internet control bill

Federal law enforcement agencies and the US National Security Service are preparing a bill that should force owners of social networks to use special software that allows intelligence agencies to read users' correspondence and listen to phone messenger calls. When reading mail and listening to conversations, the authorities undertake to act within the framework of the law on the protection of personal data. The main argument in favor of the new law is the threat to the country's security due to the inability to control the flow of information on the network.

James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, says that the government's actions will have serious consequences and defended "the fundamental elements of the Internet revolution", including its "decentralized" design: "They want to turn back the clock and make using the internet the same as using phones.”

The central topic for discussion in the US blogosphere has become the problem of "transparency" of the network. Users complain that the Obama administration encroaches on personal space already on the Internet. In response, Consul General Valerie E. Caproni responds: "We are not interested in the privacy of Americans, but are concerned about the security of the homeland." However, no one from the administration of the US President commented on the possibility of third-party criminal groups installing software and using personal information in an illegal way.

Investigators have been concerned for years that changing communications technology could damage their ability to conduct surveillance. In recent months, representatives from the FBI, the Department of Justice, the National Security Agency, the White House and other agencies have been meeting to develop a proposed solution.

Communications corporations have already begun work on software that allows users to record conversations as part of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (http://www.askcalea.net/calea/), which allows the government to control the information of all communications media. But in practice, the law does not apply to social networks, since some companies are not technically able to provide intelligence services with access to information, while others are waiting for the US authorities to install the necessary software themselves.

So far, there is no evidence of how much the use of information obtained from telephone wiretapping has helped in the investigation or capture of criminal elements. However, one of the officials said that, for example, the detention of members of the drug cartel failed due to the fact that the criminals used not a cell phone to communicate, but a messenger, the information of which is not stored on any of the servers.

The news was prepared by Evgeny Reznik .