Race and class in the US: Big Brother is at it again
BY MALIK MIAH
Bureaucracies, dictators and the ruling capitalists don't like internet technologies to be in the hands of the common people in the United States, or anywhere around the world. As far as they're concerned, "globalisation" is for exploitation purposes only — for the free movement of capital.
The internet provides the oppressed with access to information and possibilities for organising that were inconceivable only a few years ago. So what happens when workers and peasants begin to become informed? The powerful strike back, and the most powerful rulers on the planet reside in Washington, D.C.
On July 17, the White House announced a new spying plan to "protect" us from criminals. Proposed legislation will set requirements for surveillance in cyberspace by law enforcement authorities which are similar to those for telephone wiretaps. (The Federal Bureau of Investigation can now get a court order to listen in on your telephone).
A new FBI computer system will search and intercept private email to catch "criminals". But, the FBI admits, the system can easily capture communications of people who are not suspected of crimes.
According to an article in the July 18 New York Times, the system is called "Carnivore, so named, agents say, because it is able to quickly get the 'meat' in huge quantities of email messages, so-called instant messaging and other communications between computers".
"Carnivore", the article continues, "is housed in a small black box and consists of hardware and software that trolls for information after being connected to the network of an Internet service provider. Once installed, it has the ability to monitor all of what mail is sent to the actual content of the communications."
The FBI's chief of the cyber-technology section said the technology "can do a ton of things. That's why it's illegal to do so without a clear order from the court."
Privacy and civil liberties groups have questioned the proposed law. Their criticisms, however, are mainly of the broad authority the new law will give to the FBI, rather than of the government being allowed to spy on us at all.
The rightward shift of all US politics in this post-Cold War, neo-liberal era is most evident in the retreat on civil liberties by past opponents of Big Brother spying. Most liberals support the government's supposed right to spy on citizens it declares possible criminals, or worse, supporters of foreign "terrorists". These liberals, like most conservatives, favour a surveillance system so long as it has some "privacy" protections built into it.
In truth, the government can and does spy on its citizens (and has for decades) to protect its political and economic interests. And its main targets have usually been union militants, racial and national minorities (especially African Americans) and others who challenge the power of the ruling elites.
The fact that the White House has so openly proposed a law that undermines US citizens' privacy rights, which had been enhanced after the 1970s Watergate scandal, shows its arrogant use of power.
This move to turn covert Big Brother activities into open law is not unique to the United States. The July 19 New York Times reported on a similar bill proposed by the British government called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill. Because the protection of civil liberties in Britain is weaker than in the US, the Labour Party-led government has not even had to include a provision making it necessary to get a court order to begin surveillance.
"The measure", stated the NYT, "would make Britain the only Western democracy where the government could require anyone using the Internet to turn over the keys to decoding e-mail messages and other data. Such a measure would be an important tool for the government because data is increasingly being encrypted for reasons of security and privacy."
Moreover, the British plan requires that internet providers install and maintain the black boxes at their own expense and according to specifications set out by the government. "The powers in the bill are necessary and proportionate to the threat posed by 21st century criminals, no more, no less", said Charles Clarke, the Home Office official in charge of the bill.
The purpose of these new pieces of legislation is to give the ruling elites the legal right to do what they already do covertly. Although such legal cover will not give them a completely free rein (young hackers will always find ways to break even the most sophisticated security systems), trade unions and civil rights groups must roundly condemn and organise against the new intrusions by Big Brother.