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Comment Re:Jupiter Tape? (Score 1) 621

It's already got one glaring security vulnerability: hubris. At some point you have to start thinking with your gut instinct. The claims are so over the top. It's worth challenging legality of the claim based on legal data retention. You can start with Virginia State laws on data retention which could unravel a totalitarian data claim like this. Each State has variants of their own data retention laws to protect the public from Big Data grabs. In fact, I'm not sure if it's been done, but it's worth looking into Utah's data retention laws to see if there is a conflict with the existence of the Data Center. Any system this top heavy is prone for a big magnetic eraser. It's like pride going before the fall or a law of physics. Its as if the proposal has to be *really* offensive to personal privacy and look really intimidating to get something on black budget.

Comment Re:Better answer (Score 1) 572

I ask you to consider which customers are getting thrown away. I challenge you to consider Microsoft's recent admissions about forking over MSN records, Skype interactions, and anything else you would consider private communication directly into the hands of the US government. I challenge you to think about an always-on console with required live-stream internet access. Do some thinking. It's not that far of a toss to see a kind of CALEA made window into the XBox user world. Anyone remember the potential for "terrorism communications" from the multiplayer functions made a year or so ago by a military intel agency? For a creative director to try on some old East German arrogance to stay on the platform and compete to work the project is pretty telling. That's a local attitude I see in Seattle with government business contractors. Boeing told locals they're going to live with drones in their backyards because they need the federal contract by openly killing a drone ban bill in Olympia. Someone at IBM told me upon meeting he works in Seattle city council member Bruce Harrell's office. He later clarified he actually works for IBM and is trying to score the SPD's predictive policing database construct to reform racially biased policing. Has anyone read Edwin Black's, IBM and the Holocaust? Predictive policing is going to use US Census data. This is an area with enmeshed conflicts of interest with public affairs. These businesses don't care if it will actually achieve the aim of public affairs interests, they just want the business. They get a pass from the local Chambers of Commerce. Corporatized business is the rule not the aberration. I'd call it corruption, but when society gives you a free pass it's better to just find an academic term to describe what's going on. I sense that if you see this attitude on public display, MS is probably dealmaking with some privatized national security interests to build in some BS that's going to lead to information surveillance.

Comment Re:How about the US-Canadian/US-Mexico border? (Score 1) 597

That's interesting. Everett is about 102 miles from the US Canadian border. If CBP and Canada's mounties were pushing their administrative luck that day they would move in on Boeing adjacent bedroom communities on the Puget Sound and go house to house collecting laptops. If they got really bold they might stretch their luck right into Everett and sieze all of Boeings electronics. If they were insane they'd go an extra 30 miles and try door-to-door laptop sweeps right up to Seattle's Eastide communities (Redmond, Bellevue, Medina, Lynnwood,Kirkland) where Microsoft and Google affiliates are located.
The Courts

Submission + - Texas State files 2 bills to ban RFID in schools (blogspot.com)

BeatTheChip writes: "The day Andrea Hernandez lost her federal case against expulsion for refusing a school mandated RFID badge, Rep. Lois Kolkhorst moved to file 2 bills the 1st day of Texas Legislative session. Kolkhorst, has sponsored several anti-RFID bills for schools over the years. This year they are HB 101 and HB 102."
Math

Submission + - STEM student refusing RFID badge now fights expulsion order (infowars.com)

BeatTheChip writes: "SAN ANTONIO — Lawyers representing Andrea Hernandez, a science and engineering student at John Jay High School, are fighting an expulsion notice issued a week ago for refusing to wear a Smart ID badge. To represent her, lawyers filed a preliminary court injunction, seeking legal restraints on the school. She maintains stance of refusal to wear any badge containing an RFID tag for reasons of basic privacy and conflicts with her belief system. The controversial decision for her school to adopt the NFC badges is part of the Student Locator Project, tracking attendance. Local schools started issuing the lanyard badges this fall despite parental outcry at NISD school board meetings."
Privacy

Submission + - White House drops details of cyber ID on Tax Day (blogspot.com)

BeatTheChip writes: "Dept. of Commerce Scry., Gary Locke plans to release solidified details of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace [NSTIC] program starting 11 AM on Tax Day. Technologies and new policies will be demonstrated and discussed to attending press. NSTIC, a federal cyber identity program, drew criticisms earlier this year on initial announcement for similarities to a national identity program. It was deemed "Real ID for the Internet" by some privacy and civil liberty organizations. NSTIC is a national online authentication program for public use under the oversight of the Dept. of Homeland Security."

Submission + - Terror arrest used as fodder to fund Real ID Act (cato-at-liberty.org)

BeatTheChip writes: "There's been a lot of buzz in recent days concerning the deadline to deliver on the federal Real ID Act. Congress is looking for corners to cut. One tactic is to attach emergency policy to the Real ID in order to sustain funding for its development by authoring members in Congress. In an effort to link the two, Rep. Lamar Smith and others asked DHS to increase enforcement of the Real ID Act over a terror suspect apprehended by lawful means."
Security

Recording the Police 515

Bruce Schneier says "I've written a lot on the 'War on Photography,' where normal people are harassed as potential terrorists for taking pictures of things in public. This article is different; it's about recording the police: Allison's predicament is an extreme example of a growing and disturbing trend. As citizens increase their scrutiny of law enforcement officials through technologies such as cell phones..."
Censorship

DHS Seized Domains Based On Bad Evidence 235

An anonymous reader writes "Back over Thanksgiving, the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit (ICE) made a lot of news by seizing over 80 domain names. While many of these involved sites that sold counterfeit products, five of the domains involved copyright issues. Four of them involved hiphop-related blogs — including ones that hiphop stars like Kanye West and others used to promote their own works, and the last one was a meta search engine that simply aggregated other search engines. Weeks went by without the owners of those sites even being told why their domains were seized, but the affidavit for the seizure of those five sites has recently come out, and it's full of all sorts of problems. Not only was it put together by a recent college graduate, who claimed that merely linking to news and blog posts about file sharing constituted evidence of copyright infringement, it listed as evidence of infringement songs that labels specifically sent these blogs to promote. Also, what becomes clear is that the MPAA was instrumental in 'guiding' ICE's rookie agent in going after these sites, as that appeared to be the only outside expertise relied on in determining if these sites should be seized."
The Military

Why Warriors, Not Geeks, Run US Cyber Command Posts 483

koterica writes "The Washington Post explains why the military prefers to have combat veterans rather than geeks running network security. '"It was supposed to be a war fighter unit, not a geek unit," said task force veteran Jason Healey, who had served as an Air Force signals intelligence officer. A fighter would understand, for instance, if an enemy had penetrated the networks and changed coordinates or target times, said Dusty Rhoads, a retired Air Force colonel and former F-117 pilot who recruited the original task force members. "A techie wouldn't have a clue," he said.'"
Censorship

Google Publishes Censorship Map 154

Entropy98 writes "Google has released a censorship map showing how often countries around the world request user information and censor services such as Youtube. The US government asked Google for user information 4,287 times during the first six months of 2010. Information on China is conspicuously absent."

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