outsourced third party companies to put a veil over otherwise unconstitutional actions, like you mentioned.
Re:Yes another nail in the coffin (Score:5, Informative)
Every decade we have more not less personal freedoms,
Funny, a century ago you were allowed to grow plants for personal use without having a paramilitary force invade your home, seize your property, and imprison you. These days, the list of plants and chemicals you are not allowed to be in possession of grows year after year, and we no longer bother with democratic processes when determining what is on that list: the Attorney General has the power to declare a drug to be illegal without having to first seek congressional approval. You can be arrested for possession of a drug whose legality was never voted on by your representatives.
Yes, some strides have been made -- it is certainly easier for men to be gay now than it was 50 years ago, and likewise with black people and communists. In that same period of time, despite those improvements, the United States' prison population has grown by orders of magnitude, to the point where we have a larger prison population than any country in the entire world, and have the third largest of any country that ever existed (we still haven't imprisoned more people than Nazi Germany or the USSR). It is not that surprising, though, considering that many American prisons are operated for-profit, and that police forces are actually allowed to use seized assets in drug cases to pay their own salaries (thus giving rise to our self-funded police units, who have been known to get appraisals on property before making an arrest).
Take a look around. This is not 1 step back and 1.1 steps forward, it is 2 steps back and an occasional step forward. You know something is wrong when law enforcement agencies are carrying around military rifles to arrest people for non-violent crimes.