Protecting Gov't Info Infrastructure
High-Risk Series: Protecting Information Systems Supporting the Federal Government and the Nation’s Critical Infrastructures (GAO-03-121), and Highlights.
Cyber Security Agenda
The Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P), released its Cyber Security Research and Development Agenda. A summary of the agenda is provided in this press release. It was created by a consortium representing a cross section of 23 cyber security research organizations who have identified eight critical gaps in our information infrastructure.
New EU Data Protection Proposal
The European Commission on Data Protection Working Party issued a new directive on January 29 addressing the protection of personal online data and the enforcement of IP rights. The Working Document, On-line Authentication Services, is here.
FTC Settles Student Data Collection Dispute
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against the Educational Research Center of America, Inc. stating the company had “collected personal information from high school and middle and junior high school students through surveys,” and used this data “to create lists of students that it sells to commercial entities for use in marketing.” A copy …
Verizon Fights to Protect Consumer Privacy
Verizon is appealing the district court’s decision compelling the ISP to release customer data to RIAA in a copyright dispute concerning music downloading. According to Verizon’s deputy general counsel, “If this ruling stands, consumers will be caught in a digital dragnet – not only from record companies alleging infringement of their copyright monopolies – but …
New Senate Bill to Prevent identity Theft
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), is the sponsor of S. 223, a bill to prevent identity theft, and for other purposes, introduced on January 28.
Colorado Junk E-Mail Bill
The Colorado House Committee on Technology and Information has introduced a new bill, HB 03-1200, to amend the Junk E-Mail Law to include a no-solicitation list similar to the telemarketing no-call list. The full-text of the Colorado Statute is here.
Gov't Internet Monitoring Center Under Development
The Washington Post reports that since the 9/11 attacks the administration has been developing a Global Early Warning Information System (GEWIS) to secure the global telecommunications infrastructure from cyberattacks. This program is not part of TIA, but rather is administered by The National Communications System (NCS), which will become part of the Department of Homeland …
UCLA Internet Report
The UCLA Center for Communication Policy today released the third installment of their report, Surveying the Digital Future. The report addresses topics that include the following; Internet Users – Who is Online, Who is Not; Media Use and Trust; Consumer Behavior, Communications Patterns, Social Effects of the Internet (on family, children, friends, politics); the Internet …
News Aggregators Become Mainstream
J.D. Lasica, blogger and senior editor for the Online Journalism Review, details the advantages of the increasingly popular free and fee-based news aggregator applications in News That Comes to You. These programs allow researchers who are suffering from information overload to scan headlines chosen from among thousands of news feeds that use RSS (Rich Site …
Controversy Over Notifications About Hacker Attacks
As noted in this post yesterday about the global escalation in cybercrime, many organizations prefer to stay silent when attacked rather than alert the public. Increasingly, these attacks result in the breach of large files of personal data, interruptions in a range of online services, and even global network disruptions that impact web access. Defining …
New Gov't Surveillance Database Announced by Bush
President Bush announced during his State of the Union address the implementation of a new government data-mining program called the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. From his speech, “Tonight, I am instructing the leaders of the FBI, the CIA, the Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge …