CTD for February 5, 2006

No…I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat but instead am connecting the dots. This week’s dots are U.S. intent on geopolitical, space and cyberspace dominance. The pieces are falling in to place to ensure that, over time, the ability to control (and perform surveillance on) the internet is achieved. Discussed in this podcast are the following:

• Project for the New American Century. The PNAC proposes to control the new “international commons” of space and “cyberspace” and pave the way for the creation of a new military service “U.S. Space Forces” with the mission of space control.

• National Security Agency warrantless surveillance and the issues surrounding it and as a precursor to control of cyberspace.

• At Stake: The Net as We Know It. “(I)n a Nov. 7 interview with BusinessWeek Online, AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. declared: “What [Google, Vonage, and others] would like to do is to use my pipes free. But I ain’t going to let them do that.” Whitacre and AT&T argue that they need flexibility to exact a toll from Web services that hog bandwidth.”

• EFF Sues AT&T to Stop Illegal Surveillance: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Tuesday, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications.

• Esther Dyson on CSpan discussing “The Future of the Internet“. Provides an interesting perspective on the internet, U.S. position and other countries lack of participation.

Link to the podcast

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