September 11th, 2007
First hacking tools, now key words are outlawed
Reading this Reuters report is a trip to the Twilight Zone. Or, maybe, it is an Onion-esque spoof on reality. The EU is going to force search engines to block access to bomb-making sites? Huh? What are these guys thinking?
EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said in an interview.
“I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector … on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism,” Frattini told Reuters.
So, OK. How do you do that? There are over 84 million web pages with the word bomb in it. Wikipedia has great articles on bombs. Do you set up a department of information control and have them peruse all web pages and decide which ones are harmful? It *is* almost possible. A staff of several hundred with the help of automation can get you 80-90% of the way there. Then all you need are massive filtering devices on every backbone and access point.
There is so much evidence that regulators and government officials are woefully ignorant of technology. Maybe they should just turn off the “Internets”. That should stop terrorism.
Richard Stiennon is an industry consultant. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
