Another day, another Czar. For every issue we face as Americans it seems the solution resides with our Government appointing yet another Czar as if any of the previous dozen or so appointed have ever been successful, that is unless you consider our car Czar’s recent policy of steamrolling property rights as a successful undertaking. Once again, Americans are going to rely on the Government to provide services that will result in relinquishing more power and control over them as citizens. Ben Franklin said it best by stating that anyone willing to give up a little liberty for a little security will deserve neither and lose both. The initiative will be dressed up as a security issue for the protection of us all, but its implementation will concentrate control of the internet in the hands of a few Government officials, and we shall see if that does not become regrettable on our part.

All of our daily lives are heavily connected with the internet whether we are surfing for information or conducting business, and it is this fact that the Government will use to create the need for their oversight so they can extend their span of control. The program being advertised is the necessity to create a department, answerable only to the President, that protects Government and private computer systems from cyber attacks. The result of this would empower the Government to dictate security protocols on private industry, and have full control over their network usage during times of “threat” as determined solely by them. Even if a private company had necessary protections installed locally, they could suffer a shutdown of service by the Government since others may not have sufficient protection. The nagging question that comes to mind is why the Government feels the need to provide protection for private networks and not just concentrate on securing their own systems. This is what creates suspicion regarding their intentions with this initiative, and the answer likely lies in their relentless quest to gain more control of our everyday lives.

There is not only the control of the network at issue, but also the possibility the Government will use this as a tool to invade the privacy of people at its whim. This concept can easily be extended further to include the prospect of retribution being exercised with denial of internet service for any entity or person that opposes the Government with actions or their voice. The Administration is attempting to remove any doubt of governmental control or transgression on its citizens in announcing this program. Obama is carefully outlining that his Administration will not dictate security standards to the private sector, and they absolutely will not participate in monitoring private networks or internet traffic, vowing to preserve the privacy we expect as Americans. The overriding stated goal is the commitment to an open and free internet. Just hearing these objectives being expressed from a politician should provide the uneasy feeling that in fact the opposite will be the reality. Knowing that our Government’s true loyalty lies in its own best interest, these statements should be viewed with skepticism and should not be trusted, and remember that this power will be absolute and answerable only to the President. Time will tell if these thoughts prove to be misguided, but my bet is that we in the future will wonder how we let this one by us.