Obama Going Ahead With Bush-Era Plan To Screen Computer Networks

Washington Post:

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Changeling]

Change?

[totaldisbelief]

We have no Change...only large Bills

[Furby]

LOL

[Miketou]

I'm starting to feel uneasy about President Obama. I feel he's not as he seems.

[Antifascist-08]

He is an Arab, right?

[snapshot1940]

And an extremist Christian, too, as I remember.

[Coinyer101]

I have mixed feelings on this. Does this mean that they will track me down and beat me up, if I keep up my 3-times-daily, emails to the Wh.guv? I only say the same thing in each one: YES WE CANNABIS!

[I guess I better stop ,or the President be sendin' the D E a to rough me up.....,]

[wijg]

LOL!

[totaldisbelief]

you'll go to a FEMA camp for "instruction"

[TheGuide]

What's the problem with this? Policing government computer traffic on private-sector networks is no different from companies that police their employees' computer usage. We're living in a time when the government needs be watching its back to protect the American people. Obama has this nation's best interest at heart. I don't see him approving this without good reason.

[Antifascist-08]

Cyber hacking by foreign governments and other entities is one of the biggest security issues we face at this time and it is only going to get bigger. We have already been compromised by Russia, China and other factions. This is serious business.

Before these headlines appear on this site i wish the so called "EDITORS" would check all the facts and DETAILS before they start their usual round of inflammatory headlines.

Obama needs to upgrade our network security. Right now it is way below international standards as well as just plain behind the times. He is not going to be able to do that without looking at all the possible connections that can be used to hack the system.

He is not George Bush or Dick Cheney and those of you who keep pressing these comparisons are obviously just tro lls and paid bloggers.

[jsgaetano]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

But then again, when Senator Obusha voted to make GWB's illegal wiretapping legal, we all knew this was going to happen.

"Land of the Free" no longer.

[KLordsha]

FAIL @ this left leocon nuttery...

[HypocriticalSpamazon]

Yet you voted for him anyway. Who's fault is that?

[jsgaetano]

That's funny, I didn't know I voted for him.

[AlwaysaLiberal]

Then don't vote for him next time and go away.

[jsgaetano]

That's funny, I didn't know I voted for him.

[Space Walker]

This country is heading in a sad direction and ignorant folks out of love for their dear leader cant see whats happening. A totalitarian system is never built in a day, its small steps that build it, each leader contribute to such a system. You folks are witnessing the end of America, with its lazy citizens watching their rights go through the window.

[MikeRdg]

started awhile ago

[medic628]

Over the last thirty plus years the government and every president has created something or changed the language of the conversation and their actions to something that resembles Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany. Inform on you neighbor, take this or that right away in the name of freedom or protection. a climate of fear has been created and perpetuated. Do you remember papa Bush kept saying and repeating "New World Order". We now know what that meant. In many ways this country resembles the fall of the Roman Empire.

[Antifascist-08]

You should know. Sorry we had to interrupt your process with Cheney and Bush. Better luck next time, jack a$$.

[medic628]

Like to meet you face to face for man to man coward.

[KLordsha]

The Big Brother vs. National Security debate is one that will continue for awhile. While I tend to side with National Security..it does make you wonder just how much privacy we will have in say 10 years..

[loki]

None, just look up and smile at the cameras at stoplights and street corners on every block of every big city. Soon it will branch out to the country sides when technology allows and it will be Gov reality tv 24/7 watching every move and listening to every word. The phone, the internet, and any public and many private places are already wired and watching. 1984 was delayed by technical problems, but its on track again.

[Furby]

You guys slay me. You've got Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. and you put all your personal crap on those, but heaven forbid the government should want to monitor its own sites, then your knickers are all in a knot. Make up your minds.

[jsgaetano]

If you can't see the difference between volunteering information vs. having Big Brother building case files on every US citizen, there's something seriously wrong with you.

[sqwerl]

where is the ACLU????

the hypocricy is overwhelming.

[Quaoar]

Do you have a link to the ACLU opposing the same policy under the Bush Administration? If not, then the charge of hypocrisy is unfounded.

[Furby]

They're probably on Facebook, like the rest of the friggin world. Secrets, my a$$. We're not that interesting.

[Okieborn]

President Obama is very Right !!

[scooperss]

For sure. No one should ever accuse him of being on the left.

[ntmessage]

Personally, I like a President that does what he feels is right for the American people and is not beholden to the “not invented here” tyranny or rejects completely out of hand everything that the predecessor did. Remember ABC? Boy that worked well didnt it?

With Bush, I wanted to think that he knew something that we all did not and in hindsight, he was doing most things exactly at face value. So we did not know how intellectually bankrupt Bush was and that was a flaw for the American people to deal with.

Obama on the other hand, so far, I trust knows things we do not know and is making intellectually honest choices at this time regarding issues that he directly controls, like this one.

Congress, on the other hand, like Bush is another story.

[wisecrack]

Another feel-good moment.

[DrPneumann]

Thats 3 handed logic.

[just saying]

Boy are in Obama's pocket big time!

[scooperss]

Comments like these make me want to bang my head.

[ntmessage]

Bang away. Point is to all of the snark here, is this is about the public trust and who is violating it and who is not. This is not a new issue. We get looked over every day for everything under the sun so debate and regulation for this needs to happen and we need to get it out in the open. Clinton wanted to do this years ago and did not succeed. We let blind clerics who were suspected of terrorism send messages without debate. Then we got 911 and if you were not directly affected by it, you have no business commenting on flawed ideals.

[Furby]

Or what's left of it.

[KoolAidAmerica]

So hes statist nationalist and socialist. 1930s Europe here we come.

[LinkSync]

Efforts to provide not only governmental, but also private sector security have to be pushed forward.
Achieving security while also achieving privacy for individuals as well as business is the difficulty.
Our nation, our business interests, and our individual selves are all far to vulnerable anymore to continue to rely on simple marker forces to find the way forward.
There is a market for cyber security, and it is begining to work to bring forward real changes.
The problem is it is and will continue to provide a hidge podge of stand alone discontected and there fore ineffective solutions.
Some things need only light pass thru security and some things need deep and robust security and all this needs to be interoperable and capable of interfacing.
I for one welcome the Governments pressence in these efforts as it alone has the huge buying power to provide the pull required to effect real change which is so needed.
For a good long time now good faith efforts have been made and are ongoing, that include everyone at the table as ideas and knowledge are shared openly like never before.
This is not the place to fear SNOOPING. Instead fear MISTAKES and vulnerabilities to actual cyber attacks that are trying and could succeed at devestating American institutions of every kind.
The threats are real, the need is real, the fear is misplaced.

[Offshore-Banker]

I think most if not all of us assumed with George W. and his cronies out of the white house, some if not a few freedoms & liberties would be returned to the general US population.

It Seems NOT - Big Brother continues......

Ron
Offshore Secrets Network
www.offshoresecrets.com

[Gabrielle]

SO DEPRESSING!

[NC4Obama]

Oh yes we should be very scared, they are looking at traffic coming from and to government systems. God forbid they figure out who is attacking their systems or find ways to improve traffic flow.

[FaaLaveLave]

Don't kid yourself.............they are looking at EVERYTHING.

[just saying]

Listen to yourself! You're saying it's okay for your government to read your email! That's NOT okay, no matter how much you love your leader. Period.