President Barack Obama announced that he will issue an order to sanction the use of new technologies in human rights abuses, Reuters reports. The decision was adopted after Obama noticed that foreign nationals make use of technologies, such as, cell-phone tracking and Internet monitoring to perform abuses against humans.
Obama is determined to adopt more rules in order to improve the life of his citizens and to protect human rights. At least until the elections are over. His representatives confirmed the news that the President plans to use tougher measures against companies and individuals who assist Iran and Syria with the help of Internet monitoring, cell-phone tracking and other similar technologies.
Based on his official statement, Obama thinks social media and cell-phones have had a major contribution in the reinforcement of the democracy in the Middle East. Despite this, there have been groups who used these devices to conduct surveillance of dissidents and block access to the Internet in countries like Syria and Iran. As a consequence, the U.S. national security policy has to be adapted to the highly technological world in which we are living.
The plan hasn’t been revealed, yet, but Obama will make his intentions clear in the speech that he will hold at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. While some praise the President’s initiatives, there are voices saying that his recent move is only meant to get him more votes in the November presidential election. Analysts have stressed the fact that Obama is trying to respond to the recent critics that he received in relation to his policy toward Syria.
Syria was affected by a year-long government crackdown which led to the death of thousands of civilians and Barack Obama was criticized because he didn’t do anything to prevent these atrocities. As a consequence, the president will ask all U.S. intelligence agencies to evaluate the potential of mass killings in other countries and the implications they might have for America. In addition, he will also create a high-level panel that will be used to prevent mass killing.
