The Internet routes around damage (wiretapping)

Submitted by acohill on Wed, 09/29/2010 - 16:39

In a story that has been simmering for a while, the New York Times reports that the Feds want to be able to easily wiretap a wide variety of Internet services, including Skype, Facebook,and Blackberry (RIM) communications.

Someone needs to remind them that the Internet was designed to be able route around damage, and wiretapping looks like damage. If someone was plotting something nefarious, either they are stupid enough to use Facebook and deserve to get caught, or they are smart enough to use some other method of communication. It is almost trivially easy to create new communications methods using Internet protocols, and the FBI would never even know about them if those that created them only tell their Best Friends Forever. This represents an erosion of privacy for the rest of us, and only a trivial deterrent to criminal activity.