Debian mailing list - WARNING: Crypto software to be included into main Debian distribution.

Debian has recently received legal advice explaining how we can include software with cryptographic functionality in our main archive. This document can be found at .

In accordance with this advice we plan to include cryptographic software in our main archive (at some point after March 8th). This will allow us to integrate security software such as OpenSSH, SSL support, and many other enhancements into our operating system.

Slashdot | Cryptographic Software in Debian's Main Archive.

New York Times - free registration required The Murky Debate Over an Internet Address Database.

The conflicting motives, and the competing agendas of those interested in finding this information, have lined up various interest groups on opposite sides of a continuing debate over the Whois database. Namely, how much information should be made available to the public about the individuals and businesses that have registered more than 35 million Web addresses (or domain names, as they are known in the trade)? What restrictions, if any, should be placed on who has access to this data?

[ ... ]

Marketers have a different agenda, perceiving a gold mine of leads in databases they buy from registrars. Although marketers agree not to contact potential customers by e-mail or phone when they buy this data, some registrars privately acknowledge that this promise is routinely broken and that skilled entrepreneurs can capture the same data free -- whether by filtering from the Web's data stream, setting themselves up as registrars or using various other means.

On the opposite side of the fence are privacy advocates and many consumers and businesses that have registered Web addresses. They generally prefer some restrictions on who can have access to their contact information.

Registrars, for their part, are of two minds on the issue. They do not want customers angry about who may view their personal data; nor do they want to be responsible for verifying that registrants have submitted accurate information. But as revenue from domain registrations is sagging, some registrars see marketing their data as a source of income.

[ ... ]

Responses were due by Feb. 1, but Chris J. Katopis, counsel to the subcommittee, said that as of last week many registrars had not replied. "If they're not going to respond to a government inquiry," he said, "what are they going to do to respond to an aggrieved individual when something happens?"

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Congress (Still) Looking at whois.

Responses from registrars to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property were due on February 1st, but Chris J. Katopis, counsel to the subcommittee, said that as of last week many registrars had not replied. 'If they're not going to respond to a government inquiry,' he said, 'what are they going to do to respond to an aggrieved individual when something happens?'

New York Times - Editorial Op-Ed: By Frank Rich free registration required Freedom From the Press.

The president's sentiments were no doubt sincere, as is his muscular pursuit of the killers. But there is still scant evidence to suggest that he condones the idea of a free press. Not since the Nixon years has an administration done as much to stymie reporters who specialize in the genre of investigative inquiry Mr. Pearl was pursuing when he was ambushed. Now as then, the administration is equally determined to thwart journalists whether they're looking into a war abroad or into possible White House favors for a lavish campaign contributor who has fallen into legal peril (Ken Lay now, Robert Vesco then).

New York Times - free registration required Worker Accused of Selling Colleagues' ID's Online.

A former employee of the Prudential Insurance Company was arrested yesterday and charged with stealing the identities of colleagues from a database containing 60,000 names and selling some of them over the Internet as part of a credit card scam, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced.

While working in the tax department at Prudential, the former employee, Donald Matthew McNeese of Callahan, Fla., stole the database of personnel records, making it one of the largest potential identity-theft cases ever, said Jim Walden, the assistant United States attorney prosecuting the case for the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Walden would not specify how many people had money stolen in the scam.

Investigators in New York had been tracking Mr. McNeese for two years, after a detective in Brooklyn went online and noticed that Mr. McNeese had posted a message on an electronic bulletin board. In the message, Mr. McNeese announced that he had thousands of names and Social Security numbers for sale, according to the criminal complaint.