{Published November 16th, 2004, not sent directly to actual senators}
Dear Senators:
If there were to be an attack on America, one that would disrupt the economy and the lives of countless millions of people, resulting in billions of dollars in damage to American businesses and governments, would you want to know?
What if I was to tell you that it’s too late? As you are reading this, we are now under attack. I am not talking of cyber-terrorists and hackers, but about businesses whose only gain is in jamming the Internet with mass marketing, intrusive data-gathering, and even wholesale computer hijacking in the name of profit.
American companies spent over $10 Billion dollars last year in lost productivity and security measures to prevent “spam” from disrupting communications on every level, from consumer ISPs to municipal networks. Even nuclear-attack-resistant datacenters are no longer safe, because the attack they must be ready for is no longer military in nature. But as in military technology, the war is never over, as software is developed to counter software systems that counter more software.
We are losing the war, as such a basic medium as email is becoming impossible to use for some. Apart from destruction of physical and intellectual property, breaches in such things as confidentiality, security, and identity are at constant risk, and are compromised on a scale never before possible.
The enemy has a name. We know who they are. They route traffic through mainland China and other countries to skirt the laws that can’t be passed fast enough to keep up, and yet many are American citizens, living in America. And many are mere shadows, erasing their tracks and only leaving an occasional consumer making a payment in the wake of out-of-control marketing where all the burden is on the country’s mail systems and the receivers of the messages, not the senders.
But this is a threat because Information Technology is the battlefront of our times. From e-Government and electronic health care record initiatives that will save countless lives and dollars, to a booming economy in every sector and supply chain, an attack in these areas can stagnate or even devastate our communications and economy in the long-term.
My point of this letter is not to debate a special interest topic, like global warming or tobacco lawsuits. This issue underpins everything in our lives. In the last few years, humanity has reached a benchmark more significant than the splitting of the atom. There is nothing that can stop the drive for total communications and access to all the world’s information everywhere and at all times. The Internet, modern phone systems, and networks that are yet to come will form a nebulous cloud of interconnected computers, communications devices, document systems, and appliances in all areas of modern life, private and commercial. It has already started – you can see it all around you. There may still be paper, but the paper age is clearly over. In other words, our lifeline to each other is no longer the Eisenhower Thruway System and telephone wires. Fiber optical cable and radio towers – not copper and asphalt – measure the true distance between our citizens and between us and the rest of the world.
Now I do not think it is inherently the government’s responsibility to fix problems in the commercial sector. However, the Internet is larger than any company, industry, or nation, and affects every citizen in every aspect of our lives, from freedom of speech, press, and assembly, as well as access to information, goods and services. This is a new way of life for America and the world, a way of life that is – and has been – under constant attack.
What I do ask is that government acknowledge the need for particular attention paid to this problem, which is perhaps a important as or similar to the need for a homeland security bureau. We must hunt down those who would constantly threaten this important aspect of our growing way of life as seriously as those who would do us physical harm in sporadic acts of terrorism.
Foster a commercial environment that would encourage consensus among the leaders of industry and information technology for standards of prevention. Create a legal climate that would impose extreme criminal penalties upon those who are found responsible for the dissemination of hostile code and unwarranted web traffic. Remember, they are not killing one person, but something perhaps much more serious – they are cumulatively taking away literally thousands of lifetimes of moments and effort from everyday people. Pursue such initiatives as rewards for hunters and finger-pointers of such companies and people, taken from the confiscation of all their assets. Hold companies, domestic and foreign, equally accountable for third-party marketing practices.
But do not wait to act. The leaders of the technology sector are doing what they can, but are not winning the war. The federal government must be their ally. The country is counting on them – and you – to save us from this unprecedented threat to the world’s potentially unprecedented prosperity.
Sincerely,
Ken JP Stuczynski