In an editorial appearing in the Washington Times on February 4, 2011, the writer criticizes the Obama Administration's National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace ("NS-TIC"), as well as the federal government overall for recent attempts to grant "a White House cyberczar [what the writer calls] Mubarak-like power to declare an emergency and issue directives to any private companies deemed . . . critical by government."
The writer points out that private companies are better suited to guard the Internet, as they "have more of an incentive to preserve their billion-dollar investments than '9 to 5' bureaucrats with guaranteed lifetime employment." And, in reference to Egypt's temporary Internet shut-down, the writer notes that these "clumsy censorship attempts were bypassed with proxy severs and other simple workarounds."
With regard to the NS-TIC, the writer argues that despite assurances from administration officials that the NS-TIC will not operate as a national ID system, "any government involvement in identity management or security on the Internet is a bad idea. Big-government types can't resist the urge to control things they feel are currently beyond thier grasp. . . . The temptation to squelch inconvenient speech is too great; no political should ever be given a button to silence the Internet."
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The entire editorial piece can be found at the link provided above, or here.
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