federal

The United States government has shut down a total of 82 websites accused of selling pirated goods, including music and movies. But these aren't just torrents: amongst the targeted pages are those that sell clothing, sunglasses, and even handbags. ... The seizure orders came from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agencies and apply to eight states in addition to Washington, D.C. A selection of the sites includes Torrent-finder.com, DVDscollection.com, Sunglasses-mall.com, and NFLjerseysupply.com. ( ... (view more)

It remains unclear whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be able to bring its proposed net neutrality rules into force. Another politician has launched a bid to block the FCC from further regulating the net, while an Internet ... carrier claims the commission doesn't have the legal power to bring the rules into force. Last week, the FCC voted unanimously to adopt plans for new rules enforcing the existing principle of net neutrality. The overall idea is that Internet carriers should treat all traffic equally. In practice that could mean cable firms and ISPs would not be allowed ... (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)

International hackers have reportedly been targeting American federal agency computers, stealing as much data as possible, and assuming control of PC files. While this appears to be a very difficult and sophisticated endeavor to accomplish, ... international spies are simply using the same method that domestic hackers implement on a smaller scale: corrupt Microsoft Office files. The actual virus is sent via email attachment and when government officials unwittingly open these Word, Excel or PowerPoint files, they relinquish control of their entire PC. The attacker then uses the PC as a base from ... (view more)

Last week we reported how the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a moratorium on users migrating to Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 and Office 2007 citing no compelling reasons to upgrade at this time. ... Federal Computer Week is reporting that more Federal Agencies are delaying the migration to Windows Vista. The Interior Department, including the Army and the Transportation Department are developing implementation policies and say they need to complete their testing of Vista before switching over from older working systems already in place. A draft ... (view more)

Recently, Information week obtained a memo citing concerns over cost and compatibility issues by the federal U.S. Department Of Transportation (DOT) in January 2007, prohibiting thousands of federal workers from upgrading to Windows Vista, Internet ... Explorer 7 (IE7) and Office 2007. The DOT's Chief Information Officer (CIO) placed an "indefinite moratorium" on the upgrades since "there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these Microsoft software products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific reasons not to upgrade." "Microsoft Vista, Office 2007, and ... (view more)