Obama hits back at online spying

[Commentary] Foreign-policy sanctions usually target oil tankers, rogue regimes and moneybags dictators. President Obama is now adding a new category - "digital guns for hire." Fittingly at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the President took aim at Syria and Iran, whose leaders have tapped compliant phone companies and Internet services to hunt down dissenters. It's not clear how effective the tech sanctions will be, but Obama's move follows a deepening awareness of the power that smart-phone apps and social media can play in rallying forces for change. Since last year, for example, the U.S. State Department has aided protest groups in countries where autocrats and their censors want to curb the Internet. By itself, the White House action isn't likely to produce an end to such fighting. But it should put other countries on notice that censoring and manipulating the free-running Internet won't escape notice or a response from Washington.