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Net Effect: Antiterror eavesdropping
(CNN.com, May 27, 2002)
In the seven months since the passage of a sweeping law to combat terrorism, Internet and telecommunications companies have seen a surge in law enforcement requests to snoop on subscribers. . . . Privacy advocates agree that terror must be stopped, but worry that a wider net is being cast that will capture information from innocent citizens. . . . Demands for information have soared as much as five times over pre-September 11 levels, says Gidari, whose clients include America Online, AT&T Wireless and Cingular. (AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.com.) . . . At one major Internet backbone provider, requests for information "have gone through the roof," said a security executive who spoke on condition neither he nor his company be named. . . . The spirit of cooperation between Internet companies and law enforcement was growing stronger even before September 11 -- a substantial change from the industry's early days, Gidari said. . . . "They are no longer the last bastion of protection for consumers against government incursions into their private information," he said. "The general feeling is much more sympathetic and wanting to be helpful." . . . We cannot have a dialogue about this stuff. There's no way," Tien said. "The only people who know about it aren't allowed to talk about it. It's this wonderful union of Orwell and Kafka."

posted by Lorenzo 3:10 PM

 

FBI 'Carnivore' glitch hurt al Qaeda probe
(CNN.com, May 29, 2002)
Glitches in a controversial FBI system to monitor the e-mail of suspected criminals likely hampered an investigation of al Qaeda two years ago, according to internal FBI documents released Tuesday. . . . "The FBI software not only picked up the e-mails under the electronic surveillance of the FBI's target ... but also picked up e-mails on non-covered targets. . . . The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take," . . . "This shows that the FBI has been misleading Congress and the public about the extent to which Carnivore is capable of collecting only authorized information," . . . FBI officials have told Congress the system captures only a narrow field of information for which interception is authorized by a court order. . . . The documents showed Carnivore had occasionally grabbed the e-mail messages of other Internet users.

posted by Lorenzo 3:02 PM

 

Easing of FBI spying rules under fire
msnbc.com -- Facing a barrage of criticism from civil libertarians and others, Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday defended his plans to lift regulations that prohibited FBI agents from monitoring Americans at religious services and in other public venues. Critics opened fire on Ashcroft�s move even before he announced it at a Justice Department news conference on Thursday. �The administration�s continued defiance of constitutional safeguards seems to have no end in sight,� complained Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Ashcroft said he was lifting the rules barring FBI agents from visiting Internet sites, libraries, churches and political organizations without any indication that criminal acts might be taking place as part of an effort to give the beleaguered agency new tools to pre-empt terrorist strikes.

posted by West 1:54 PM

 

CD Crack: Magic Marker Indeed
(Reuters, May 20, 2002)
Technology buffs have cracked music publishing giant Sony Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology with a decidedly low-tech method: scribbling around the rim of a disk with a felt-tip marker. . . . Major music labels, including Sony and Universal Music, have begun selling the "copy-proof" discs as a means of tackling the rampant spread of music piracy, which they claim is eating into sales. . . . The new technology aims to prevent consumers from copying, or "burning," music onto recordable CDs or onto their computer hard drives, which can then be shared with other users over file-sharing Internet services such as Kazaa or Morpheus MusicCity. . . . Internet postings claim that tape or even a sticky note can also be used to cover the security track, typically located on the outer rim of the disc. And there are suggestions that copy protection schemes used by other music labels can also be circumvented in a similar way.

posted by Lorenzo 9:57 AM

 

EPIC Homeland Security Page
The newly formed Office of Homeland Security (OHS) is pursuing many policy proposals that will have a significant impact on the authority of federal and state agencies operating within the United States. The Homeland Security Director, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, is responsible for a broad range of policymaking functions, including those that implicate the privacy rights of Americans and the powers of law enforcement agencies. . . . Federal agencies are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an open government law that helps ensure accountability and public oversight even in matters of public safety and law enforcement. It is EPIC's position that the OHS is subject to the same record disclosure obligations as other federal agencies that engage in significant policymaking. . . . EPIC is seeking the expedited release under the FOIA of OHS documents that discuss new technical and legislative proposals that could lead to the creation of a national identification system. After OHS failed to respond to EPIC's initial expedited request, EPIC filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. On May 2, 2002, the government moved to dismiss the case on the ground that OHS is not subject to the FOIA. The issue is now being litigated.

posted by Lorenzo 8:58 AM

 

New York is starting to feel like Brezhnev's Moscow
(Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, May 16, 2002)
What a sad place New York City has become. A vibrant, disputatious town with a worldwide reputation for loud voices and strongly expressed opinions is tip-toeing around in whispers. Grief over the casualties of the twin towers massacre is not the reason (those wounds are slowly healing), but a stifling conformity which muzzles public discourse on US foreign policy, the war on terrorism and Israel. . . . Listening to these anguished but private complaints suddenly reminded me of the Soviet Union of the Brezhnev era when lower-level officials, journalists and other fringe members of the regime sat around their kitchen tables, expressing their true views only to family and close friends. . . . To judge from the east coast today, the middle-aged liberal intelligentsia is letting itself be intimidated into taking the wrong side.

posted by Lorenzo 2:29 PM