Family + Facebook = Aaawkward!

Yet another of life’s little lessons in “be careful what you put online!”

Graph Jam

 

Jim Kouri on Obama’s Cyber Power Grab

Jim Kouri, CPP, of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the New Media Alliance, has a report on the Law Enforcement Examiner of OKC today:

…Critics point out that any high-tech program that entails government intrusion should be carefully monitored by not only the US Congress but also private sector experts in cyber security and computer-based espionage.

“People went ballistic when they discovered the Bush White House authorized the interception of telephone and other electronic communications by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and rightly so. Yet, I haven’t heard a peep from these same people who claim they are concerned with ‘privacy rights,’” said security expert and former NYPD cop Mike Fitzgerald.

“This may come back to haunt us as the first step down a truly slippery slope,” said former the Police detective and director of security.

“The technology involved is so complicated that it may take computer scientists to discover whether the government is protecting Americans on the worldwide web or spying on them. And what are businesses that rely on the Internet supposed to do if the President closes down the Internet?” asks Sam McCarthy a former police commander now a computer security expert..

The cyber infrastructure is not limited to the federal government. The office will work with state and local governments and international partners to combat cyber attacks, and also will work with the private sector to ensure an organized and unified response to future cyber incidents, Obama stated….Read Cyber attack? The Internet power grab by the Obama White House

 

Also see: And Our New Diversity Czar is…Our What?!

 

Is the Oministry Seeking to Nationalize Private Cybersecurity?

We received the following from CEI today:

According to a breaking news report by CNET’s Declan McCullagh, a draft bill in the U.S. Senate would grant President Obama “cybersecurity emergency powers” to disconnect and even seize control of private sector computers on the Internet.  Back in May, when Obama proposed a “cybersecurity czar with a broad mandate” and the administration issued a report outlining potential vulnerabilities in the government’s information security policies, CEI Director of Technology Studies Wayne Crews cautioned about “the constant temptation by politicians in both parties to expand government authority over ‘critical’ private networks.”

“From American telecommunications to the power grid, virtually anything networked to some other computer is potentially fair game to Obama to exercise ‘emergency powers,’” Crews said today.  “Policy makers should be suspicious of proposals to collectivize and centralize cybersecurity risk management, especially in frontier industries like information technology.  When government asserts authority over security technologies, it hinders the evolution of more robust information security practices and creates barriers to non-political solutions—both mundane and catastrophic.  The result is that we become less secure, not more secure.”

Instead, Crews had urged the Obama Administration to focus on “securing government networks and keeping government agencies on the cutting edge of communications technology.”  As today’s news illustrates, the dangers created by such a “broad mandate” may come to pass.

Also see:

• Obama’s Cyber Czar Should Obey “Cybersecurity Commandment
• OpenMarket.org for ongoing commentary on tech issues
• Cybersecurity Finger-pointing: Regulation vs. Markets for Software Liability, Information Security, and Insurance
• Cybersecurity and Authentication: The Marketplace Role in Rethinking Anonymity – Before Regulators Intervene
• Giving Chase in Cyberspace Does Vigilantism Against Hackers and File-sharers Make Sense?

 

Hot Air’s Allahpundit: Insert “What if Bush did it?” hypothetical here.

 

Cyber Terror hits home for most internet users. Twitter, Facebook, and now Google’s Blogger…under DDOS attack.

(Updated)

Thursday, Facebook and Twitter were under a significant DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack. Friday, Blogger, Google’s blogging service came under a serious enough attack that many blogs with URLs ending in blogspot.com were unable to access their accounts for several hours in the afternon. Today, the attack continues on Twitter.

In these attacks, the attacker is able to overwhelm the targeted site (Facebook, Twitter, Blogger) with a sufficient number of bot (automated) visits to effectively render the site useless to the site’s intended users (or readers).

This attack is apparently the first widespread incidence of cyber-terrorism affecting most internet users, and stems from the Russia-Georgia conflict, with a Georgian blogger apparently being the target. Pete Cashmore, on Mashable, has more.

For updates, follow the DDOS info feed on Twitter.

 

The End of the Internet? Cybersecurity Act gives Obama power to shut down internet, ignore laws

Updated 05/29/09: See Michelle Malkin – Obama’s Security Police

Original Post, 05/13/09: Shelly Roche reports that  a new Cybersecurity bill would grant the President unprecedented power to shut down the internet and ignore privacy laws.

 

Bloggers Could Be Jailed For Their Opinions

(Updated)

Democrat Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others are proposing a House of Representatives bill (H. R. 1966), that could be interpreted to put bloggers and others in jail for voicing their opinions. Here is the relevant text:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both….

["Communication"] means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; …

["Electronic means"] means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.

The measure, H.R. 1966, is labeled the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. It’s intention is to prevent the behavior that led to last year’s suicide of the 13-year-old Meier who was harassed on MySpace.com.

Despite the good intentions, the language can be interpreted by any person or lawyer to fine or jail bloggers if someone believes they are caused “emotional distress.” A blog like Ft. Hard Knox or others could be imprisonment under this loose interpretation. The problem with the bill is not its intent, but its vague wording that can be used by any liberal group who thinks they are being harassed, intimidated, or distressed. It is cause for concern that our First Amendment rights could be violated.

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Also see: TechDirt – What is Cyberbullying Anyway?