Blog Posting #2 for Week of May 27

I know a lot of us are going to hit on this particular story this week since it has so much to do with intellectual freedom. I wanted to put my two cents worth in as well! With the new post of "Cyber Czar", has President Obama opened the door for the government to position itself as a major controlling power over the Internet and Internet access?

"It's now clear this cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation," Obama said, adding, "We're not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country."

Created mainly to protect national security and the economic sector, the office of cyber security will allow the government unprecedented access to monitoring computer networks. Although Obama promises to keep the office tight and in his control, can he really guarantee that this step is not the first towards the Big Brother society depicted in the novel 1984? With the grid in place, how easy would it be to expand influence over private Internet access during a time of war or terrorism? If the infrastructure is in place, what's to stop inacting the Partiot Act to include the monitoring of individual access in the name of national security? Who decides what that is, anyway?

Accoding to the story Obama "... made it clear that the new cyber security effort will not involve any monitoring of private networks or individual e-mail accounts. The Internet, he said, should remain open and free."

I'm beginning to wonder about that. Maybe Little Brother is starting to get to me a little bit. Oh, and by the way, what part will the DHS play in this office?

Link to the full story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30998004/

The 5-Point Plan:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/obamas_five_point_security_plan

The White House Blog:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CyberReview/