A new initiative by the US Federal Government is intended to get universities and others to revamp their systems so that all internet activity can be monitored. The way it would work is that all outgoing message packets would be gathered before reaching the internet and sent off to a government database for monitoring. The universities are protesting the move because of the cost. The bigger issue, however, is one of civil liberties. This could be the Orwellian Big Brother of the information age. And given that one of the prime objectives of any terrorist group is to force the target government to adopt unpopular and repressive measures, thus undermining its stability, it could be playing into the hands of the terrorists. Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems - New York Times