How come we keep seeing the Government involved in so many internet ventures .
Perfect Citizen
The FBI and Blogerty(Questionable)
Obama wanting control
Obama wants your info
Foxnews
Has search and advertising giant Google been tracking you just to sell you stuff -- or is it because the U.S. government asked it to? A congressional hearing Thursday may have raised more questions than answers.
Since May, Google has been in hot water worldwide over the information it collected during its street-mapping projects. European regulators have been pressing the company since it was revealed that Google collected information from Wi-Fi networks as its street-view vans cruised neighborhoods around the globe. The information Google gathered included e-mail fragments and passwords, alarming politicians and privacy and security advocates in Germany, France, and Spain.
Recently, the Washington Post noted as part of a two-year investigation into America's intelligence community that Google supplies special mapping and search products to the U.S. military and intelligence community, with some Google employees enjoying top secret clearance to work with the government. That news has consumer advocates and politicians asking exactly what information Google has collected -- and why.
"Is there some relationship between Google and the NSA (National Security Agency)?" asked Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. "Was this data shared with intelligence agencies in America? It's a question. We just want a straight answer." The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) civil-liberties organization has also weighed in, demanding that Google "grow up."
Friday, July 23, 2010
Is National Security Behind Google's Wi-Fi Spying?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Is the NSA's 'Perfect Citizen' the Ultimate Spying Tool?
This is when things get spooky , Government Intrusion of Privacy .
Perfect Citizen is needed , but access to everyday citizens PC's (Or internet activity) is just not Acceptable , and that is what this leads to .
No doubt something must be done , But instead of just stopping Bad Security Practices like letting workers at Nuke plants Browse the Internet , The Gov. feels it is necessary to just have access to everything !
My Problem is that Obama has already let it be Known that he would like Presidential powers to Block the internet and take control in a time of Crisis .
Foxnews
Could the NSA's new "Perfect Citizen" actually be used for spying on every citizen in the U.S.?
The name sounds like an action movie -- the heroic vigilante chases down the bad guys to aid his country and prevent a nuclear armageddon. It also sounds like the worst possible name for a government program intended to protect citizens, not spy on them.
The NSA's new cyber-security program Perfect Citizen will monitor nuclear power plants, train stations, and the electric power grid to safeguard against cyber-assaults.
And as the Wall Street Journal reported, the new program is intended to monitor cyber-terrorist threats and "would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack."
According to that report, Raytheon was awarded a $100M contract to develop Perfect Citizen. (Raytheon declined to comment to FoxNews.com, as did the NSA other than describing Perfect Citizen in an official statement as a "research and risk-assessment" project that does not use sensors.)
How would such a system work? Why do experts fear it could be turned against us? And should the government really be in the business of installing sensors on the private power grid and at nuclear plants owned by private companies?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
NSA Program Targets Domestic Cyber Attacks
Does perfect Citizen sound Intrusive ? YEP !
But at the same time , something needs to be done about the constant Cyber attacks on the U.S. , But you would have to expect with the Obama Administration leading this one , The Internet is Screwed !
Foxnews
The U.S. government is launching an expansive program dubbed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.
U.S. intelligence officials have grown increasingly alarmed about what they believe to be Chinese and Russian surveillance of computer systems that control the electric grid and other U.S. infrastructure.
Officials are unable to describe the full scope of the problem, however, because they have had limited ability to pull together all the private data.
Perfect Citizen will look at large, typically older computer control systems that were often designed without Internet connectivity or security in mind.
Many of those systems -- which run everything from subway systems to air-traffic control networks -- have since been linked to the Internet, making them more efficient but also exposing them to cyber attack.
The surveillance by the National Security Agency, the government's chief eavesdropping agency, would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure
that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, though it wouldn't persistently monitor the whole system, according to people familiar with the program.
Defense contractor Raytheon Corp. recently won a classified contract for the initial phase of the surveillance effort valued at up to US$100 million, said a person familiar with the project.
A spokeswoman for the NSA said the agency had no information to provide on the program. A Raytheon spokesman declined to comment.
Some industry and government officials familiar with the program see Perfect Citizen as an intrusion by the NSA into domestic affairs, while others say it is an important program to combat an emerging security threat that only the NSA is equipped to provide.
