Obama’s Surveillance State Targets PCs, Laptops and Media Devices
By David J. Theroux • Sunday April 5, 2009 9:13 PM PDT • 6 Comments
According to Russia Today, in the name of protecting copyright infringements, the Obama administration is now pushing for an international treaty to allow governments to have sweeping access to anyone’s PC, laptop and other electronic devices in order to make copies of any files. Attempts by privacy and civil liberties groups to have copies of the documents released have been refused.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Criminal Justice, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Law, Media, Personal Liberty, Presidential Power, Science, Surveillance, The State, Video 
Where’s the proof?
Ben | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
“According to Russia Today”?
What wrong D? As “Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Independent Institute”, certainly you are capable of doing a wee bit of simple research on your own. I am left wondering if this is not evidence of you playing CYA while shouting “Obomination”, using specious allegations that take very little effort to disprove. Here’s a small backgrounder to aid in illuminating your mind:
The treaty referred to her[e] [sic] is The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and should be a matter of concern for privacy advocates anywhere in the world. Alleging ACTA is a part of “Obama’s Surveillance State” is laughably absurd.
On a October 23, 2007, Press Release, The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), first publicly noted ACTA.
WikiLeaks published an ACTA draft on May 21, 2008.
June 2008, EFF and Public Knowledge filed an FOIA request with the USTA, requesting that the specifics of ACTA be made public.
EFF and Public Knowledge filed an ACTA FOIA suit on September 17, 2008 against the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
On October 10, 2008, The DOJ, replied to the lawsuit, opposing the FOIA request.
January 29th, 2009, 10 days after the Obama inauguration, EFF issued a press release questioning whether Obama’s promise of government transparency would include opening up the ACTA treaty negotiations to the public.
On March 18, 2009, The Senate approved Obama’s USTR appointee, Ron Kirk.
On March 19, 2009, USTR officials: Daniel Sepulveda, USTR for Congressional Affairs, Timothy Reif, USTR General Counsel, Catherine Field, USTR Chief Counsel for Legal Affairs, and Stanford McCoy, Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property and Innovation; had a conference with representatives from: Consumers Union, Essential Action, EFF and Knowledge Ecology International; on which was promised a thorough review of the USTR policies regarding transparency.
It seems self-evident that you are passing along disinformation, whilst hiding from responsibility behind the shield of, “According to Russia Today”. Am I supposed to believe you are a slovenly researcher, who cares naught for the truth, or a rumour-monger, who cares naught for the truth? I cannot think of any other possibility.
d post | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Ben and d post,
Please see my further posting, “More on Obama’s Surveillance State.”
David Theroux | Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
Why go after computer users? Are they going to do the same thing with VCRs/DVDs?
nan | Apr 17, 2009 | Reply