115633
submission
Nkwe writes:
In order to ease border crossings Washington State is introducing 'Enhanced' (with RFID) driver's licenses.
"They will look much like conventional driver's licenses, but will be loaded with proof of citizenship and other information that can be easily scanned at the border."
The requirement for a passport at all US borders is an issue local commerce between Washington State and Canada, and the new driver's license is less expensive then a passport, but what "other" costs will it create?
115613
submission
citizen92 writes:
(Crossposted at Daily Kos)
Over the past few days, there have been many great diaries about the recent discovery of the gwb43.com e-mail system. One example. Another. A story in the National Journal (only available by subcription) yesterday added an additional nugget — that Karl Rove does 95% of his e-mailing over that server. Nice. And end run around the Presidential Records Act. And a political move to hide what could be incriminating records.
What has not yet been mentioned, however, is the likely huge national security breach that might have resulted from Karl's cavalier practices.
The White House is a huge target for electronic espionage by friendly and hostile foreign powers. For those of you who may have visited Washington, this may be evident when you stroll by the various embassies scattered around the city — with their unusual sculptures of antennas and wires on their roofs. The Russians have a compound just three blocks north of the White House.
The US Government spends undisclosed amounts on countermeasures to protect its critical information and its secure networks. And it has the experts to make sure that those countermeasures are working.
But, as usual, the government is focused on the foes outside — not the foes within. Government, meet Karl Rove's OpSec (operational security) program.
As you read, I would have to guess (but I have absolutely no knowlegde if this is true or not) that foreign intelligence services have already paid thorough visits to the various servers that are operated by the RNC down in Chattanooga. You know, GWB43.com. RNCHQ.COM. Bobcorker.com. Why? Well, it's been made pretty clear that Karl Rove conducts business through those domains. 95% of his business. And so do other senior White House staff. If you were a foreign spy, wouldn't you be interested? And might it be a possibility, that MAYBE the RNC servers aren't quite as secure as the government servers? MAYBE?
If I were an Information Security Officer for the White House, my system would be "flashing red." Don't forget that Karl Rove is a Deputy Chief of Staff (the number 3 position) at the White House. He likely see's PDB's and other classified information. And for him to be able to do 95% of his work from the RNC account, he would have to get some of this information flowing from the White House network. Heck, maybe he forwards his eop.gov e-mail to the RNC account.
Point being, this could represent a HUGE SECURITY BREACH. I hope that the RNC servers have been seized by someone in US Government (NSA, CIA or otherwise) to find out exactly what has happened here. And I really hope that political muscle hasn't blocked that.
There is a lot more riding on this than just Karl Rove's political future....
115601
submission
John stevens writes:
Recently, a new search engine 'Younanimous' has been getting alot of attention from bloggers and searchers alike. It functions by taking results from google, msn and yahoo and using the already sorted results, then applying a voting algorithm on top, to further sift through the results. Other notable features are Blacklisting, Alexa and Pagerank per query results and alot more. The question here is- Can you effectively sort through googles existing results and come up with more relative content, or are you just mashing up existing data?
115599
submission
BigCanOfTuna writes:
As a developer that recently landed a contract that will have me working mainly out of my basement, what should I be prepared for? How is this going to be different than working in a cubicle for pointy-haired people? I imagine that I'll initially be more productive, but I can also see myself being distracted by other things such as Oprah and Slurpee runs. I need strategies for staying focused, staying connected, and most importantly...staying employed!
