Gibbs and the IRS

Everything on the Net is for public consumption. This should be one of Gibbs' rules. You NCIS watchers know what I mean.

This is something I've been told since I first got access to email back in the technological dark ages. The company's IT folk constantly reminded us not to put something into an email that we didn't want the entire world to read. They told us there are no secrets in the electronic world.  Digital communication is truly for the masses. I heard this warning long before lawyers began subpoenaing email records or human resource departments started scanning Facebook posts.  

Email doesn't go directly from my computer to yours. It passes through several other computers along the way. At each stop, it can be (and is) read by technicians, programmers, and others who are bored or troubleshooting. I heard many stories from night operators who said they read emails during their breaks.

The IRS was in the news on April 10th but it wasn't due to the approach of tax day. The ACLU obtained documents indicating that the IRS doesn't think email is private.  (Read about it here.)  For that matter, Facebook chats and other forms of digital communication aren't either.  My reaction is "yeah, so?"

Where has the ACLU been?  If they wanted to argue this, they should have started about thirty years ago. Fortunately for them, they have powerful allies who will fight the fight for them.  The companies behind digital communication (Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to name just a few) want prying eyes wandering through their emails less than we do.  So changes to the law have been presented in both the House and Senate.  Warrants will be required before the IRS or any other agency can obtain certain digital material.

Regardless of the legislative outcome, I'll stick with my own version of a Gibbs' rule.  If it can be read by a computer, it can be read by anyone at any time.

Iran, Michael Jackson, and the Internet

News events that two years ago would have had absolutely nothing in common were tied together last week by communication capabilities – the Iranian election protests and the death of Michael Jackson. Several articles have been written in recent days about the impact Twitter had on both stories. The information could not be contained and, although it was not always completely accurate, people had it instantly.

As news spread, through Twitter and other outlets, people hopped onto the Internet to learn more. There were so many Google searches conducted that, according to BBC News, Google thought it was under cyber-attack. In her June 26, 2009 article on www.bbcnews.com, Maggie Sheils said, “Google’s trends page showed that searches for Michael Jackson had reached such a volume that in the so-called “hotness” gauge the topic was rated “volcanic.”

One newsman commented that journalists once confirmed stories like these with two reliable sources before releasing them. There would have been a potential delay of several hours as information was gathered and verified. Now, a member of the paparazzi on stakeout at the Jackson home alerts the media and the news is in Japan in seconds. A cell phone in Iran records a demonstration and people thousands of miles away watch it on Facebook moments later.

Technology is reshaping our world. The communication “cat” is out of the bag and nothing can stuff it back in. Governments and celebrity families must accept that no matter how hard they try to suppress it, news about them will be around the world before they can blink. Concealing information is almost impossible now. Whether the news is about a suppressive government, a crooked state politician or a troubled rock star, we will know about it in an instant. While this may be a terrible burden for the Jackson family and the Iranian government, it is a ray of hope for the rest of us.