Posted on 11/04/2001 1:54:13 PM PST by Asmodeus
2 November 2001
Is Your Internet Service Provider Spying on You?
By Robyn Weisman, www.NewsFactor.com
U.S. Patriot Act
How valid are privacy concerns over the new anti-terrorist spy laws passed by the United States? Will the new laws translate into perpetual, and indiscriminate, electronic surveillance by law enforcement? Will logging on through one's Internet service provider (ISP) mean that one has logged on to Big Brother?
These questions have been percolating since October 26th, when President Bush signed the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001," otherwise known as the USA PATRIOT Act.
Despite its awkward name, the act provides law enforcement and intelligence agencies with greatly expanded powers, ostensibly to aid them in fighting terrorism.
Modern Monitoring
Included in the legislation are provisions allowing law enforcement -- for the first time -- to monitor e-mail and other types of online communications. The new law replaces legislation that "was written in the era of rotary telephones," President Bush noted at the bill's signing ceremony.
"As of today, we'll be able to better meet the technological challenges posed by this proliferation of communications technology," Bush said.
Bush added that these provisions were integral to the USA PATRIOT Act because "we're dealing with terrorists who operate by highly sophisticated methods and technologies. The bill takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists [and] will help law enforcement identify, dismantle, disrupt, and punish terrorists before they strike."
Privacy Concerns: Justified?
However, the provisions deeply concern privacy advocates, who say they make it possible for snooping technologies like the FBI (news - web sites)'s DCS1000 (better known as Carnivore) to be used indiscriminately on anyone using an Internet connection, and not just on those under suspicion for criminal acts.
When asked whether the USA PATRIOT Act would cause law enforcement and intelligence agencies to start monitoring the activities of all Internet users, Bill Malik, vice-president and research area director of the information security group at Gartner, told NewsFactor Network that "in a sense, they already are."
When someone signs up for service with an ISP, that person "has to support its terms of service," Malik said. "How do you know I'm sending out all those e-mails unless you [monitor] my level of activity?"
Added Malik: "Don't think it's going to be as simple as they're all going to be spying on us. [The new legislation] lowers thresholds of levels of activities as 'probable cause' to search for a warrant, strengthen guidelines, and establish a level playing field."
Surveillance Limited
Michael Rasmussen, a senior industry analyst for enterprise security at Giga Information Group, told NewsFactor that there's a limit to how much government agencies can monitor Internet activity because of the amount of data generated.
"You can't keep records of all the traffic on the Internet," said Rasmussen. "It's just not feasible. It dwarfs phone calls in comparison. With a phone call there's one connection, [while] a Web site might equal 20 different connections."
Freedom Not Absolute
Gartner analyst Malik said that many people confuse the concepts of freedom and liberty, adding that while the First Amendment protects freedom of expression and the Fourth Amendment protects privacy, neither amendment is or ever has been absolute.
No one can shout "Fire!" in a public place or tell someone to hand over their money, and then claim First Amendment protection, Malik pointed out. He added that America's overriding concern is actually liberty rather than freedom, defining liberty as freedom tempered by just laws.
"If you're exchanging e-mails on how to build bombs and are teaching someone how to build bombs, that speech should not be protected," Malik said.
"The most finely-tuned FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites)) organization in the world [cannot compete] with what could have been done had the same information been intercepted before [a terrorist act] could happen."
If you're exchanging information like this in a way that the fumble-feds can manage to intercept it you probably deserve to be waylaid for it.
ditto....
Actually, I think (and it might have changed) that Earthlink is one of the better ISP's in the privacy arena.
I use Internet Express (ixpres.com) and they have given me excelent service for the last 5 years at $156/year or $12.92/month for unlimited service.
If you have a second phone for your computer and are paying $22 per month for AOL, you're already up to about $40 monthly. It would pay you to get rid of the extra phone and AOL and get cable broadband for $39 per month. You won't be sorry. What takes 20 minutes to download now will take 10 to 20 seconds via broadband.
Are you "Asmo" from Roger's chat in San Diego? I'm "surfer." Hi :)
It's that 1% that we're.....not.....too...sure about, Comrade...
We Earthlink FReepers are a seditious lot, aren't we? LOL! They can look all they want. They'll see a bunch of prayers, funny photos, and a coupla scientific papers I'm working on. Have a blast trying to stay awake through all of that, fellas!
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