Up Front: Changing Views of Online Surveillance

Prior to September 11, Carnivore--the FBI's ISP-based surveillance tool--was widely perceived as a potential threat to civil liberties. Today, many view it as a safeguard against mass mayhem. Talk of a national identification card is growing. And Congress gave unusually quick approval to the so-called USA Patriot Act, a broad antiterrorism electronic surveillance measure that might never have gotten out of committee before the attacks.

PC World readers, like most Americans, are divided as to how they feel about such changes. In a poll taken just weeks after the attacks, and before bombs started raining down on Afghanistan, some 60 percent of PCWorld.com visitors surveyed said they had serious concerns about giving the government more access to their personal e-mail. Another 38 percent, however, said they had little or no worry.

What's Going On

Wherever you stand on the matter, it's worthwhile to know exactly what's happening, and in this issue we supply some answers. Anne Kandra, our regular Consumer Watch columnist, dissects the Patriot Act and finds reason to be watchful but not worried. And Andrew Brandt, creator of the Privacy Watch column, shows why there are no quick technological fixes to terror.

Brandt's view of the matter is pragmatic: "Relying on new, unproven technologies in circumstances where lives hang in the balance makes me uneasy," he says. "For example, biometric hand and face scanners do work, but they don't work perfectly, and can serve only to supplement live human beings performing security checks, not replace them."

Beyond that, of course, there is a limit to the amount of security even scads of money can buy. The economy and tech sector were already in the doldrums before September. Since then, they've gotten worse, driven in part by a suffocating fear that threatens to paralyze our nation. I'm confident that we will work our way through this; even when you feel in danger, you ultimately have to take prudent precautions and then get on with the job. But I hope it happens sooner rather than later, before too many businesses and individuals are hurt.

Better Blues

Finally, on a brighter note, when the magazine launched its new design last September, one of the most popular innovations was the printing of all Internet addresses in blue. Surveys we conducted showed that 80 percent of readers liked the highlighted URLs. But a few wrote to say they felt the shade chosen was too light for easy reading.

Since then we've experimented with darker shades, and beginning this month a more readable blue has become standard throughout the magazine. So thanks for your feedback. And continue to write me at kevin_mckean@pcworld.com.

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