Kinetic Circus: security

Showing posts with label security. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2009

Bill Would Require ISPs, Wi-Fi Users To Keep Logs

In a Slashdot post, I found the following blurb associated with legislation that will impact all netizens in one way or another:

CNet is reporting on bills filed in the US House and Senate that would require all ISPs and operators of Wi-Fi hotspots — including home users — to maintain access logs for 2 years to aid in law enforcement. The bills were filed by Republicans, but the article notes that the idea of forcing data retention has been popular on both sides of the aisle over the years.

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that... would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates. ... Each [bill] contains the same language: 'A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user [i.e., DHCP].

Personally I consider myself to be a good citizen/netizen, and have nothing to hide in terms of my online activities. However, I do not like the idea of retaining computer network activity data to aid in law enforcement. The way I see it, there is a significant potential for misuse of this information. I have not given this issue much thought because, as the Slashdot article indicates, this is unprecedented legislation. However, one issue I see boils down to "How do we police the police and prevent the misuse of this power".

Some other issues that come to mind are:

* How will this legislation be enforced? It is one thing to enforce this relative to large ISPs, but to regulate the individual user is ludicrous.

* As an individual user subject to this legislation, what punishment and/or fine might be imposed on me if I do not acquiesce? Will this be a crime considered so heinous as to merit a sentence of life in prison? Or, will failing to comply with this legislation be likened to treason, for which the death penalty will be applicable?

* How in a court of law does the government demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have maliciously kept information from law enforcement?

All in all, this legislation seems like a really bad idea in the making. It has all of the underpinnings of the Patriot Act in the sense that by allowing the passage of this legislation we willingly relinquish civil rights in the favor of greater security. Yes, that is exactly where I am going. As Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security". Perhaps I am being short-sighted on this subject, but I am of the opinion that, like the Patriot Act, this legislation is not worth the paper on which it is written, and as far as I know, I am still afforded First Amendment rights as defined by the United States Bill of Rights...or am I?

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

World's Greatest Hacker Says Obama's BlackBerry Can Be Breached

It is certainly interesting to read Kevin Mitnick's comments regarding the issue of the security relative to the President's communication technology. An important point made in the article is that should the President's communication device actually be compromised, what information would actually be made available to the cracker. Please note that there is a distinction between a hacker and a cracker. In any event, I am of the opinion that the media has made too much out of Mr. Obama wanting to continue using his Blackberry.

There's a new "holy grail" for hackers — President Obama's super-secure BlackBerry.

Despite warnings from his advisers, the president insisted on keeping his beloved PDA, which now has specially designed superencrypting security software.

But that just makes cracking into it more challenging — and, yes, it can be done, says the world's most famous hacker.

"It's a long shot, but it's possible," Kevin Mitnick told FOXNews.com. "You'd probably need to be pretty sophisticated, but there's people out there who are."

(read the entire article here...)

And with that, I am off to see the wizard...

Friday, February 06, 2009

Flipside Wallet Is a Durable, Streamlined Wallet

By Adam Pash, 3:00 PM on Fri Feb 6 2009, 416 views

We're big fans of all-things-wallet around here, which is why the Flipside Wallet caught our eye. This interesting new wallet organizes your credit cards and cash in a gadgety, durable hard-shelled case.

The wallet itself has separate compartments for everything, including eight credit card slots and RFID shielding to prevent RFID theft. The video should give you a pretty good idea of how the Flipside works, so give it a play for a closer look.

The biggest catch: a Flipside Wallet will set you back a whopping $45—which seems like a lot for what you're getting. The Flipside is also a little thicker than we'd like (4 1/4" x 2 3/4" x 11/16"), especially since we're so keen on slimmed down wallets. If the price and size is a little too much for you but you'd like a hard-case wallet, check out the previously mentioned Jimi wallet, which retails for a slim $15.