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Feed FBI 'Misused' Patriot Act (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
The FBI was acting illegally when it used the USA Patriot Act to covertly obtain telephone, business and financial records about people living in the United States, according to an audit by the Justice Department. By the Associated Press.


Privacy

Submission + - Audit finds FBI Abused Patriot Act

Submitted by
happyslayer
happyslayer writes: "One topic that's sure to get heavy and fierce discussion on Slashdot is the US PATRIOT ACT and the use of security letters, particularly if you run a network, ISP, or hosting service with registered users from outside your organization.

According to this story, the US Government Accounting Office, the FBI has not always been "forthcoming" about the numbers, reasons, and results of the security letters.

From the article:



Over the entire three-year period, the audit found the FBI issued 143,074 national security letters requesting customer data from businesses.

The FBI vastly underreported the numbers. In 2005, the FBI told Congress that its agents in 2003 and 2004 had delivered only 9,254 national security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents over the previous two years.

Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.
"
Robotics

Submission + - Carmakers Adding High-Tech Perks

Submitted by Good
Good writes: When friends check out Aaron Priest's new Acura TL sedan, the oohs and aahs start on the inside. Forget the powerful 3.5-liter, 286-horsepower engine; they're more enthralled with the car's rearview video camera and the in-dash voice-command system. "The technology is what gets people the most," said Priest, a 23-year-old lab technician at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. "They don't really care anymore about what's under the hood. It's all about what's in the car now."
Businesses

Submission + - Best Buy Confirms 'secret' Website

Submitted by Iberian
Iberian writes: Courant.com confirms Best Buy does indeed maintain a second website for what one could only assume is for fraudulent purposes.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com.
Media

Submission + - Search behavior over the couse of a day

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Chris Harrison has built a visualization that explores what people are doing online over time. He explains "Search engines are the gateway to the internet for most people, and so search queries provide insight into what people are doing and thinking. In order to examine millions of search queries, I built a simple, cyclical, clock-like visualization that displays the top search terms over a 24-hour period." Interesting to see that the masses online have fairly coherent and consistent search behaviors. He also investigates the notorious AOL data-set.

Feed HD DVD: No Copycats Allowed (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed
SourceForge complies with a DMCA notice to remove open-source software designed to help you rip HD DVDs. But was it really infringing copyright? In 27B Stroke 6.


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