I've always had a soft spot for universities

Probably because they’re usually a hotbet of litigation I agree with. They’re fighting the new requirements to modify current internet systems, allowing the government to easily monitor e-mail communication and internet activity throughout US universities.

The NYT writes:

The order, issued by the Federal Communications Commission in August and first published in the Federal Register last week, extends the provisions of a 1994 wiretap law not only to universities, but also to libraries, airports providing wireless service and commercial Internet access providers.

It also applies to municipalities that provide Internet access to residents, be they rural towns or cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco, which have plans to build their own Net access networks.

I mentioned this earlier in conjunction with the ramifications for the emerging VoIP services, but I didn’t realize how widely the action cast its net.

There is some good news, however:

Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance, the universities are not raising civil liberties issues.

So it sounds that, at least for universities, there’s no direct infringement of civil liberties. Although, the US government does maintain and run THE computers that direct every IP on the internet…so if they wanted to they could turn the ‘net dark in an instant. Kind of a scary thought, considering how much we rely on the internet, now.