“Peer to Peer” Sometimes Means “Defense Contractor to Iran”
Someone working for a defense contractor in Bethesda, Maryland did what millions of teenagers do — he installed a peer-to-peer filesharing program on his computer so he could share and download music....
View ArticleHuge Cyber-Spy Ring
A remarkable report was released yesterday by researchers at the University of Toronto. A very sophisticated malware distribution has been reporting from hundreds of infected computers for at least a...
View ArticleThe President as the Commander-in-chief of Cybersecurity
A draft cybersecurity bill empowers the president to commandeer the Internet under vaguely specified circumstances: The President … may declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or...
View ArticleBan Sex Offenders from Social Networking Sites?
The state of Illinois has enacted a law prohibiting anyone classified as a sex offender from using any social networking site. The definition of the latter is quite complicated — it certainly covers...
View ArticleSenate Moves to Give President Control Over the Internet
Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has introduced legislation that would give the President the authority to declare a “cybersecurity emergency” and take control of certain private,...
View ArticleHow Much Did We Pay for These Drones?
Incredibly, the signals between the unmanned drones being used in Iraq and Afghanistan and their base stations are transmitted in the clear — unencrypted. The insurgents have figured that out and are...
View ArticleMillimeter wave scans = privacy infringement?
The recent attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a plane flying into Detroit has brought the subject of millimeter wave scans back into public discussion. These scans use very short-wave radio signals...
View ArticleThe Full Body Scanning Debate
In the New York Times, travelers and privacy experts present their views on whether the millimeter-wave scanners I discussed yesterday are an unacceptable invasion of privacy. Quoting a Utah Republican...
View ArticleDid Google Get “Hacked” by Social Deception?
Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic reports an interesting theory of how the Chinese managed to penetrate Google’s security barrier, which should be about the best in the world. Very little of the attack was...
View ArticleCyberspace as a National Asset
That is the name of the bill introduced this week by Senators Lieberman, Collins, and Carper, giving broad powers to the executive branch to control the Internet in case of certain emergencies. It is...
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