White House Cybersecurity Initiative: Protecting Privacy Amid Oversight

Efforts to bolster Internet security will not lead to increased government scrutiny of individuals' online habits, the White House and industry sources said Friday. As it finalizes sweeping guidelines that aim to increase cybersecurity, the Bush administration said individual privacy . . .

Efforts to bolster Internet security will not lead to increased government scrutiny of individuals' online habits, the White House and industry sources said Friday. As it finalizes sweeping guidelines that aim to increase cybersecurity, the Bush administration said individual privacy would not be affected by efforts to prevent cyberattacks.

"The administration is not considering a proposal to monitor what individuals do on the Internet," a spokesman for the transition to the newly created Department of Homeland Security said.

But high-tech sources who had been briefed on the updated plans said they were not aware of any such change, and White House cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke assured high-tech firms the government only wanted them to set up an "early warning system" to keep an eye on the health of the Internet .

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