Government

The UK Government is now considering the mass surveillance of all user communications on social-networking sites. The EU Data Retention Directive , which directs UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to store its customers' names, addresses, IP ... address, user IDs and all email and Internet telephony communications for a year apparently aren't enough for Home Office Security Minister Vernon Coaker. He suggests that communications like those on social-networking sites as well as instant messaging should also be monitored. Harvesting And Storing All Internet Communications Speaking at a meeting of ... (view more)

Recently we looked at some of the problems with mass surveillance and the myth associated with justifications of its use. If you think you're being watched, as noted by Wired.com, you're probably right. But, how did we end up a mass surveillance ... society? (Source: wired.com ) We may not have realized it at the time, as noted by Scott Horton from Harper's Magazine, but in the period from late 2001 to January 19, 2009, many argue that the U.S. was a dictatorship. (Source: harpers.org ) Bush Memorandums Made Available A set of memorandums written by U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers were ... (view more)

Microsoft could lose more than $800 million dollars a year in the British market if the country's government sticks to plans to use more open source software. New guidelines say public services should avoid being locked into proprietary products. ... The changes don't mean Windows will be ditched overnight (as is happening in Vietnam ), but instead policy will be that open source software should be used wherever it presents a better value. This could include both Linux-based operating systems and open source applications such as the Microsoft Office-like Open Office. Larger organizations may also ... (view more)

Republican politicians have reportedly called for a sweeping new federal law requiring all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and operators of millions of WiFi access points -- including hotels, local coffee shops, and home users -- to keep records ... about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers. Two bills (S. 436 in the Senate and H.R. 1076 in the House of Representatives) have been introduced so far. Each bill is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the ... (view more)

Britain and the U.S. use similar tactics fighting 'terrorism,' but Britain has taken the delusions to a new level: it now appears that the British have surpassed U.S. in becoming a police state. Like the U.S. version of George Orwell's book "1984," ... Britain's descent into a full-fledged police state has been building for a long time. We've reported on Britain's super database , remote PC searching and the warnings issued over the egregious surveillance techniques , but there are still other facts to be examined. Spying On Domestic Extremists and Political Dissenters The British have ... (view more)

Plans to delay the mandatory switch-off of America's analog TV signals became official last night when Barack Obama signed the bill into law. But around a third of stations are still expected to voluntarily switch to all-digital broadcasts as early ... as next week, throwing the timetable for wireless Internet expansion into more confusion. The switch-off was originally scheduled for next Tuesday, but the deadline is now June 12. The major networks don't plan to switch off nationwide immediately, but some local affiliates are among the 681 stations which have already applied to go all-digital on ... (view more)

According to reports, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Kevin Martin, is on his way out. It could spell an end for controversial plans to create a nationwide free wireless broadband system. It was widely expected that newly ... elected President Barack Obama would have replaced Martin as chairman upon taking office. (Martin would have remained as one of the five commissioners as that position was guaranteed until 2011.) Martin has opted to resign effective January 20th (Obama's inauguration day) and will take up a post at the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think-tank. ( ... (view more)

China is reportedly using an increasing number of paid "Internet commentators" to scour the Internet for bad news so they can try to negate it in an attempt to control public opinion. Chinese leaders are aware that the Internet is a place where ... views can be freely expressed so they pay close attention. They use these "Internet commentators" to spread their propaganda by posting comments on websites and forums, trying to spin bad news into good news in attempts to shape public opinion. China's Communist Party leaders have tried to control this for years via the media. Since extending ... (view more)

Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has reportedly issued instructions on using open source software products at its state agencies. According to the issued instruction, by June 30, 2009, 100 percent of the servers for government IT ... divisions must be installed with open source software; 100 percent of the staffs in these IT divisions must be trained in the use of the open source software products and at least 50 percent of those must be able to use the open source software proficiently. IT divisions at government agencies are comprised of the IT departments of ministries and ... (view more)

David Gewirtz, author of 'Where Have All the Emails Gone?' reportedly wrote an open letter to President-elect Obama asking that his administration please treat the White House computers like crime scene evidence. By failing to preserve official ... emails, the Bush White House has technically committed a federal crime by violating the Presidential Records Act and The Federal Records Act. The first few weeks of the Obama Administration taking office are going to be critical in preserving that information. Forensic evidence needs to be gathered before it's lost in the flurry of incoming activity. ( ... (view more)