An article entitled
Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems by Sam Dillon and Stephen LaBaton is in this morning's New York Times (link is
here).
I do not like these goons encroaching on our internets. For one thing, the FBI still has not upgraded their own antiquated computer systems.
The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.
All the money spent on Homeland Security seems to vanish into some black hole. With no more tax dollars left, money from student tuition can be squandered, enriching yet another "private contractor" that exclusively provides the gizmos to make computer systems penetrable to Big Brother.
The action, which the government says is intended to help catch terrorists and other criminals, has unleashed protests and the threat of lawsuits from universities, which argue that it will cost them at least $7 billion while doing little to apprehend lawbreakers. Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance, the universities are not raising civil liberties issues.
It is more than a little suspect that colleges and universities are being targeted. Perhaps it is because they harbor liberals and other terrorist types. It smacks of anti-intellectualism. And can the government do any more to alienate researchers and scholars from other countries from coming to the United States? Brains are being drained if not sucked out of their havens, not only in key government agencies, but also in academia.
I can guarantee that civil liberties will be an issue! I hope the Patriot Act goes down along with this administration.