Widespread rumors that the NSA regularly engages in illegal surveillance of US citizens -- aided by such techno-thrillers as Enemy of the State -- gained more credibility this year when the agency refused to turn over important information to Congress.

Citing attorney-client privilege, the NSA declined to reveal information about its internal operating procedures.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer) but isn't attorney-client privilege only available to attorneys?? What is the NSA justification for that claim??

Network World Fusion - Citing privacy concerns, European advisory group to consider Pentium III ban, 11/29/99.

The Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA) report also calls on U.S. government agencies, including the National Security Association and the FBI, to "provide information on their role in the creation of the personal serial number (PSN) created by Intel." The recommendation on the Intel chip is one of a series of recommendations that STOA makes on how to improve security for European citizens.

A copy of the report, written by STOA committee member Franck Leprevost, is available on the Web at: http://cryptome.org/stoa-r3-5.htm

Encryption and cryptosystems in electronic surveillance: a survey of the technology assessment issues. This is Part 3 of a STOA report to the European Parliament, "Development of Surveillance Technology and Risk of Abuse of Economic Information (an appraisal of technologies of political control)."

Slashdot | Ask Slashdot | Distributed Computing and the Human Genome Project.

I'm sure most of you have heard about the Human Genome Project by now and how it is working to map our DNA. Aparently there is now a race going on with corporations also performing the similar experiments, except with the intent of patenting the results. Now troc is wondering if another distributed computing effort might be in order. What do you all think?

Slashdot | Features | Take the FBI's Geek Profile Test.

New York Times - free registration required Big Brother Is Still Haunting Society in Germany's East. Erich Honecker, long the leader of East Germany, was not Hitler. But his police state of 17 million people boasted 95,000 full-time Stasi agents, more than double the number of Gestapo agents in Nazi Germany, which had four times the population. As in the postwar period, a delayed reaction to the trauma of dictatorship is becoming clear.

Washington Post - Satirical Web Site Poses Political Test.

When asked at a news conference in May what he thought about the site, Bush let loose, saying it was produced by a "garbage man" and suggesting that "there ought to be limits to freedom" emphasis added -- a line Bush's online critics have vowed to never let the world forget.