"DHS will monitor more U.S. citizens on the Internet..."

[Vulpine]

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/devil-details-dhs-monitoring-web-wrong-words%C2%A0

I'm definitely a little behind since this is the first time that I've heard of DCS1000 and it's predecessor, Carnivore, but a quick Google turns up some pretty scary stuff. In my opinion, it seems that the whole terrorists/national security scare has put us on the fast track to a police-state. Naturally, I'm completely in favor of hunting down those who seek to harm innocents, but where do we ethically draw the line? I can't stop thinking about some bastardized real-life love-child of Philip K Dick and George Orwell...

[msbachman]

I've heard of DCS1000 and it's predecessor, Carnivore,

Don't quote me but I'm pretty sure DSC1000 is Carnivore...as in, the exact same thing only under a different name. Probably a PR stunt to give it a more bookish sounding name.

Nice article btw.

[TheNightFox]

We're on the fast tract to becoming like the world of Nineteen Eighty-four. It's quite scary.

The internet is being regulated by people who don't understand it. My country, yes. My government, no.

[Xah11aW]

That's scary. 1984 was definitely my favorite book, if you liked that, definitely read "little Brother" by Cory Doctorow. It was released two years ago and its all about the DHS monitoring people on the internet and through mobile devices. The book is really interesting because its real tech-heavy but damn scary because almost everything in there is possible.

[insomaniacal]

Come now... If you're innocent you have nothing to hide xD.

Anyways, I agree, it's not cool. Carnivore was a horrible idea. Targeting people based on evidence is fine by me, as long as evidence means real evidence of harmful intent. And as far as I'm concerned, downloading a copy of The Anarchist's Cookbook, does not constitute terror suspect.

Not to mention, the U.S. Government really needs a council on modern computing, preferably comprised of tech-savvy individuals, and of course, have it be open.
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pffff... yea right. In my dreams perhaps.

[Goatboy]

Come now... If you're innocent you have nothing to hide xD.

I know you're (probably) joking, but here's my response to that:

Let's assume for the moment that I do not, in fact, have anything to hide. If I refuse to give up my TrueCrypt password, does that mean I am hiding something? No! It means I am refusing to let them peer into my private life. By denying them access, I am setting a precedent for everyone else. If enough "innocent" people with nothing to hide keep refusing to give up their privacy, eventually it should become obvious that you have that right.

[TheNightFox]

None the less, it's sometimes a bit scary what can be found on the internet. I mean, it's not like you load up Google and start getting offers for drugs and assassins, like some techno-phobic people like to pretend, but I mean, I download books. Some of the books in my library are pretty scary. 21 techniques of silent killing, for one.
However, while I find it quite disturbing that people not as mentally sound as me might be reading these, I do still think it's not within ethics to monitor people for reading that sort of thing, as you said insomaniacal.

Reminds me of those GTA radio ads for Citizens United in Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety.

[Werevamp999]

I don't know about you guys, but I think this is all getting pretty scary. I was reading this article from a school computer, and the computer (which has remote viewing software to monitor students) won't even let me read some of this stuff. The internet runs through a proxy set up by our state (I believe, that is what I was told) for schools that has blocked many of they keywords that were listen in the given article. What happened to the principals this nation was founded upon? just saying.

[Vulpine]

What happened to the principals this nation was founded upon?

The Founding Fathers didn't legislate them, unfortunately. Which is probably a good thing in some regards.

[sanddbox]

What happened to the principals this nation was founded upon? just saying.

The whole idea of erecting a nation on top of principals is kind of disturbing - it seems like a grotesque way to kill someone. At any rate, I would wager they're dead, crushed under tons of building material. Wait, was that question rhetorical?