”Perfect Citizen” is the name of a government program to monitor the computer networks of public and private entities that could be led by the National Security Agency (NSA). Perfect Citizen is being developed to protect power grids, water supplies and other resources vital to national security from cyber attacks. Public Citizen is reassuring internet security to some, and a disconcerting intrusion to others, who see its massive automated NSA surveillance of American companies and citizens as Big Brother.
Source for this article: Is Perfect Citizen national security, or Big Brother in disguise? by Personal Money Store
Perfect Citizen – more authority for the NSA
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the Perfect Citizen story. The NSA, the Journal reports, will embed sensors in the computer networks of critical organizations that are alerted to activity that may signal an imminent cyber attack. Defense contractor Raytheon Corp. just lately won a classified contract for phase one of Perfect Citizen, valued at up to $ 100 million. Perfect Citizen is an intrusion by the NSA into domestic affairs for some industry and government officials who learn about the program. Others believe it is about time the NSA got to the game, being that it is the only agency in place that can handle the responsibility.
NSA will share data with public companies
The Journal article explains that Perfect Citizen can be applied to older computer networks which were intended before Internet security was an issue. Anything from air-traffic control to subways are run by numerous of those networks. Since they are linked to the Internet, they’re more efficient, but very vulnerable to cyber attack. Perfect Citizen will collect intelligence that the NSA said it will share will all companies to use for optimizing Internet security.
Can the NSA be trusted like a Big Brother?
Perhaps because of its Orwellian title, Perfect Citizen makes many people uncomfortable. PC World reports that their concern is that Perfect Citizen could possibly be just the beginning and that the NSA will expand its authority to monitor all domestic network activity. By accessing the networks of public utilities and power plants, the NSA may also be tempted to get details about the power usage and travel plans of private citizens. Whether or not Perfect Citizen can protect the nation from cyber attack without violating the privacy rights of private citizens remains to be seen.
More info available at these websites:
wsj.com
www.nsa.gov
pcworld.com
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