Uh-oh. Big Brother again.

Chilling item in today's NYTimes about an order from the Federal Communications Commission, at the behest of the Justice Department, designed to make it easier to monitor email and voice-over-internet calls. Link

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.

On the one hand, we want the Feds to be able to catch the bad guys and prevent terrorism, but my suspicion (wonder why?) is that there probably aren't anywhere near enough safeguards in place. Especially when I read:

The F.C.C. says it is considering whether to exempt educational institutions from some of the law's provisions . . .

Wouldn't that just make the whole effort meaningless?