Fergie's Tech Blog

U.S. Justice Department Positioning Itself As Monitors of Internet Evils

Carrie Johnson writes in The Washington Post:

Speaking to an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey offered praise for the successful efforts by Robert F. Kennedy decades ago to break the back of the Italian American mafia but told listeners that the current threat from international syndicates poses even greater challenges.

The new breed of criminals is "more sophisticated, they are richer, they have greater influence over government and political institutions worldwide, and they are savvier about using the latest technology, first to perpetrate and then to cover up their crimes," Mukasey said.

Justice Department officials said yesterday that criminal elements were attempting to penetrate the energy sector, furnish weapons to terrorists and wreak havoc on the U.S. economy by using computers and shell companies to launder money and peddle phony goods. They said that judgment stemmed from a classified threat assessment and data from criminal investigations.

More here.

Note: See also here and here and here (and that's just today). The U.S Government is making a major political play to legislate itself into a position to monitoring every aspect of Internet communications. -ferg

posted by Fergie @ 4/23/2008 11:00:00 PM