Can some one please explain this to me in laymans terms?

Question

I kind of grasp whats happening here, but i know its a pretty big deal. I would just like to know exactly what this meens and exactly what it meens for me personaly, and the american public. TY

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38643

Answer 1

Okay .... a website that you go to on the web has a "web" address ... clear so far ?
Now what Verisign does is offer a service for online browsers (people like you & I) that tells us : " yes .... the people running this site have revealed their true location to us & we know how to track them if necessary".... in simple terms.

The government now wants Verisign to hand over all that info.
Personally ... I have no problem with that ... especially since we are expected to trust "Verisign" tagged sites.

Problem is that this spans worldwide (like Swiss bank accounts) so the legal implications & mumbo jumbo are so vast that if ever it does happen it really won't mean much in courts outside the U.S.

hope that helped a little ...

regards,
Philip T

Answer 2

the american government want full control of the internet...we didn't see that one coming. team america: world police!

as i understand the article, they want massive amounts of access to the internet backbone(s) which means rather than only being able to spy on the activities of single individuals with the appropriate consent and paperwork, they can instead spy on whoever, whenever, worldwide, at the drop of a hat by heading right back to the very source of internet communications.

Answer 3

they can do whatever they want as long as they keep those nasty little terrorists out of my tomamto garden. :)