Internet-based messaging services may soon be allowed to be wiretapped by the government, as the Obama administration is on the verge of backing up the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s proposal.

The FBI’s proposal for Internet wiretapping stems from the fact that court-approved eavesdropping on suspects using traditional communication is “going dark,” while other means of communicating have gained popularity.  In 2010, the FBI pushed for legal ways of wiretapping into instant messaging services by requiring companies such as Facebook and Google to build a backdoor that would make it easier for the FBI to wiretap, but the proposal was shut down.

The FBI’s revised proposal will now focus on companies not complying with court orders regarding wiretapping, instead of urging companies to make it easier to be wiretapped.  The only benefit of this new proposal is that start-up instant messaging companies need not worry about wiretapping issues, as the focus will be on more popular and larger services.

Who’s monitoring the monitors?

With the Obama administration backing up the wiretapping of instant messaging services, who’s to say that people’s privacy will be protected?  Anyone can be subjected to wiretapping even if you’re not a criminal, a terrorist or a suspect.  So should this proposal push forward, and who will police the police?

Gregory Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology says this of the proposal: “I think the F.B.I.’s proposal would render Internet communications less secure and more vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves,” “It would also mean that innovators who want to avoid new and expensive mandates will take their innovations abroad and develop them there, where there aren’t the same mandates.”

SiliconANGLE Contributing Editor John Casaretto shares Nojeim’s concerns regarding the FBI’s proposal, sharing his thoughts on this morning’s Live NewsDesk Show with Kristin Feledy (see video below).

“I’m personally on the side of liberty.  I’m a liberty guy.  The internet was created and got to where it is, good and bad, by being open.  It’s clear that some powers are required to intercept communications between criminal groups and things like that but there are some grave privacy concerns here and there’s nothing mentioned in here about abuses of the system and that’s a real big issue for me.  Who monitors the monitors?  What is built in there?  And I think that’s a big concern, one that hopefully comes to light pretty quickly if this thing moves along much further,” Casaretto stated.

3 Reasons why Internet wiretapping should not happen

Privacy – This is the primary concern if the FBI’s proposal pushes forward.  No one will know if they are being monitored; if their personal or intimate messages are being read by others; or mentioning something about the Obama administration gets you flagged by the FBI.  The possibilities are endless, which makes this whole deal frightening.

“People have expectations of privacy in their electronic communications, outside of telephone, that are different than for other forms of communication,” said Jeffrey C. Johnson, partner of the New York law firm Pryor Cashman, LLP. “Every day litigators run though e-mails in which people say things that they would never put into a memo or a letter. People think of it as a transitory thing, like having a chat with someone in the office. Moments after it’s over, it’s in the ether.”

Freedom is suppressed –  People say that you can say anything on the Internet because it is a medium where you can be free to express yourself, how you feel about the government, your opinion on political or religious issues, debate your head off with others and so on and so forth.  But with Internet wiretapping in the back of people’s mind, do you think people will still feel free to talk about anything under the sun without getting paranoid that someone may be listening in on the conversation?

A backdoor is always a weakness – The FBI’s proposal would make services less secure because there will always be that one door that will always be easy to unlock.  The fact that a backdoor for wiretapping exists, even if services secure it, hackers will always find a way to get in.

“At the very time when the nation is concerned about cybersecurity, the FBI proposal has the potential to make our communications less secure,”says Joe Hall, a senior staff technologist for the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Once you build a wiretap capability into products and services, the bad guys will find a way to use it.”

photo credit: Craig Damlo via photopin cc