| With government agencies, one often has to try to | | | | from the FBI before building homes? The ostensible |
| guess what they are hiding. A close look at a FCC | | | | reason would be to make sure the FBI could place |
| policy document released at 9 p.m. on a Friday may | | | | cameras and wire taps in every home to monitor and |
| shock you. | | | | stop terrorist activities. Surely, nobody could disagree |
| Controlling Software | | | | with such a noteworthy goal. On the other hand, how |
| The Federal Communications Commission has issued | | | | would you feel about having cameras in each room of |
| a policy paper that sets free speech back a few | | | | your home? |
| thousand years. Yep, the FCC is taking the position | | | | For a counter argument, government apologists claim |
| that computer software companies must first get | | | | that the FBI would watch the computer activity of only |
| approval from the FBI before they will be allowed to | | | | a small number of people because the FBI doesn't |
| put software products on the market. Think about that | | | | have the manpower to do anything else. This |
| for a minute and cringe. | | | | argument is so much nonsense. "Watching" computer |
| The ostensible reason for Big Brother's power grab is, | | | | activity doesn't require manpower. It is a technical |
| once again, the pursuit of terrorist and bad, bad people. | | | | function carried out by a software program. The FBI |
| You see, Brother wants to make every software | | | | already has such programs, including the controversial |
| company put a backdoor in their systems that lets Big | | | | green lantern program. If it didn't, why would it want this |
| Brother access your computer on the sly to keep an | | | | power? |
| eye on you. No doubt, many evil people use Adobe | | | | FBI monitoring programs run automatically. They |
| and Microsoft products! | | | | continually accumulate data, which can be accessed |
| Big Brother Out of Control? | | | | when needed. This data collection can be used in |
| Obviously, everyone is interested in catching terrorists | | | | thousands of different ways by hundreds of different |
| and bad guys. The idea of giving the FBI carte blanche | | | | agencies. For instance, what if the IRS audits you? |
| power over the software industry, however, goes | | | | What is to stop it from accessing your computer data |
| way beyond such concerns. Let us consider a | | | | and looking at all of the sessions you performed online |
| practical example. | | | | banking? Nothing. The IRS and FBI work hand-in-hand |
| What if construction companies had to seek approval | | | | on numerous prosecutions. |