Nu Kua
Feb 14th, 2011, 9:10 AM
You ought to read this story in full, because there is some vital information on how tracking technology is embedded already.
Ryan Singel writes for Wired.com (http://tinyurl.com/4mrdb92):
Congressman Bill Keating plans to introduce legislation putting limits on U.S. companies selling net monitoring equipment to repressive regimes, after news that a Boeing subsidiary sold powerful net inspection technology to Egypt’s state telecom.
“The Iranian and Egyptian protests have taught us that social media can be as powerful as any gun,” said Rep. Keating (D-Massachusetts). “Companies that are selling technology to countries that are using it to perpetuate human rights abuses must work with Congress to make this right...
I kind of doubt that Congress will go for it, or if they do, it will be "surface" with lots of "provisions" included, because as the story goes on to tell:
...However, nearly all carrier-grade phone and internet equipment now ships with so-called “intercept capability,” thanks to a 1996 U.S. law called CALEA which mandated that all U.S. phone networks be capable of very sophisticated wiretapping.
In 2002, the FCC — at the behest of the FBI — extended those wiretapping requirements to the internet (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/05/reminder_monday/), prompting major manufacturers to build those capabilities into their equipment as defaults.
These federal requirements also benefited Narus, whose powerful monitoring equipment is used by many of the nation’s telecoms to provide the legally required wiretapping systems needed to comply with U.S. government wiretapping orders.
Activists can often evade the worst of such surveillance using encrypted communication tools, but even these are now under assault by the FBI, which is seeking to have Congress require that encryption technology have backdoors for government surveillance.
Ryan Singel writes for Wired.com (http://tinyurl.com/4mrdb92):
Congressman Bill Keating plans to introduce legislation putting limits on U.S. companies selling net monitoring equipment to repressive regimes, after news that a Boeing subsidiary sold powerful net inspection technology to Egypt’s state telecom.
“The Iranian and Egyptian protests have taught us that social media can be as powerful as any gun,” said Rep. Keating (D-Massachusetts). “Companies that are selling technology to countries that are using it to perpetuate human rights abuses must work with Congress to make this right...
I kind of doubt that Congress will go for it, or if they do, it will be "surface" with lots of "provisions" included, because as the story goes on to tell:
...However, nearly all carrier-grade phone and internet equipment now ships with so-called “intercept capability,” thanks to a 1996 U.S. law called CALEA which mandated that all U.S. phone networks be capable of very sophisticated wiretapping.
In 2002, the FCC — at the behest of the FBI — extended those wiretapping requirements to the internet (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/05/reminder_monday/), prompting major manufacturers to build those capabilities into their equipment as defaults.
These federal requirements also benefited Narus, whose powerful monitoring equipment is used by many of the nation’s telecoms to provide the legally required wiretapping systems needed to comply with U.S. government wiretapping orders.
Activists can often evade the worst of such surveillance using encrypted communication tools, but even these are now under assault by the FBI, which is seeking to have Congress require that encryption technology have backdoors for government surveillance.