More Censorship

Glenn Greenwald reports

Some day soon, when pro-democracy campaigners have their cellphones confiscated by police, they'll be able to hit the "panic button" -- a special app that will both wipe out the phone's address book and emit emergency alerts to other activists. The panic button is one of the new technologies the U.S. State Department is promoting to equip pro-democracy activists in countries ranging from the Middle East to China with the tools to fight back against repressive governments. . [emphasis in original]

I applaud the effort to make it easier to oppose dictators.  I won't even excoriate corporations for double-dipping and selling blocking software as well as this so-called panic button.

More important than reporting about this panic button is Greenwald's reminder that the US government is also in the business of monitering people's communication.  Greenwald cites the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNET to illustrate the pervasivness of the intrusion before ironically noting

Thankfully, the U.S. is working hard to protect people around the world from "repressive governments" which are "capable of breaking into" the Internet and -- even worse -- use that power to invade people's accounts and learn with whom they're speaking and associating!

I guess it boils down to a simple reminder given by some old texts. The Bible asserts the love of money is the root of all evil.  James Madison claims that government is the greatest reflection of human nature.  It's worth remembering that the link between greed and power is always dangerous.
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Today in Censorship: Frightening and Stupid Edition

Homer Simpson won’t be able to cause a meltdown.  Actually, he may but people in Europe won’t get to see it according to a New York Daily News article; “Broadcasters in Europe have begun reviewing episodes of "The Simpsons" to make sure that one featuring a meltdown doesn't air.  The Hollywood Reporter says networks in Germany, Switzerland and Austria have all taken a close look at episodes set to air in the near future.” 

On a much more serious note, President Obama is putting American troops in harms way by supporting the Libyan uprising while “Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet” using technology provided by American companies.  The Wall Street Journal article reports that plans to use “technology from U.S.-based Palo Alto Networks Inc. [that] promises to give Bahrain more blocking options and make it harder for people to circumvent censoring.”

While companies like McAfee help dictators, “the State Department has spent more than $20 million to fund software and technologies that help people in the Middle East circumvent Internet censorship that is sustained by Western technology.”

The Journal reports that “a forthcoming report from OpenNet, ISPs in at least nine Middle East and North African countries have used ‘Western-made tools for the purpose of blocking social and political content, effectively blocking a total of over 20 million Internet users from accessing such websites.’”

President Obama claims that military action in Libya is “the greatest opportunity to realign our interests and our values."   I have no idea how selling censorship software to dictators fits with those values unless the only value American corporations have is making a profit no matter the moral cost.