Maintaining the Balance of Government Control

By: Cory Le

Introduction

With cybercrime increasing roughly 15 percent every year and technology advancing government bodies like the US Federal Government have begun to increase their control on users through public policy. Although this action is done to mitigate many threats to the interests and advancements of the US Government and its citizens, this also gives way to a possible new public policy issue of the government having too much control. This can come in the form of censorship to the level that violates freedom of speech, mass surveillance resulting in privacy violations, or the control of too much personal citizen data potentially resulting in larger damage when cyberattacks occur. Seeing this many groups devised plans and goals to create a balance between Government control and user freedom while maintaining security.

What The CDT Wants to Prioritize to Protect Users

The Center of Democracy and Technology or CDT is a nonprofit advocacy organization that works to promote democratic values by influencing technology policies and architecture. The CDT prides itself on its focus on individual rights and states that it supports all laws and policies that promote both security and online freedom of speech. In 2016, the CDT created a document called “Tech Policy Priorities for The New Administration” which advised the new Trump administration on tech policies it should adapt to safeguard individual rights and strengthen both cybersecurity and connections around the world.

1 – Privacy and Nation Security

The CDT requested for the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to be reformed so that the government would need to acquire warrants before accessing stored electronic communications. This tied into their goal of safeguarding data related to domestic communication and warrant-less spying activity the US has done in the past.

2- Free Speech and Innovation

The CDT wants the government to reject any policy that censor’s speech or allows companies to monitor their users for suspicious acts. This is done by ensuring the Government can not leverage terms of service intermediaries to censor speech. All of this is done to promote human rights standards and protect open internet rules.

3 – Global Leadership

The CDT recommends that the US government actively fights again inequality and discrimination in automated systems to promote internet freedom outside of the US. Additionally, the CDT wants the US government to remain open to new policy ideas that address security concerns without jeopardizing what has already been established.

What the US Government Plans to Do to Protect Users and the Government

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 also known as CISA was created to act as both America’s cyber defense agency and the national coordinator for critical security infrastructure. CISA’s 2023-2025 strategic plan outlines both the US government’s domestic control over users and what they hope to accomplish in the future.

1 – Defending Against Cyber Threats (Cyber Defense)

CISA has set its goal of creating the world’s strongest cyber defense by increasing its focus on federal systems being able to withstand cyberattacks when they happen. CIS would also like to drive the disclosure and mitigation of critical vulnerabilities therefore promoting information sharing on cyber threats. This highlights that the government plans to have a looser hold on research information related to cyber threats therefore allowing citizens to be more informed and involved.

2 – Enhancing Critical Infrastructure Resilience (Risk Reduction and Resilience)

The CISA 2023-2025 plan places a strong emphasis on increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure. To do this CISA has planned to stretch their influence into other parts of the Government’s digital property such as election infrastructure. Additionally, CISA will begin to create better preparations for cyber threats to ensure minimal damage if they are executed successfully. 

3 – Improving Information Sharing (Operational Collaboration)

CISA understands the importance of communication resulting in the organization’s goal of merging the gap between the public and private sector. This is done in hopes of faster threat mitigation and more threat research through the unification of organizations. This is done by merging the gap between the public and private sectors and having more organizations unitize CISA programs, products, and services. Additionally, this includes having increased information sharing with CISA affiliates and partnership base which in turn can hopefully result in faster threat discovery.

4 – Building A Safer Digital Ecosystem (Agency Unification)

CISA in the end would like to improve cyber defense for all aspects of the US government both in the private and public sectors. This can be best achieved by having each division of CISA be mutually supportive.

Although not all 4 of these goals may apply to maintaining the balance between user and government control, many of these goals display CISA’s hope to improve the US government’s cyber defense. At times it may take the form of improving what the US government already had control over or it can leak into what users should be able to control such as censorship that could occur if the US wants to keep information about vulnerable systems secretive. Finding the balance between user rights and Government protection, ensures both parties are mutually working towards cyber defense for the nation.

Works Cited

Cisa Strategic Plan 2023-2025, http://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-01/StrategicPlan_20220912-V2_508c.pdf. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Cybercrimemag. “Cybercrime to Cost the World $10.5 Trillion Annually by 2025.” Cybercrime Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021, cybersecurityventures.com/hackerpocalypse-cybercrime-report-2016/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Tech Policy Priorities, cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CDT_Priorities_New_Administration.pdf. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.