Reservations
Microsoft releases 7 patches for July 2006
First (One of the) vulnerability appears for Windows Vista
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FBI wants Internet records to be maintained
My take on the recent "request" by the FBI to the industry giants to maintain internet records for two years. All in the name of fighting child pornography and terrorism.
I wondered how long it would be before it came. And I did not have to wait too long. Less than 2 months after I wrote my last article on this subject, Reuters is reporting that FBI had a meeting with top executives of companies like Google Inc., Microsoft, Verizon, Comcast etc., asking the companies to retain the internet records in order to enable to fight cyber crime (child pornography, internet extortion) and terrorism. This comes close on heels of the news that some telephone companies have handed over the telephone records of millions of their subscribers to the NSA. A news that created quite a uproar in the public and media and which culminated in Bush coming out in support of the NSA domestic spying programme. Computerworld columnist Ira Winkler had written a column about the this news and lamented the fact that the government is wasting huge resources in an effort likely to produce zero results because of the use of sophisticated encryption and modus operandi which makes the criminals immune to US laws while taking away the privacy of the law-abiding citizens.
This request again falls under the same category: Shameful. Right from the days when cryptography was coming into mainstream, both the FBI and NSA tried all they could to stop the commercialisation of encryption citing precisely the same reason. At that time it was the cold war and now it is cyber crime and terrorism. Both these agencies have shown little regard to citizens' right to privacy and freedom of speech, instead bringing up the issue of national security and "people may die".
Would the NSA or CIA or FBI be able to stop the 9/11 terrorists if there was no commercial cryptography? I don't think so. The information was right there in front of them. And what did they do? They ignored it and let people die. And not common people like you and me have to take off their shoes at every check point in every airport. Do you think it is going to help when you can buy guns openly in Wal-Mart?
