With government agencies, one often has to try to guess what
they are hiding. A close look at a FCC policy document released
at 9 p.m. on a Friday may shock you.
Controlling Software
The Federal Communications Commission has issued a policy paper
that sets free speech back a few thousand years. Yep, the FCC is
taking the position that computer software companies must first
get approval from the FBI before they will be allowed to put
software products on the market. Think about that for a minute
and cringe.
The ostensible reason for Big Brother's power grab is, once
again, the pursuit of terrorist and bad, bad people. You see,
Brother wants to make every software company put a backdoor in
their systems that lets Big Brother access your computer on the
sly to keep an eye on you. No doubt, many evil people use Adobe
and Microsoft products!
Big Brother Out of Control?
Obviously, everyone is interested in catching terrorists and bad
guys. The idea of giving the FBI carte blanche power over the
software industry, however, goes way beyond such concerns. Let
us consider a practical example.
What if construction companies had to seek approval from the FBI
before building homes? The ostensible reason would be to make
sure the FBI could place cameras and wire taps in every home to
monitor and stop terrorist activities. Surely, nobody could
disagree with such a noteworthy goal. On the other hand, how
would you feel about having cameras in each room of your home?
For a counter argument, government apologists claim that the FBI
would watch the computer activity of only a small number of
people because the FBI doesn't have the manpower to do anything
else. This argument is so much nonsense. "Watching" computer
activity doesn't require manpower. It is a technical function
carried out by a software program. The FBI already has such
programs, including the controversial green lantern program. If
it didn't, why would it want this power?
FBI monitoring programs run automatically. They continually
accumulate data, which can be accessed when needed. This data
collection can be used in thousands of different ways by
hundreds of different agencies. For instance, what if the IRS
audits you? What is to stop it from accessing your computer data
and looking at all of the sessions you performed online banking?
Nothing. The IRS and FBI work hand-in-hand on numerous
prosecutions.
The United States is supposed to be the land of the free. Just
don't assume as much when using your computer.
About the author:
Richard A. Chapo is a San Diego business lawyer with
http://www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com - a San Diego business
law firm in San Diego, California.
