US and the Net in these Orwellian times

Just when you thought the United States might finally be mending its foreign policy and taken the road to peace, the Barack Obama administration releases a report signaling a newfound seriousness about Internet security, a "hack and bomb" policy of such consequence as to consider military action in response to Internet attacks.

The "US International Strategy for Cyberspace" is a shot across the bow for companies and countries who may harbor doubts about US government willingness to meddle and intervene in the Internet. While couched in security terms, the strategy reeks of Internet evangelism of the sort that stipulates foreigners must keep their cyber gates open to hear the good word, even as the US begins to close the gates at home for the almighty purposes of national security.

Coming from the White House that has been in favor of an Internet kill switch, ruthless prosecution of WikiLeaks and active DNS blocking - all the while expanding its unprecedented and unparalleled power to spy upon others while enforcing a near impenetrable cloak of secrecy for itself - US President Barack Obama is left standing without much moral high ground to preach from.