War and warfare are living things; always evolving. Long gone are the days of pugilist combat, replaced by sword to sword, replaced by musket to musket, replaced by AK-47 to M16, replaced by tank to tank, finally followed by wireless to wireless. That’s right; the war zones have changed and have undergone a strange metamorphosis: the e-battle.

The modern battle is not one of brute strength and the strongest guns winning out; it is one of skill and intellect: who is the most computer-savvy. Unfortunately, now that the skirmish is brought to such a public area, we might see a new rise of the Patriot Act.

President Obama was the first to reveal this new way to do battle, and our new agencies and strategies to be successful in it. He has repeatedly insisted that nobody’s privacy will be breached in this massive new undertaking. His senior officers agree, but do think that a bit of privacy compromise is inevitable.

The National Security Agency (NSA) will be at the forefront of this new battle. This scares a few though, as the NSA is notorious for having some ambiguous privacy ideas. The nation’s security is not a matter to be compromised on though, and the NSA knows that better than anyone.

Despite the president’s repeated vows that the public’s privacy won’t be compromised throughout the course of this operation, there is a sad truth to be revealed: many of the U.S.’s enemies are in the country. There is a popular quip that runs true for all criminals: “Hide where they least expect you.” If an attack was directed at the U.S., and they didn’t know the offender, certainly the finger wouldn’t first be pointed at its own citizens.

This is a major issue though. In a physical attack, we know immediately who our enemy is, and can devise a suitable plan of attack. If we are ignorant of even who to fight, how can we win? Even if one of these hackers fails at getting through to us, it is not hard for them to escape and leave nothing for us to try and track them down.

The program has begun to plan its first cautionary measure: intercepting any message going into, or out of, the U.S from different countries. It is the same principle as getting your bag scanned at an airport security check; the only difference is that it is your e-mail. Once it clears the inspection, your message will be promptly sent.

Another suggestion is that the NSA be given all power to search and record anything they want during war times. This way, the threat could be detected quickly and neutralized. Unfortunately, this would be throwing the Fourth Amendment out the window, and the public wouldn’t exactly appreciate it.

There is one major problem with this new warfare. In order to do battle with some of the countries that are likely to attack us, we would have to pass through others. For example, if an assault begins in Russia, our organization will still have to drill through Britain, and possibly interfere with somebody else’s privacy. Consider the diplomatic nightmare this would cause: having to negotiate for web use. The foreign governments certainly wouldn’t allow us to use their connections to fight our fight, and possibly harm their people. And if we did it without them knowing, and were to be caught redhanded…. Well, we can all imagine where that would go.

There is nowhere that is safe anymore; land, air, water, and now even the Internet have all felt the ravages that vicious warfare can bring. The losses suffered by this endless competition are different, (loss of life versus loss of information) but the principle of the matter is the same. This might seem good, that no lives are being lost in the heat of battle, but this new development has a sinister side also. These skirmishes occur on the Internet, essentially a public gathering area that is constantly traveled and populated. While there are no plans for a virtual draft, government officials advise citizens to protect themselves. In a real battle, if you got stuck in the cross fire, you could get shot. The same holds true here; if you are in the midst of a virtual war while browsing YouTube, you could be collateral damage. Instead of death, all of your documents could be seen and your privacy gone out the window, and intercepted by the terrorist the NSA was tracking. These representatives advise everyone to take an active interest in their Internet security and bolster their online defenses.

The U.S. government has the nation’s best interests in heart when developing plans for this new type of defense, but they are stuck in the slippery slopes of Privacy Rights. Keep in mind that these proposed e-mail scans, and the supposed power shift during a crisis have yet to be ratified. They are all theoretical at this point in time. There are no all-encompassing ideas at this point that keep the best of both worlds in mind: counter terrorism, and the maintenance of people’s privacy rights.

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