Seriously? Are we going to shell out tons of money now for a big brother machine? Is it time to keep the wars going and bring 1984 into true life? It may be.

Raytheon Co just won a classified contract for “Perfect Citizen,” a classified project whose initial phase that is worth $100 million.

Raytheon spokeswoman Joyce Kuzmin told Reuters: "We have no info on this." Sounds like it’s classified.

Have you heard of the Perfect Citizen project? Probably not. And if you have, it’s probably riddled with rumors. In theory, it’s a "purely a vulnerabilities-assessment and capabilities-development contract," according to Judith Emmel, a National Security Agency spokeswoman.

Right. “Purely.” I’m not 100% skeptical of what the government has to say about its classified projects, only about 99%. I’m pretty sure this is one of those Shakespearean moments where the lady doth protest too much. Whatever involves Raytheon, $100 million and a classified tag is not something that I have a whole lot of trust in being “purely” for my benefit.

The fear, of course, is that they are building some kind of big brother machine that will monitor what people are doing, and essentially end the idea of privacy on the Internet and in your own home, doing whatever it is that you do there.

Officially, it’s a move toward helping counter “computer-based threats to national-security networks, the chief U.S. code-cracking and eavesdropping agency said, amid mounting concern over cyber vulnerabilities.”

It is "…a research and engineering effort. There is no monitoring activity involved, and no sensors are employed in this endeavor," according to Emmel.

Reuters says the Wall Street Journal says it will use sensors deployed in networks running critical infrastructure (like electricity grids or nuclear power-plants). So, that’s double-sanitized (at least) information. And the NSA will neither confirm nor deny…yadda, yadda, yadda.

“This contract provides a set of technical solutions that help the National Security Agency better understand the threats to national security networks. Any suggestions that there are illegal or invasive domestic activities associated with this contracted effort are simply not true. We strictly adhere to both the spirit and the letter of U.S. laws and regulations,” said Emmel. She must be a lot of fun at parties.

Whatever.

I don’t think this is big brother. I think this is a nation realizing that there will be people in a few decades, or maybe a few years, or maybe right now, that hate America and know how to mess with computer systems. That could be as or more catastrophic than dropping bombs on us or invading or China messing with the yuan or oil spilling all over the Gulf Coast. How would you clean up the electricity grid of NYC being scrambled? How would you deal with a nuclear plant being operated by a hacker? How would you possibly put those pieces back together, if some sophisticated kind of group of hackers wreaked, well, havoc with major U.S. infrastructure?

You wouldn’t. Monitor away, with all you’re worth, boys.

Photo Credit: gloom