An interesting report from the ACLU on our growing lack of privacy.

Spurred by loosened legal standards following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States is evolving into a Big Brother society as technology advances and surveillance grows, the American Civil Liberties Union warned in a report released Wednesday.

The report, titled "Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains: The Growth of an American Surveillance Society," says Americans' privacy and liberty are at risk.

posted by mt at 08:55

TIA opposition.

WASHINGTON--A Pentagon antiterrorism plan to link databases of credit card companies, health insurers and others--creating what critics call a "domestic surveillance apparatus"--is encountering growing opposition on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., is planning to introduce a bill on Thursday to halt the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness program. A representative said on Wednesday that if passed, the legislation would suspend the TIA program until Congress can "review the data-mining issues."

posted by mt at 08:53

The government would like input on how to handle computer crime sentencing.

Sick and tired of a revolving door justice system that lets hackers skate with just a few measly years in prison? Or do you think that the courts are already too hard on online miscreants who sometimes go up the creek for longer than many killers?

Either way, the U.S. government wants to hear from you.

Last week the presidential-appointed commission responsible for setting federal sentencing rules formally asked the public's advice on the formula used to sentence hackers and virus writers to prison or probation, as part of a review ordered by lawmakers increasingly concerned that computer criminals are getting off easy.

posted by mt at 13:32

An interesting blog post on Cisco selling China firewalls.

From Scripting News:

Peking Duck: "Yes, it appears the Chinese communist government has imposed a permanent nationwide ban on all blogspot.com sites."

Cisco made a shitload of money selling their firewalls to China. Whether they did anything special for China doesn't matter. Here's a link to an article in a recent Red Herring about China's firewall and Cisco's claims that they didn't sell anything out of the ordinary to China.
posted by mt at 09:01