[Infowarrior] - Lessig and the rumored "i-PATRIOT Act"

[Richard Forno]

(True or not, I wouldn't put anything past anyone these  
days..........and perhaps some informed paranoia is warranted here  
given the INSANE levels of security associated with the National  
Cybersecurity Initiative.  These days you really have to wonder what  
evil is being cooked up and/or being implemented in the name of  
"homeland security' -- sounds like "please trust us" is being used  
again to quickly get controversial things enacted w/o public scrutiny.  
Now, I can understand secrecy to protect sources and methods, but my  
gut-check tells me the INSANE levels of hush-hush over this "sweeping  
cybersecurity initiative" likely is to cover up another suspect and  
potentially-illegal public-private powergrab in the name of 'security'  
as done so frequently by this Administration. --  but is there a  
connection between what I suggest here and Lessig's comments?  You be  
the judge.  -rf)

Law Professor: Counter Terrorism Czar Told Me There Is Going To Be An  
i-9/11 And An i-Patriot Act
Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig details government plans to  
overhaul and restrict the Internet
		

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
	
	
http://www.infowars.net/articles/august2008/050808i911.htm

Amazing revelations have emerged concerning already existing  
government plans to overhaul the way the internet functions in order  
to apply much greater restrictions and control over the web.

Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University  
told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in  
Half Moon Bay, California, that "There’s going to be an i-9/11 event"  
which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law  
pertaining to the internet.

Lessig also revealed that he had learned, during a dinner with former  
government Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, that there is  
already in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act, an "i- 
Patriot Act" if you will, and that the Justice Department is waiting  
for a cyber terrorism event in order to implement its provisions.

During a group panel segment titled "2018: Life on the Net", Lessig  
stated:

     There’s going to be an i-9/11 event. Which doesn't necessarily  
mean an Al Qaeda attack, it means an event where the instability or  
the insecurity of the internet becomes manifest during a malicious  
event which then inspires the government into a response. You've got  
to remember that after 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act  
within 20 days and it was passed.

     The Patriot Act is huge and I remember someone asking a Justice  
Department official how did they write such a large statute so  
quickly, and of course the answer was that it has been sitting in the  
drawers of the Justice Department for the last 20 years waiting for  
the event where they would pull it out.

     Of course, the Patriot Act is filled with all sorts of insanity  
about changing the way civil rights are protected, or not protected in  
this instance. So I was having dinner with Richard Clarke and I asked  
him if there is an equivalent, is there an i-Patriot Act just sitting  
waiting for some substantial event as an excuse to radically change  
the way the internet works. He said "of course there is".

Watch Lessig reveal the details at 4.30 into the following video:

Lessig is the founder of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and  
Society. He is founding board member of Creative Commons and is a  
board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and of the Software  
Freedom Law Center. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal  
restrictions on copyright, trademark and radio frequency spectrum,  
particularly in technology applications.

These are clearly not the ravings of some paranoid cyber geek.

The Patriot Act, as well as its lesser known follow up the Domestic  
Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as USA Patriot Act II, have  
been universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional  
scholars from across the political spectrum. They have stripped back  
basic rights and handed what have been described by even the most  
moderate critics as "dictatorial control" over to the president and  
the federal government.

Many believed that the legislation was a response to the attacks of  
9/11, but the reality was that the Patriot Act was prepared way in  
advance of 9/11 and it sat dormant, awaiting an event to justify its  
implementation.

In the days after the attacks it was passed in the House by a majority  
of 357 to 66. It passed the Senate by 98 to 1. Congressman Ron Paul (R- 
Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was even  
allowed to read the legislation.

Now we discover that exactly the same freedom restricting legislation  
has already been prepared for the cyber world.

An i-9/11, as described by Lawrence Lessig, would provide the perfect  
pretext to implement such restrictions in one swift motion, as well as  
provide the justification for relegating and eliminating specific  
content and information on the web.

Such an event could come in the form of a major viral attack, the  
hacking of a major city's security or transport systems, or some other  
vital systems, or a combination of all of these things. Considering  
the amount of unanswered questions regarding 9/11 and all the  
indications that it was a covert false flag operation, it isn't hard  
to imagine such an event being played out in the cyber world.

However, regardless of any i-9/11 or i-Patriot Act, there is already a  
coordinated effort to stem the reach and influence of the internet.

We have tirelessly warned of this general movement to restrict,  
censor, control and eventually completely shut down the internet as we  
know it, thereby killing the last real vestige of free speech in the  
world today and eliminating the greatest communication and information  
tool ever conceived.

Our governments have reams of legislation penned to put clamps on the  
web as we know it. Legislation such as the PRO-IP Act of 2007: H.R.  
4279, that would create an IP czar at the Department of Justice and  
the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2007: S. 522, which would  
create an entire ‘Intellectual Property Enforcement Network’. These  
are just two examples.

In addition, we have already seen how the major corporate websites and  
social networks are decentralizing and coming together to implement  
overarching identification, verification and access systems that have  
been described by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as "the beginning  
of a movement and the beginning of an industry.”

Some of these major tech companies have already joined efforts in  
projects such as the Information Card Foundation, which has proposed  
the creation of a system of internet ID cards that will be required  
for internet access. Of course, such a system would give those  
involved the ability to track and control user activity much more  
effectively. This is just one example.

In addition, as we reported yesterday, major transportation hubs like  
St. Pancras International, as well as libraries, big businesses,  
hospitals and other public outlets that offer wi-fi Internet, are  
blacklisting alternative news websites and making them completely  
inaccessible to their users.

These precedents are merely the first indication of what is planned  
for the Internet over the next 5-10 years, with the traditional web  
becoming little more than a vast spy database that catalogues people’s  
every activity and bombards them with commercials, while those who  
comply with centralized control and regulation of content will be free  
to enjoy the new super-fast Internet 2.

We must speak out about this rampant move to implement strict control  
mechanisms on the web NOW before it is too late, before the spine of  
the free internet is broken and its body essentially becomes paralyzed  
beyond repair.