Gotta have an ominous-looking photo to accompany stories like this
Do you remember how, earlier in the year, New York’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, set his sights on ISPs that provided Usenet access to their users? Cuomo argued that Usenet is a safe haven for child pornography and that it’s up to ISPs to shut off the spicket. We’ve discussed this at length, but now there’s another development you should be aware of: the use of deep packet inspection to monitor every single packet of data you send, making sure that you’re not accessing any sort of illicit material, here, child pornography.
MSNBC, of all outlets, has a truly remarkable report on how Cuomo, ISPs (including AOL), law enforcement and an Australian company are all involved in trying to eliminate the offending material from being traded online. There’s a lot of talk on whether or not deep packet inspection is appropriate here: true, no one wants to see child porn online, but who’s to say, some time from now, the authorities don’t decide to use the underlying technology for something else? Something along the lines of, “In order to keep you all safe from terrorists we’ll be deep pack inspecting everything from now on.” Then what if the likes of the RIAA/MPAA get involved—“Hey, we need to use this technology to protect our intellectual property.” Slippery slope, sure, but something to think about.
Nothing they have done has provided proof of it yet so why start now?
mmm…financial chart…ominous indeed! (looks like an old pic…its trending upwards :))
Seriously though, I think you are right about the “slippery slope” - the road to hell is paved with good intentions (cynics will question the good intentions). The situation can only go downhill - governments never reduce their powers, and sadly as they add to their powers your rights slowly erode. I think George Orwell nailed it in his book 1984 (out by a few decades though).
Isn’t deep packet inspection effectively neutralized by encryption?
Yes. Their “deep packet inspection” is not very deep at all - easily avoided using encryption and anonymous networks like Tor. This is an extremely bad way of solving the problem, by monitoring those who are not conducting illegal activity, and not being able to do anything about those who are.
Yes, simple SSL encryption renders it useless. Tor might help, but it was broken and I’m not sure if it was ever worked out how to re-secure it. I don’t like these attempts at pre-crime and assuming everyone is guilty. Old fashioned police work is what catches these types of criminals. It would be nice to see the millions wasted on software and bloated pre-crime organizations spent on the police departments instead.
It’s definitely a slippery slope.
Politicians know that the quickest way to convince large groups of people to agree to sign away their privacy and civil rights without any attempt to consider the issue logically is to invoke fear.
Usually it’s fear of terrorists, or losing our way of life (see Patriot Act & $700 Billion Bailout pork in the fine print), but Protecting The Children is the oldest, most reliable method of creating an emotional fear-based response.
The beauty of such tactics — if you are a politician — is that you can portray your opposition as a supporter of whatever it is they are allegedly preventing, in your own best interest, of course.
“Don’t worry,” they chortle. “It only affects people who have something to hide,” neglecting to inform you who decides what crosses the line, or even who defines the lines.
Today it is child pornography.
What is it tomorrow?
Always beware any politician or government group who wants you to give up your personal freedoms for your own good.
“Who watches the watchmen?”
– Alan Moore, UK author
what’s a spicket?
“Spigot,” maybe?
Can we trust them? Probably not. Will it matter if they deep penetrate us? Also probably not because it’s just another step in the arms race.
The ISP-controlled net as we currently know it just becomes a commercialised, regulated wasteland like TV is today. The geeky interesting copyfighting stuff is then all in micro-storage, devices powered over wireless, mesh routing, ad hoc graphs. Oooh ya. It’s gonna get fragmented kids! We have the protocols and they can’t touch us.
Please don’t call it child pornography. Pornography is legitimate, there is nothing legitimate about abused children. Please call it what it is — child sexual abuse images.
Cuomo is an idiot, and McCain wants to bring him into his cabinet. They used to scare us into submission with terrorism. I guess that doesn’t work anymore, so now, relinquish your freedoms for the sake of the children.
let the authorities do what they need to do to nail these bastards. Let’s not protect the bad guys because we are afraid of a theoretical threat to our privacy. The cops have too many real threats to worry about to spend time listening in on your phone conversations with you grandmother.
The more this happens the more reasons they give us to use free encryption like GnuPG and Truecrypt. Because we all have something to hide.
Cuomo is the one who needs to be watched carefully as it’s been blogged on numerous news sites. He’s been threatening, harassing and interfering with a woman’s personal business, trying to ruin her, because she refused to chase him and compete for his personal attention. I now her. She’s an attractive blond who teaches NYC yoga & dance and her name is Denise. She kept the paper work, voice mails and emails (which he didn’t count on) to prove these allegations that he’s been making her life hell for over 2 & 1/2 years. First he buried her credit card identity theft case being investigated by Officer Paul Arroyo at Precinct 24. Then he blocked Attorney Alfonso DeCicco from advising her about her apt rental and consequently she lost her home and had to spend a fortune to move. He also pressured her HMO doctor, Elizabeth Uchitelle, so much over a small reimbursement, she eventually closed her West 66th St office and ditched Denise. Andrew Cuomo is a bully behind closed doors who is attacking an innocent woman for personal satisfaction. He thinks he is above the law and has way too much power, breaking the public’s trust. Recently a reporter from a well-known newspaper joined Cuomo and tried to frame me for speaking out, but it didn’t work, and now I have the reporter’s emails to back this up. Enough is enough! Denise has been afraid to come forward for the longest time and has taken his abuse. Wouldn’t you be scared? But her friends almost have her convinced to tell the story and show the paperwork to the public and the press after national elections. It’s time for full tranparency for the NYS Attorney General. He is corrupt and been hurting an innocent woman to stroke his own inflated ego for way to long. Shine the sunlight on Andrew Cuomo! Let justice be served!!
dumb.
this is a violation of our privacy and likely federal electronic communication laws. this is wiretapping at its worst.
it is a small step to use this technology for other purposes (the sky is the limit)
You where people are absolutely safe from Child Pornographers and Terrorists?
North Korea.
Cuomo’s lust for higher office requires the destruction of our liberties and privacies. Sadly, he is not the exception, rather just leading the wave of politicos who see democracy as nothing more than a bumper sticker.