White House Claims Web Security Plan Won't Invade Privacy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

White House Claims Web Security Plan Won't Invade Privacy
By REUTERS 

Friday, 20 December, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Efforts to bolster Internet security will not lead to
increased government scrutiny of individuals' online habits, the White House
and industry sources said on Friday.

As it finalizes sweeping guidelines that aim to increase cybersecurity, the
Bush administration said individual privacy would not be affected by efforts
to prevent cyberattacks.

``The administration is not considering a proposal to monitor what
individuals do on the Internet,'' a spokesman for the transition to the
newly created Department of Homeland Security said.

High-tech companies, meanwhile, said they would resist government efforts to
get involved in the day-to-day operation of the global computer network.

In a set of preliminary guidelines released in September, the White House
said high-tech companies that keep an eye on the Internet should combine
their efforts and work with the government to better defend against computer
viruses, worms and other cyberattacks.

The New York Times in its Friday edition reported the White House is
planning a bigger government role in the proposed center that could possibly
lead to surveillance of individual users.

But high-tech sources who had been briefed on the updated plans said they
were not aware of any such change, and White House Cybersecurity czar
Richard Clarke assured high-tech firms the government only wanted them to
set up an ``early warning system'' to keep an eye on the health of the
Internet 

``This early warning system would, if companies chose to create it, involve
only highly aggregated information on the overall health of the Internet,''
Clarke said in a letter.

CAN'T READ E-MAILS 

Internet infrastructure firms such as AT&T Corp. and VeriSign Inc. already
maintain such ``network operating centers'' on their own, keeping an eye out
for unusual spikes in traffic that may signal a ``denial of service'' attack
similar to ones that have temporarily disabled high-profile sites like
Yahoo! and the White House.

But such centers cannot open e-mails or otherwise monitor content, industry
experts say; the system could not be used to ferret out members of al Qaeda
or other militant groups.

The head of a high-tech trade group said government involvement in this
system is not needed as these companies are already in constant
communication with each other.

``They already do it just fine, they don't need government help,'' said
Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of
America. ``There are so many people monitoring the system that nothing's
going to fall through the cracks.''

The system may be more like highway traffic cameras that watch for accidents
rather than individual police stops, but government involvement is still
worrisome, said Stewart Baker, former general counsel to the National
Security Agency, who now represents Internet service providers.

``Even if they're only able to do the sorts of searches you'd expect a
network operating center to be able to do, it still raises these
questions,'' Baker said. ``When do they leave the room?''

Internet service providers -- which do handle individual communications --
are not likely to cooperate with government surveillance efforts unless
commanded by court order, an industry source said, because it would
discourage people from using the Internet.

A spokesman for America Online said the company had not seen the revised
guidelines and thus could not comment, but said the popular access provider
would work to balance privacy with security.

Privacy experts said they were not familiar with the revised version of the
security plan, which is expected to be released early next year.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)   

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To unsubscribe or update your address, click
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/