And You Thought Wiretaps Were Scary

"IMAGINE a world where wars are fought over the internet; where TV broadcasts and newspaper reports are designed by the military to confuse the population; and where a foreign armed power can shut down your computer, phone, radio or TV at will."

And that's just the teaser line. The Sunday Herald (From Scotland) has the story.

This is the age of information warfare, and details of how this new military doctrine will affect everyone on the planet are contained in a report, entitled The Information Operations Roadmap, commissioned and approved by US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and seen by the Sunday Herald.

The Pentagon has already signed off $383 million to force through the document'’s recommendations by 2009. Military and intelligence sources in the US talk of "“a revolution in the concept of warfare". The report orders three new developments in AmericaÂ’s approach to warfare:

Firstly, the Pentagon says it will wage war against the internet in order to dominate the realm of communications, prevent digital attacks on the US and its allies, and to have the upper hand when launching cyber-attacks against enemies.

You really should go read the whole thing, but here's the truely frightening part:

[T]he US wants to take control of the Earth's electromagnetic spectrum, allowing US war planners to dominate mobile phones, PDAs, the web, radio, TV and other forms of modern communication. That could see entire countries denied access to telecommunications at the flick of a switch by America.

If the government doesn't like what you're publishing on your blog (and I'm assuming that they don't like what I'm publishing right now) they could not only shut down your blog, but cut off your TV and cell phone remotely.

Welcome to 1984.

It's time for the 10 Minute Hate. Gather round the telescreen.

Internet Pentagon Information Warfare