Most of you may know that the government is the main body that is in control of what happens in the country and whatever they decide to do in whatever situation will always have an impact on your life whether directly or indirectly. So isn’t it wise to know about the government and the surveillance that they do on the internet? Find out the government, surveillance and government surveillance on the internet.
What is the government?
This refers to a body that governs a state, country or people and the internet refers to a network that is global and connects millions of computers. Mixing the two and the people of the USA allowing the government surveillance on the internet is a dangerous and hot topic!
Now that you know about the government and what the internet is, it is time to find out the Kinds of Monitoring that the government does on the internet (and if they really do).
The government of the United States monitors much of the activities that take place on the internet so that they may be able to ascertain the culprits who are engaging in illegal or terrorist activities. Although the government is able to collect a large amount of data it is only able to process so much since internet usage happens every day and the numbers are quite wide. Particular pages on the internet are monitored for specific reasons.
Government internet monitoring of email
The FBI and other agencies of the government monitor email conversations regularly and this has been happening for several years. One program that is used by the FBI to monitor such activities is known as ‘carnivore’. It uses conventional packet-sniffing technologies to keep track of email communications on the server side of email communications. Though this system was designed to filter emails and sought them it has been criticized for having several flaws in the security. For some reasons, the system is no longer in use but the government continues to monitor email activities using various other methods.
Traffic monitoring
Due to search warrants and national security needs different government agencies monitor the types of internet trafficking. Due to attacks on various federal computer network president Bush ensured that he expanded the capabilities of monitoring to minimize these attacks. Though the government claims that the expansion of the security monitoring systems are for monitoring capabilities it is not confirmed that this is entirely true as the type of traffic that the government is really monitoring is unknown.
We do know that because of Edward Snowden, the government surveillance on the internet can effect all of us.
Internet and computer monitoring in other countries
It may be thought of as a drastic thing that the United States government is doing with relation to internet monitoring but it is nothing compared to what methods are being used in other countries. For example, there are some countries that go as far as to block the sites that they think are inappropriate for citizens to be accessing.
No matter how drastic some of the steps that these governments might take may seem they are quite important for a number of reasons. These include:
- helping to detect and prevent cyber crime
- helping to detect and prevent access to sensitive data
- helping to detect and prevent terrorist
Advantages of having the government control the internet
Majority of internet users know that the internet can be a very strange and dangerous place especially if abused. There is a website for everything and for every thought. It is believed that if the government takes even more control of the internet then they will be able to stop child molesters from continuing with their activities and to prevent even more cases of this.
Internet monitoring and terrorism
Due to the 9/11 attacks Americans have developed a fear of terrorists and what they are capable of. As such, it has become a norm for Americans to be worried that these same terrorist may hack into databases and discover secret security information. There are however provisions on the patriot act that makes it possible for the government to investigate suspicious emails or the internet to discover if there is a possibility for terrorist intentions. Since the establishment of the act this makes it possible for the government to stop terrorist’s activities.
Child pornography
There are many sites on the internet and over the world which makes it possible for people to view child pornography. Using the site and creating them are illegal in the United States but still there are so many people who get arrested for accessing these sites per year. If the government was to put in place a system where these sites could not be accessed at all then fewer children would become victims to such crimes and fewer people would be able to view these sites.
Accessibility for Those with Special Needs
If the government was to have more control over the internet then it could put in place standard for website to accommodate those with special needs. A proposal was made to the government to have all websites on the internet with features that would enable the disabled to use them like anyone else. Today there are some websites that have these features but there is a growing need for all website to have these features.
This has become more popular over the years and there is a need for it to stop based on the effects that it has been having on children worldwide. This is a concern among parents and so many of them would like to see cyber bullying become illegal so that those who are guilty will have some form of punishment and will learn their lesson. If the government was to improve and increase their control on the internet then maybe cyber bullying would not be such a big cause for concern as it would be dealt with in a timely manner when it is not prevented by government surveillance on the internet.