According to today's New York Times, software pioneer Mitch Kapor has resigned from the board of Groove Networks after discovering the firm is helping the government develop its controversial Total Information Awareness program. The brainchild of Admiral John Poindexter, former national security adviser under Reagan, the proposed TIA program would monitor network computer activities under the ever-widening blanket of homeland security.
As one of the founders of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, an online rights watchdog, Kapor showed once again why he's so widely respected. Unlike directors of other recently infamous firms, who shrugged off the stewardship aspect of board seats, he understood that remaining on the Groove board would constitute endorsement of TIA. So he quit. If only Congress would be so upfront.
While a joint House-Senate committee agreed in February that the TIA program should not be used to monitor U.S. citizens, it's clear that Poindexter's program is still bubbling along offstage. As a seasoned bureaucrat, Poindexter knows that he can keep TIA going, as long as it stays out of the limelight. But with so much of Congress cowering for fear of appearing even remotely unpatriotic in the march to Baghdad, Poindexter's no doubt finding the shadows awfully crowded—and not just with politicians.
More than a few tech firms may be hiding in those same shadows. Who else besides Groove is getting federal funds to build the prototype security state? Silicon Valley loves to posture as a free-market, entrepreneurial icon but its history of sugar daddies runs from yesterday's Net venture capitalists right back to its roots in the '70s industrial military complex.
Let's hope Kapor's resignation sets the standard for other tech leaders as they search for new funds. Otherwise, the future won't be secure for any of us.
12:01:14 PM 
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