Paradox Over Internet Privacy

This past week, President Obama introduced a radical proposition that could end with the concept of Internet-communication as we know it.

On September 27, the New York Times reported on new regulations being considered by President Obama's administration that would allow national security officials to wiretap all kinds of online-communication platforms. This bill would require all Internet-based communication companies to redesign their servers and adhere to federal security measures of wiretapping laws.

Although the bill won't be submitted to lawmakers until next year, the bill is already rising doubts and criticism. Among the opposers, one of them is Christopher Calabrese, Legislative Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Mandating that all communications software be accessible to the government is a huge privacy invasion," Calabrese said.

From e-mail to Facebook and even mobile texting, law enforcement would be able to tap private communication software and track conversations in an effort to identify possible threats to the U.S., including terrorist attacks.

Furthermore, another concern brought by this bill is the possible damage to all online-communication systems in the U.S. Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, expressed his concern of the bill in a special report by CNN.

"Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in," Schneier continued "Any surveillance system invites both criminal appropriation and government abuse."

In other words, not only will it be easier for federal security to spy on people but criminals would be more likely to do it as well, which I think defeats the purpose of increasing security measures.
Obviously, this new bill would have a drastic impact on individuals' privacy.

The free and open sharing of ideas and thoughts and the private communication scheme provided by the Internet years ago, could be seriously damaged if this law were to be approved.

Of course, security is an important issue, but will you be willing to give up your privacy for increased security?

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$5 Million Donation for Journalism Exhibit

HP donated $5 million to build a new journalism exhibit at the Newseum in Washington D.C.

The new exhibit will focus on technology and how it relates to journalism.

The exhibit will be an interactive place for visitors to experience the news, and it will show how certain forms of media may be used to report the news first.

In the article created by the Washington Post, one form of media was specifically noted.

Twitter was mentioned as to how it may be the first to deliver word or pictures of breaking news. Many journalists these days are utilizing Twitter to spread the news quicker.

The Newseum is clearly also relevant to journalists these days because it seems to educate the public on the importance of social media with how news is spread. I still here people complaining day to day about how Twitter, especially, is boring an inapplicable to them.

In reality, Twitter is applicable to those people because if they care at all about the news, which I think they should, then Twitter is an important tool for keeping up with it.

My hope is that this new exhibit at the Newseum will help non-journalists to better understand the uses of social media.

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