freshmeat.net: NSA Security-enhanced Linux 2002082308 . Its got another update.

Changes: The base kernel versions were updated to 2.4.19 and 2.5.31. The SELinux peer SID functionality was re-implemented with new sock hooks; the accept_secure call should now be reliable. The sysctl hook and /proc/sys labeling were made configurable. Other minor enhancements were made including checkpolicy and the example policy. Bugs were fixed in auditing logic, PSID mapping code, and the ipc permission hook.

American Open Technology Consortium. Educating politics about technology

Welcome to the American Open Technology Consortium. The information contained here is half of a two-part effort to impact the future of technology development and the Internet. It is of critical importance to anyone who loves the Internet, anyone who is employed by the Information Technology or Consumer Electronics industry, or anyone that just simply enjoys the benefits of the Net and our plethora of modern technology; that you read this information. The future of the Internet and these industries are at stake.

BBspot - Operation TIPS Hotline Transcript. "Overheard on the line at the Jones Household"

San Jose Mercury News By Dan Gillmor- Sacramento the setting for privacy battle.

California may be on the verge of passing a law that goes a long way toward protecting financial privacy. That means, of course, that the anti-privacy lobbyists are working themselves into a frenzy.

The bill under consideration, known as SB 773, would allow customers to tell financial institutions not to share or sell their personal financial information -- either to company affiliates or to third parties. This is known as ``opt-out.''

In limited circumstances, where the third party was not a financial institution, customers would have to give explicit permission for data-sharing ahead of time. This is known as ``opt-in.''

The need for such legislation is more obvious all the time, if you're a customer. There was a merger frenzy following federal legislation removing barriers among financial institutions, and identity theft remains one of the fastest-growing -- and, unfortunately, least prosecuted -- crimes on the books.

San Jose Mercury News - Privacy measure hearing postponed.

Backers of an effort to give California consumers more control over their personal financial information postponed a critical hearing Thursday to make minor changes to the measure. Consumer advocates said they were confident the legislation would survive intact today when it is considered by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

If approved, the bill -- sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael -- would enact some of the nation's toughest financial privacy rules.

Proponents had hoped to strengthen the measure Thursday, after it was weakened in another committee over objections of consumer advocates. But for more than four hours Thursday, proponents were bogged down with last-minute tweaks intended to address concerns of banks and other companies that say the bill would burden businesses and hurt the state's economy.

``Now that this looks real, the bankers came in with amendments,'' said Speier. ``Regardless of whether they endorse the concept or not, they are trying to make sure it will work within their business.''

Earlier this week, a legislative committee sucker-punched the bill, watering down a key provision. But, amazingly, another committee put it back in Friday.

Now it goes to the full Assembly and Senate, where the legislation has substantial backing. Of course, that doesn't mean much, if the past is any guide. Without action by Aug. 31, it's dead for another year.

And even if it passes, it'll go to the desk of Gov. Gray Davis. He's claimed to support privacy, but his record does not support the claim.

Computerworld - UCITA still haunts IT.

WASHINGTON -- It's been called a time bomb, code capable of disabling software, and some users fear its use could become pervasive if the controversial software law UCITA succeeds.

The Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA), due for a renewed push for state-by-state adoption next year, lets vendors include code to trigger a shutdown if, for instance, a user's license has expired.

It's a type of code that poses operational and security issues for IT, said Ken Tyminski, chief security officer at Prudential Financial in Newark, N.J. A time bomb, or a software restraint, is a potential bug that can be triggered without warning, sending business systems crashing. Or it can be activated maliciously and give hackers a back door to your network.

"That, to me, is very, very dangerous for the [insurance] industry and companies at large," Tyminski said. In response, Prudential is ensuring that its vendor contracts prevent any use of these systems.

This type of code "can cripple the business, and it can do it in a method where there has been absolutely no due process, there has been no chance at remediation, no chance at explanation," he said.

[ ... ]

Critics also assail UCITA because it protects vendors from liability. The Center for National Software Studies, formed earlier this year, is examining the problems with the software quality and is working on a set of recommendations. UCITA's liability-limiting provision gives vendors little incentive to worry about the consequences of mistakes, said Alan Salisbury, who heads the Camp Springs, Md.-based center.

New York Times - free registration required Privacy Furor Over Subpoena in Baby's Death.

Seeking leads in the gruesome killing of a newborn baby in May, the county attorney here has subpoenaed the names of hundreds of women who had pregnancy tests at a local Planned Parenthood clinic. The organization is fighting the subpoena in the Iowa Supreme Court.

Philip E. Havens, the county attorney of Buena Vista County, said the questions had to be asked. "I don't know how else you deal with it and conduct an investigation," he said.

But Sue Thayer, who has managed the clinic since 1985, said that surrendering the information would destroy the clinic's ability to serve young women in difficult situations because "they would no longer see us as a confidential agency, a place where they can come and they know it's safe."

Already, Ms. Thayer said, pregnancy tests at the clinic, which does not perform abortions, are down 70 percent from the typical 100 a month.

[ ... ]

Jennifer Dalven, a staff lawyer at the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the significance of the Storm Lake case went beyond the "extraordinary government intervention into people's private lives" in Iowa. Surveys showed, Ms. Dalven said, that fear of disclosure of medical records, which a case like this aggravates, led as many as one American in six to keep information from doctors, change doctors frequently or avoid medical attention.

"That is a tremendous public health problem," she said.

Planned Parenthood's lawyers and its allies, from the civil liberties union to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, argued that there was no basis to assume that the mother of the infant had a pregnancy test at a clinic or doctor's office.

Dana Larsen, executive editor of The Pilot Tribune, one of two newspapers in this town of about 10,000, agreed.

"It's just fishing right now," Mr. Larsen said, adding that he did not believe the records would lead the authorities to the killer.

He said he thought almost everyone in Storm Lake believed that the information should not be turned over to Mr. Havens.

Art Cullen, editor of The Storm Lake Times, the town's other paper, disagreed and said he thought the town was about evenly split. Planned Parenthood could check its records to assist the sheriff, Mr. Cullen said.

And tacked onto the bottom of this article I found:

Rebuff on Showing Film

DES MOINES, Aug. 23 (AP) -- A public access station said an anti-abortion activist would not be allowed to broadcast film of women entering a Planned Parenthood clinic here unless their faces were covered.

Dave Leach, an anti-abortion advocate who is a Republican candidate for the state House, planned to show the film on his public access program, "The Uncle Ed. Show."

But the cable company, Mediacom, said it would not show the women's faces.