DHS: Net monitoring for homeland terror

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Reply to. dave () farber net



Begin forwarded message:

> From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
> Date: June 19, 2010 9:21:15 PM EDT
> To: List Infowarrior <infowarrior () attrition org>
> Cc: Farber Dave <dave () farber net>
> Subject: DHS: Net monitoring for homeland terror

> I'm sure the USG will pledge this will be done ONLY for 'terrorism' yet how long before it is extended to other 
> crimes?  Remember that's what happened with the so-called USA PATRIOT act.....how many extensions/abuses of that 
> 'terrorism' law have been discovered? This will be a First Amendment nightmare, IMHO.   -rick
>
> Napolitano: Internet Monitoring Needed to Fight Homegrown Terrorism
>
> Published June 18, 2010
>
> | Associated Press
>
> http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/18/napolitano-internet-monitoring-needed-fight-homegrown-terrorism/
>
>
> WASHINGTON -- Fighting homegrown terrorism by monitoring Internet communications is a civil liberties trade-off the 
> U.S. government must make to beef up national security, the nation's homeland security chief said Friday. 
>
> As terrorists increasingly recruit U.S. citizens, the government needs to constantly balance Americans' civil rights 
> and privacy with the need to keep people safe, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. 
>
> But finding that balance has become more complex as homegrown terrorists have used the Internet to reach out to 
> extremists abroad for inspiration and training. Those contacts have spurred a recent rash of U.S.-based terror plots 
> and incidents. 
>
> "The First Amendment protects radical opinions, but we need the legal tools to do things like monitor the recruitment 
> of terrorists via the Internet," Napolitano told a gathering of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. 
>
> Napolitano's comments suggest an effort by the Obama administration to reach out to its more liberal, Democratic 
> constituencies to assuage fears that terrorist worries will lead to the erosion of civil rights. 
>
> The administration has faced a number of civil liberties and privacy challenges in recent months as it has tried to 
> increase airport security by adding full-body scanners, or track suspected terrorists traveling into the United 
> States from other countries. 
>
> "Her speech is sign of the maturing of the administration on this issue," said Stewart Baker, former undersecretary 
> for policy with the Department of Homeland Security. "They now appreciate the risks and the trade-offs much more 
> clearly than when they first arrived, and to their credit, they've adjusted their preconceptions." 
>
> Underscoring her comments are a number of recent terror attacks over the past year where legal U.S. residents such as 
> Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad and accused Fort Hood, Texas, shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan, are believed to 
> have been inspired by the Internet postings of violent Islamic extremists. 
>
> And the fact that these are U.S. citizens or legal residents raises many legal and constitutional questions. 
>
> Napolitano said it is wrong to believe that if security is embraced, liberty is sacrificed. 
>
> She added, "We can significantly advance security without having a deleterious impact on individual rights in most 
> instances. At the same time, there are situations where trade-offs are inevitable." 
>
> As an example, she noted the struggle to use full-body scanners at airports caused worries that they would invade 
> people's privacy. 
>
> The scanners are useful in identifying explosives or other nonmetal weapons that ordinary metal-detectors might miss 
> -- such as the explosives that authorities said were successfully brought on board the Detroit-bound airliner on 
> Christmas Day by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is accused of trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his 
> underwear, but the explosives failed, and only burned Abdulmutallab. 
>
> U.S. officials, said Napolitano, have worked to institute a number of restrictions on the scanners' use in order to 
> minimize that. The scans cannot be saved or stored on the machines by the operator, and Transportation Security 
> Agency workers can't have phones or cameras that could capture the scan when near the machine.



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