Toward the first of the summer I took part in a webinar hosted by the state of South Carolina. This meeting informed us (the state technology leaders) that if we wanted more Internet bandwidth, we would have to place a monitoring device on our network. We were told that this was required to determine whether or not the current amount of bandwidth we had was being used effectively, or if it was being taken up with viruses, peer-to-peer, and other nasty stuff.
Week before last I had a server delivered to my office. It was the monitoring device. At that time I didn’t have time to worry with it. I was just swamped. Today I noticed some weird traffic on our network, so I thought it might be a good idea to fire this thing up and see what is going on.
I installed the server in our rack, then (after some consultation with the state) started the installation process. To my surprise, the server started connecting not to the state, but to the Department of Homeland Security. If this is really a state initiative to monitor unwanted traffic on our networks, why is DHS involved? What’s worse, this thing is on the inside of our firewall, so not only does it track our Internet usage, but everything that travels on our LAN.
You can’t imagine the discomfort and outright anger I have now that the Department of Homeland Security now sees every website that our students and teachers visit and every bit of data that travels over our network. That includes all of our IP security cameras. Big Brother really is watching.
[tags]Big Brother, networks, South Carolina, DHS, Department of Homeland Security[/tags]
Why don’t you just disconnect and put the server away in the back basement?
Wonder if a similar server is spying/tracking Internet usage at the state agency I work at.
I had already thought I might just do that. However, I need to leave it in place long enough to get my bandwidth upgrade from the state.
If you’re at a state agency, I can just about guarantee that one of these things is in place.
Yep, I’ve wondered the same thing at Clemson. Maybe a keystroke recorder, but what you describe is far more sophisticated and insidious. Even “academic freedom” won’t do much good in this Orwellian age.
Wow. So is there a disclaimer for everyone that uses those computers to let them know their activity may be monitored?