Vigilante groups are tracking down terrorist groups on the web and taking down their websites. Some law enforcement and intelligence experts are concerned that such actions are counterproductive by removing a potentially valuable source of intelligence.
A new web programming language may make it possible for any Web user to remotely discover, access, and use real-time data obtained directly from Web-resident sensors, instruments, and imaging devices, such as flood gauges, stress gauges on bridges, mobile heart monitors, Web cams, and satellite-borne earth imaging devices.
U.S. lawmakers are looking into upgrading the technology for the Emergency alert system to give Americans faster and more practical information. Ideas under consideration will make use of the internet to send internet messages, special telephone rings, and television sets that can turn themselves on.
Ronald Deibert worries that the increasing use of the global internet infrastructure for surveillance and cyber-warfare threatens its promise for creating a "a single, vibrant global village polity."
The authors examine the various ways that the U.S. goal of electronically monitoring its civilian population can be met by using existing, everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, A.T.M. systems, cellphone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals.
David Stephenson argues that the Office of Homeland Security should be take advantage of the fundamental characteristics of internet technologies - their ability to empower individuals, to close the loop and to link everything - to combat terrorism.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to broaden considerably its ability to tap into Internet traffic in its quest to root out terrorists, going beyond even the new measures afforded in recent anti-terror legislation.
In a series on the impact of the internet revolution on our daily lives, the Washington Post examines the extent and impact of computerized data collection: "From morning until night, the mundane details of life are being tracked, recorded and analyzed. Cheaper computing power and a vastly expanding Internet have enabled businesses, government agencies and many others to watch what was once unwatchable and glean meaning and profit from the ephemera of daily activity."