02-14-2010
Permalink
Craig Mundie
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Subject: Government Takeover of the Internet
On April 1, 2009, Senators John Rockefeller [D-WV] and Olympia Snowe
[R-ME] introduced the still pending
S.773: Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which empowered the President
to shutdown the internet for undefined "critical infrastructure
information system or network" in the event of a further undefined
"cybersecurity emergency". From the text of the bill:
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The President--(2) may declare a cybersecurity emergency and
order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic to and
from any compromised Federal Government or United States
critical infrastructure information system or network
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On December 22, 2009, President Obama appointed former Microsoft
security executive and Ebay CIO,
Howard Schmidt, as the new "Cyber-Security Czar", with broad
responsibilities to "secure government networks and critical U.S.
infrastructures."
This followed the March 11, 2009 appointment of Microsoft's chief
trustworthy infrastructure strategist,
Philip Reitinger, to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
where he was charged with "protection of the government's computer
networks and [to] work with the private sector to help secure
critical infrastructures."
Of course, when you think of computer security, Microsoft is the name
that first comes to mind! Now, we have Microsoft's chief research and
strategy officer,
Craig Mundie, proposing that access to the web should require
government registration — something equivalent to a "driver's
license" — that would eliminate anonymity and allow everyone's
activity to be tracked by the government. As others have pointed out,
this is similar to a scheme recently tried and abandoned by the
Chinese government as too repressive. But that hasn't stopped the
United Nations from expressing interest is something along these lines
as well.
So there you have it. Microsoft, a company which has demonstrated
that it is unable to solve the technical problems relating to computer
security, is now in charge of our technology infrastructure and
proposing that instead, every citizen be registered, regulated and
fully monitored as the best solution to achieving security.
The current administration's march towards a totalitarian state
continues, one bill, one czar, and one regulation at a time, with
their relentless advance for the repeal of individual rights, starting
with the right to free speech. And remember Rahm Emanuel's
dictum:
"Never let a serious crisis go to waste."
I believe that
J. R. Dieckmann summed it up best when he wrote about Obama's
appointment of a cyber-czar:
Here is the problem that I see with this whole plan. We have
seen the tactic used by this administration over and over
again: find or create a crisis, then violate the people's
liberties to deal with it. We saw it with the banking
industry. We saw it with the mortgage industry. We're seeing
it with the auto industry and the energy industry, the global
warming hoax, and many others. This is a president who wants
the federal government to control everything of any
significance. Controlling the Internet would be most helpful
to him in forcing his Marxist agenda down the throats of the
American citizens.
[...]
Just like with the banking, energy, and auto industries, once
Obama gets his foot inside the door he uses that foot to kick
the door wide open and take over the industry. First come the
government demands, then the regulations and finally the
control. If we allow him to do this with the Internet then we
can be assured that our first amendment rights to free speech
will be seriously curtailed and the Democrat Socialists will
gain a clear advantage in all future elections.
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'Nuff said.
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