Government

Thu
12
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Obama Signs Digital Delay Bill

Plans to delay the mandatory switch-off of America's analog TV signals became official last night when Barack Obama signed the bill into law. But around a third of stations are still expected to voluntarily switch to all-digital broadcasts as early ... as next week, throwing the timetable for wireless Internet expansion into more confusion. The switch-off was originally scheduled for next Tuesday, but the deadline is now June 12. The major networks don't plan to switch off nationwide immediately, but some local affiliates are among the 681 stations which have already applied to go all-digital on ... (view more)

Mon
26
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

FCC Chairman to be Ousted: Broadband Reforms in Jeopardy

According to reports, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Kevin Martin, is on his way out. It could spell an end for controversial plans to create a nationwide free wireless broadband system. It was widely expected that newly ... elected President Barack Obama would have replaced Martin as chairman upon taking office. (Martin would have remained as one of the five commissioners as that position was guaranteed until 2011.) Martin has opted to resign effective January 20th (Obama's inauguration day) and will take up a post at the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think-tank. ( ... (view more)

Thu
22
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

China Uses Paid Internet Commentators To Control Public Opinion

China is reportedly using an increasing number of paid "Internet commentators" to scour the Internet for bad news so they can try to negate it in an attempt to control public opinion. Chinese leaders are aware that the Internet is a place where ... views can be freely expressed so they pay close attention. They use these "Internet commentators" to spread their propaganda by posting comments on websites and forums, trying to spin bad news into good news in attempts to shape public opinion. China's Communist Party leaders have tried to control this for years via the media. Since extending ... (view more)

Mon
19
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Vietnam State Agencies To Be 100% Open Source by 2010

Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has reportedly issued instructions on using open source software products at its state agencies. According to the issued instruction, by June 30, 2009, 100 percent of the servers for government IT ... divisions must be installed with open source software; 100 percent of the staffs in these IT divisions must be trained in the use of the open source software products and at least 50 percent of those must be able to use the open source software proficiently. IT divisions at government agencies are comprised of the IT departments of ministries and ... (view more)

Fri
16
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Are Bush Admin Computers a Crime Scene?

David Gewirtz, author of 'Where Have All the Emails Gone?' reportedly wrote an open letter to President-elect Obama asking that his administration please treat the White House computers like crime scene evidence. By failing to preserve official ... emails, the Bush White House has technically committed a federal crime by violating the Presidential Records Act and The Federal Records Act. The first few weeks of the Obama Administration taking office are going to be critical in preserving that information. Forensic evidence needs to be gathered before it's lost in the flurry of incoming activity. ( ... (view more)

Tue
13
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Police Across Britain Prepare For Remote Searching of Home PCs

The Home Office in the UK has reportedly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain to routinely hack into people's personal computers without a warrant, allowing police or MI5 officers to covertly examine the hard drive of someone's PC at ... his home, office or hotel room -- all from a remote location. The pronouncement comes after a decision by the European Union's council of ministers in Brussels expanding the implementation of a statute permitting warrant-less surveillance of private property. Material gathered by "remote searching" includes the content of all emails, Internet ... (view more)

Mon
05
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Australian Internet Censorship Plan Meeting Heavy Criticism

Trials of Australia's mandatory censorship program will begin soon -- details of which the government is refusing to reveal -- despite a high-level report to the Rudd government that found the technology simply does not work, will significantly slow ... Internet speeds, and will block access to legitimate websites. Recently it was announced that Australia would implement mandatory Internet censorship as a way to combat child pornography and adult content. However, this strategy could be extended to include controversial websites focusing on topics like euthanasia or anorexia. Australian users ... (view more)

Tue
02
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Worm Attack Causes Army To Ban USB Drives

In what's being described as a sustained attack from a rapidly spreading network worm, the U.S. army has reportedly banned the use of USB sticks, CDs, flash media cards, and all other removable data storage devices in attempts to prevent infections ... from spreading any further. (Source: wired.com ) According to an internal army email, the ban comes from the commander of U.S. Strategic Command and applies to both the secret SIPR and unclassified NIPR United States Department of Defense networks. The suspension order is supposed to take effect "immediately" and similar notices went out to other ... (view more)

Thu
27
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

US Army Launches Its Take On YouTube

The American armed forces have launched their own video-sharing site. TroopTube is designed to allow military personnel and their loved ones to exchange messages without the drawbacks of mainstream sites such as YouTube. The move follows a decision ... last year to block overseas military sites from accessing a dozen of the leading online video sites. That wasn't down to content concerns; rather military bosses felt streaming video was too much of a burden on the network links between the US and foreign bases. It was rumoured that at one stage the bandwidth was so clogged that it affected the ... (view more)

Mon
03
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

New Chip Technology Poses Threat to Homeland Security

Radio-frequency-identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. (Source: wikipedia.org ) Researchers at RSA Laboratories and the University ... of Washington recently released a report which studies the privacy and security vulnerabilities of the RFID tags embedded in the state of Washington's Enhanced Driver's License and Electronic U.S. Passport Cards. Electronic Product Code and RFID Electronic Product Code, or "EPC tags," are industry-standard RFID devices created as the ... (view more)

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