Apparently, the US government has decided that it’s not enough to secure their own systems and networks and allow corporations to do the same. Department of Homeland Security Chief, Michael Chertoff is afraid enough of a major attack against US financial institutions that he has called for a US Cyber-Security “Manhattan Project.” I can’t help but wonder if I’m the only one made nervous by a project involving the government, the internet, and that it’s all named after a project to create the first atomic bomb.
Basically, most of the details of this proposed project are classified, but from what can be read, it involves the NSA monitoring America’s internet traffic and google searches for signs of a cyber attack. I can’t help but have mixed feelings. Of course, like most people, I’ve already accepted that very little of what we do online is private and I would hope that a major attack, such as a distributed attack against financial institutions, would be thwarted. Still, I can’t say I feel much safer with even more of the government’s eyes on my searches and online activities. Who is to say down the line that simply doing research about vulnerabilities, something I do every day in the course of doing my job, might bring me squarely in the government’s radar as a potential threat. Would they wait and see if I used anything I was researching for good or ill or simply decide to act preemptively to protect the nation from what I might do?
I don’t even pretend to have the knowledge or skills to be a threat to anyone, nor would I want to harm anyone’s interests, but that doesn’t mean a large net cast widely wouldn’t scoop up even someone as mundane as me. It’s a Brave New World, Mr. Orwell.
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