FLOTUS, the Internet, and Hypocrisy

by Gerard Emershaw

In a recent speech given while visiting China with President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama stated that access to the Internet is a “universal right”: “When it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshipping as you choose, and having open access to information—we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet.” This was obviously aimed at the Chinese government, which does not protect freedom of speech on the Internet or anywhere else as well as at Turkey, whose government recently banned Twitter. The problem is that this smacks of hypocrisy given President Obama’s assault on the First and Fourth Amendments through the NSA.

It would be unfair to blame the First Lady for the actions of the President; however, the position of First Lady has grown into an unofficial job within the administration. Gone are the days when the First Lady just smiled for the cameras. Michelle Obama represents a new breed of First Lady—which began with Nancy Reagan and peaked with Hillary Clinton—who functions as a good will ambassador, Nanny State busybody, and propagandist for the White House.

While the Obama administration has not banned Twitter and does not censor the Internet in the dramatic way that China does, it chills free speech nevertheless. Knowing that the NSA is liking monitoring one’s Internet usage and communications, an American is less likely to express speech critical of the government than he or she would be otherwise.

Even if speech is not chilled by the well publicized and unconstitutional NSA presence on the Internet, how can this speech be truly free if there is no freedom to speech anonymously? Without the possibility of such anonymity, the First Amendment is null and void online. Furthermore, the NSA’s ability to spy on Internet communications without a warrant effectively makes the Fifth Amendment prohibition on self-incrimination null and void. While the FISA Court mandates that potentially incriminating evidence against Americans found during national security searches by the NSA are not to be used in criminal cases, American spy agencies distribute such information to other agencies via the Special Operations Division. Therefore, the NSA could easily provide potentially incriminating evidence that it unconstitutionally discovered online and provide it to other law enforcement agencies who can “launder” it, hiding its true unconstitutional source.

Thus, what First Lady Michelle Obama said in China is hypocritical. If the Obama administration continues allowing the NSA to do what it has been doing, then the United States does not truly respect the “human right” of Internet access. The Internet becomes a dangerous venue for potential criminal entrapment instead of the freedom conduit that it ought to be.