NSA’s “Perfect Citizen” Program: George Orwell’s 1984 Realized?

In a July 8th article from the Daily Tech, a blog devoted to everything current in technology, entitled NSA’s “Perfect Citizen” Program: Big Brother or Cybersecurity Savior?, this very question is raised by insiders affiliated with the program.

Excerpts read:

Raytheon Corp. has reportedly been selected to spearhead the initiative, receiving a $100M USD initial phase surveillance contract.

Internally, there’s been discord over the government’s plans to peer inside private networks. States a Raytheon email leaked to The Wall Street Journal, “The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government…feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security. Perfect Citizen is Big Brother.”

While the NSA had no official comment, unnamed U.S. officials took issue with the claim that they were playing “Big Brother”. They said the program was vital to protecting the nation and no more intrusive to privacy than traffic cams over intersections.

Ultimately it may be too early to judge the merits of “Perfect Citizen”, but as the program is fleshed out, it seems likely to provoke a lively debate about the government, privacy, and intervention in the private sector.