The Cyberterrorism Big Lie

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 15:10:16 -0800 (PST)
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: The Cyberterrorism Big Lie



Dave,

The nonsense level regarding "cyberterrorism" and the Internet has
been growing ever since 9/11, and I for one am starting to suspect
it's become part of a carefully reasoned campaign of misdirection.

The fables suggesting terrorists could use the Internet to take
down power grids, primary telecom channels, and other critical systems
seem of the same class as the nightmare scenarios painted by some
survivalists pre-Y2K, when we were assured the world could come
to an end at the stroke of midnight.

That the Internet is in many ways fragile and vulnerable is
a given.  But this is not exactly a news flash.  Anyone running such
crucial applications over (or connected to) the public Internet is
a fool, perhaps a dangerous fool -- no terrorists required.

It's as if tons of explosive nitro-glycerin were being shipping
all over the country on public highways, poorly packed in thin, flimsy,
glass containers, in the back of old flatbed trucks with lousy
shock-absorbers.  Terrorists probably wouldn't be at the top
of the worry list regarding those trucks -- the ineptitude of
using the vehicles in such an inappropriate way would be the
big issue.

Similarly, Internet users have far more to be concerned over
than terrorists attacking the Net.  Buggy Microsoft or other
software code might be a starting point.  And the sorts of
damage likely to occur falls much more into the denial of
service category than anything else -- like being unable
to access eBay or your favorite porn site for awhile.
Hardly the end of the world for most reasonable people, I assume.

So why do we keep hearing about the Internet cyberterror threat?
We heard it plenty during the Afghanistan war, when we were
provided with visions of Taliban busily hacking from their
secret caves.  Now the straw man is being dragged out yet again.

The most likely reason, it is reasonable to surmise, is to set
the stage for national government takeovers of the Internet.
By elevating the Internet inappropriately into the
national security sphere, it makes the case for government
control of the Net (and incidentally, pervasive Internet
monitoring, encryption bans, etc.) all the easier to justify.
Recent history suggests that some of the existing
Net "control" organizations (e.g. ICANN) may well play
into the hands of such a scheme.

And it may well be a successful strategy.  If you can get
the people at large to buy it, they'll clamor to
"take Internet decision-making and control away from those
darn technical eggheads and put it in the hands of the
Pentagon where it belongs!"  If you don't believe this could happen,
look at the current polls which say that half the U.S. population
thinks Iraq was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks -- a charge
not even made directly by Bush's hawks or intelligence services.
But as we've seen, careful manipulation of the debate can easily
plant false ideas without ever having to state the falsehoods
in a direct manner.

The Internet has become an immensely valuable symbol, capable
of vast good but also with enormous manipulative and propaganda
potential for those who control it, aspects which for some far
outstrip its true value from a technical mission standpoint.

If we allow this manipulation to continue along its current course,
we will cede the Internet, like so many other previously positive
aspects of our society, to the dark side.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
Web Flag: http://www.pfir.org/usa-peace-now.gif
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
                     Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
"Wired News" Commentaries -
        http://www.wired.com/news/storylist/0,2339,642,00.html
      & http://www.wired.com/news/storylist/0,2339,705,00.html


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