Lost in Cyberspace - Finding American Liberties in a Dangerous Digital World
![handle is hein.journals/yalpr23 and id is 517 raw text is: Lost in Cyberspace? Finding American Liberties in
a Dangerous Digital World
John D. Podesta and Raj Goylet
History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of
urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.... [W]hen
we allow fundamental freedoms to be sacrificed in the name of real or
perceived exigency, we invariably come to regret it.1
After 9/11, the emphasis has clearly been on physical infrastructure rather
than cybersecurity. That's understandable. . . But cyberspace is where the bad
guys are going.2
I. INTRODUCTION
This Policy Essay discusses the emerging security threat of cyberterrorism
and the historical impulse to restrict civil rights and civil liberties during times
of national crisis. Cyberterrorism poses a significant danger that requires a
strong and unequivocal response, but such a response need not sacrifice
important constitutional safeguards. Frequently in our past, from the time of the
two World Wars to the recent attacks on the World Trade Center, our leaders
enacted policies that gave an illusion of enhancing security but in reality failed
to provide additional safeguards and in the process abused constitutional rights.
We argue that this historical pattern need not continue with regard to
cyberterrorism. With proper planning and a sense of urgency, cyberterrorism
can be addressed proactively before serious harm is done. This will not only
reduce the possibility that the same terrorists who turned commercial airplanes
into lethal bombs will turn our vast computer networks against us, but it will
t John D. Podesta is the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress in Washington,
D.C. and a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. He served as President
William Jefferson Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1998-2001. Raj Goyle is the Senior Domestic Policy
Analyst at the Center for American Progress. This Policy Essay was adapted from a speech delivered by
John Podesta at the Cybercrime and Digital Law Enforcement Conference at Yale Law School on March
27, 2004. The authors thank Mima Galic and Tara Swaminatha for their assistance in preparing this
Policy Essay.
1. Skinner v. Ry. Labor Executives' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 635 (1989) (Marshall, J., dissenting).
2. Jon Swartz, Terrorists' Use of Internet Spreads, USA TODAY, Feb. 21, 2005, at 3B (quoting Paul
B. Kurtz, a former senior cybersecurity official in the Bush Administration and executive director of the
Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a non-profit trade group of hardware and software companies
dedicated to the improvement of cybersecurity).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/yalpr23&div=27&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Lost in Cyberspace - Finding American Liberties in a Dangerous Digital World
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