UN Offers to Assist Internet Counter-Terrorism Surveillance In Lieu of Global Directives

Susanne Posel, Contributor


The United Nations (UN) is offering to assist sovereign countries in Internet surveillance for anti-terrorism purposes. In a recently published report entitled “The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes” (UITP), the UN claims that social media sites are used for terroristic schemes for organization and recruitment; specifically Skype, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. 

The National Security Agency (NSA) has begun scouting colleges and universities for the next generation of American-grown hackers. The NSA wants an elite team of “computer geniuses” that are trained in hacking before they obtain their college degree. The students selected to train under this program will not be privy to the impact their work will have on cyber intelligence, military capabilities and law enforcement’s expansion of spying on Americans. 

Neal Zing, technical director for the Information Assurance Directorate within the NSA, said: “We’re trying to create more of these, and yes they have to know some of the things that hackers know, they have to know a lot of other things too, which is why you really want a good university to create these people for you.” 

Omission by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) explains that “terrorists use advanced communications technology” like the Internet to remain anonymous while building a loyal audience. 
In July of 2012, the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) claimed in a published document that cyber-attacks are on the rise. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurs with this summation because of 198 cases recorded since 2011. 

According to the DHS, the most common “attacks” are referred to as spear-phishing where the hacker simply infiltrates the computer system in order to gather sensitive intelligence. The DHS has used cybersecurity to justify alliances “with public and private sector partners to develop trusted relationships and help asset owners and operators establish policies and controls that prevent incidents.” 

In an attempt by the Obama administration to use fear-mongering to coerce the Congress into supporting a Big Brother cybersecurity legislation, members of the Senate met behind closed doors to attend a briefing by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where a staged cyber-attack was performed with the intent “to provide all senators with an appreciation for new legislative authorities that would help the US government prevent and more quickly respond to cyber-attacks.” 

The focus of the attacks were US banks, power grids and telecommunications systems. However these systems are not connected to the Internet, therefore that argument is moot. In fact, the power grid and public water systems “are rarely connected directly to the public Internet. And that makes gaining access to grid-controlling networks a challenge for all but the most dedicated, motivated and skilled — nation-states, in other words.” 

Even the subsequent compromised version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was voted down on Capitol Hill in August. The Obama administration responded by threatening to issue an Executive Order.
Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary, said:

In the wake of Congressional inaction and Republican stall tactics, unfortunately, we will continue to be hamstrung by outdated and inadequate statutory authorities that the legislation would have fixed. Moving forward, the President is determined to do absolutely everything we can to better protects our nation against today’s cyber threats and we will do that.

The UN UITP report explains that WiFi networks manipulated at “cybercafes could provide an important data source for criminal investigations … There is some doubt about the utility of targeting such measures at Internet cafes only when other forms of public Internet access (e.g. airports, libraries and public Wi-Fi hotspots) offer criminals (including terrorists) the same access opportunities and are unregulated.” 

Another point of weakness is the use of violence in role-playing video games where acts of terrorism are glorified. The UN cites that this conditioning to accept the role of a “virtual terrorist” downplays the seriousness of the matter. The collaboration of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, which counts the World Bank, Interpol, the World Health Organization, and the International Monetary Fund demonstrations a decisive path of the globalist-controlled international community. 

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an extension of the UN, became the UN’s official move toward totalitarian control over the Internet. And in December of this year, Dubai, India will be hosting their conference which will decide the globalist stance on the free flow of information on the Web. 

Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary-general, stated that:

When an invention becomes used by billions across the world, it no longer remains the sole property of one nation, however powerful that nation might be.

The UN’s ITU proclaims that because the Internet is a “global entity” that the UN should have jurisdiction over it, manage its abilities according to global UN standards and engage restrictions that could be installed at the fundamental level of the Internet to prevent any infractions of international mandates. The UN wants to include the domain-name system along with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is currently a privately owned US non-profit organization. 
It is expected that the ITU would begin a sort of taxation that international telecommunications corporations would be expected to pay for the ITU’s handling of web traffic as it flows across the world. ITU members would be privy to the new found cash flow that would be in the hands of international governance; which could begin to line the pockets of the UN in record time. 

In late 2011, representative from China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan submitted a proposal called the International Code of Conduct for Information Security (ICCIS) to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that called for international consensus of a globalset of rules and regulations that standardize information flow on the Internet. 

The ICCIS sets forth specific “principles of maintaining information and network security which cover the political, military, economic, social, cultural, technical and other aspects.” 

This document will also mandate that countries not be allowed to use information and telecommunications technologies “to conduct hostile behaviors and acts of aggression or to threaten international peace and security and stress that countries have the rights and obligations to protect their information and cyberspace as well as key information and network infrastructure from threats, interference and sabotage attacks.” 

The Obama administration created the International Strategy for Cyberspace (ISC) which makes an international governance policy priority. Obama’s desire to facilitate the US government’s push toward global engagement, the ISC encompasses a new vision for cyberspace. By using economic prosperity dependent on revamping cyberspace, Obama places the need for over-reaching cybersecurity over the Internet. 

By militarizing the control over the Web, Obama claims the Internet as a “strategic national asset” malleable by the US government. Obama contended that protecting the Internet will be a national security priority and that: “We will ensure that these networks are secure, trustworthy and resilient.” 

HR 628 claimed to “preserve, enhance, and increase access to an open, global Internet.” The legislation laid out that there be a “proposed international code of conduct for information security or a resolution inconsistent with the principles above comes up for a vote in the United Nations General Assembly or other international organization, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations or the United States representative to such other international organization should oppose such a resolution.” 

The UTI and HR 628 are evidence of the end of free flowing information that is protected by and for the people. As governments place more stringent controls on the Web, and the soon-to-be ratified UTI in December of this year, we can be assured that we will very quickly only have access to information that is approved by the UN.

Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on our Facebook page.

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