Government

Fri
10
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

U.S. Alleges Cyber-Spies Attacked Electrical Grid

Current and former national security officials speculate that the U.S. electrical grid is under attack from Russian and Chinese cyber-spies. No damage has been done to the system yet, but the threat remains in place should a war or other national ... security crisis hit the U.S. One senior intelligence official says that the Chinese and the Russians have attempted to map infrastructure which includes the electrical grid, nuclear power plants, financial networks and our water and sewage systems. (Source: wsj.com ) Constant Attacks Against Military Networks Alleged The report of the intrusions came ... (view more)

Tue
07
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Anti-Counterfeit Treaty 'Classified', Alarming

Details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) being negotiated across the globe are now labeled as a "properly classified" national security secret by the White House, in spite of a Freedom of Information Act request. ... (Source: wired.com ) Leaked Docs Suggest Massive Breach of Privacy Leaked documents posted on WikiLeaks suggest that the proposed trade accord would criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing, subject iPods to border searches, and allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to monitor customer communications. ACTA is a treaty (PDF) regarding ... (view more)

Mon
06
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

UK Big Brother Data Retention Law Effective Today

Despite the fact that the UK parliament network was vulnerable to the Conficker virus just last week, reports suggest that the UK Government is forging ahead with their dubious plans to harvest all the personal electronic data of every citizen and ... storing it for one year, opening the door to the Big Brother super database . Mobile phone calls, emails and Internet activities of every Briton will be stored for a year, placing legal duties on Internet companies to store everyone's private information, including email traffic and Internet browsing histories effective Monday, April 6, 2009. The ... (view more)

Fri
03
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

U.S. Gov't Seeks Unprecedented Control Over Internet

According to reports, U.S. senators drafted legislation aimed at giving the federal government unprecedented authority over the nation's critical infrastructure, including the power to shut down or limit traffic on private networks during ... emergencies. The draft of the proposed legislation is allegedly intended to establish cyber-security standards to be imposed on both the government and the private sector, including companies providing software, IT work, or other services to networks deemed as 'critical' infrastructure, as well as mandating licenses for any and all individuals who administer ... (view more)

Mon
30
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

UK Parliament Network Latest Conficker Victim

The Conficker/Downadup worm has reportedly found its way onto the British government's IT system, joining millions of others who have fallen victim to it. An email sent to MPs, lords and their staff revealed that parliament's IT network appears to ... be completely unsecured. The Conficker/Downadup worm has been in circulation since November 2008 and a patch is available from Microsoft that fixes it. The fact that parliament's systems have become infected indicates that their anti-virus software, if there is any, hasn't been updated since last year and could be vulnerable to other attacks. ... (view more)

Mon
23
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

UK To Harvest All Social Network, Messaging Data

The UK Government is now considering the mass surveillance of all user communications on social-networking sites. The EU Data Retention Directive , which directs UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to store its customers' names, addresses, IP ... address, user IDs and all email and Internet telephony communications for a year apparently aren't enough for Home Office Security Minister Vernon Coaker. He suggests that communications like those on social-networking sites as well as instant messaging should also be monitored. Harvesting And Storing All Internet Communications Speaking at a meeting of ... (view more)

Mon
09
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Bush Wiretap Memos Reveal Shocking Revelations

Recently we looked at some of the problems with mass surveillance and the myth associated with justifications of its use. If you think you're being watched, as noted by Wired.com, you're probably right. But, how did we end up a mass surveillance ... society? (Source: wired.com ) We may not have realized it at the time, as noted by Scott Horton from Harper's Magazine, but in the period from late 2001 to January 19, 2009, many argue that the U.S. was a dictatorship. (Source: harpers.org ) Bush Memorandums Made Available A set of memorandums written by U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers were ... (view more)

Fri
27
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft To Lose British Battle In Open Source War

Microsoft could lose more than $800 million dollars a year in the British market if the country's government sticks to plans to use more open source software. New guidelines say public services should avoid being locked into proprietary products. ... The changes don't mean Windows will be ditched overnight (as is happening in Vietnam ), but instead policy will be that open source software should be used wherever it presents a better value. This could include both Linux-based operating systems and open source applications such as the Microsoft Office-like Open Office. Larger organizations may also ... (view more)

Tue
24
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Proposed Bill Requires ISPs 2 Year Data Retention

Republican politicians have reportedly called for a sweeping new federal law requiring all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and operators of millions of WiFi access points -- including hotels, local coffee shops, and home users -- to keep records ... about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers. Two bills (S. 436 in the Senate and H.R. 1076 in the House of Representatives) have been introduced so far. Each bill is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the ... (view more)

Fri
20
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Paranoid Britain Tops US To Become #1 Police State

Britain and the U.S. use similar tactics fighting 'terrorism,' but Britain has taken the delusions to a new level: it now appears that the British have surpassed U.S. in becoming a police state. Like the U.S. version of George Orwell's book "1984," ... Britain's descent into a full-fledged police state has been building for a long time. We've reported on Britain's super database , remote PC searching and the warnings issued over the egregious surveillance techniques , but there are still other facts to be examined. Spying On Domestic Extremists and Political Dissenters The British have ... (view more)

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