Commercial satellites used by the US military, secret service and Federal Aviation Authority could be hijacked or disabled by computer hackers, a new government report has warned.

The satellites are typically used for non-critical communications, as well as tracking and telemetry. The report was produced by the US General Accounting Office, an investigative governmental body, and states that the command channels used to control these commercial satellites are insufficiently protected against misuse.

"Commercial satellite providers generally do not use the more stringent techniques used in national security satellites for protection against deliberate disruption and exploitation," the report says. "If false commands could be inserted into a satellite's command receiver, they could cause the spacecraft to destroy itself."

The study says some of the commands sent to commercial satellites are not encrypted and that the encryption that is used may be weaker than that employed by the military. Other security measures, such as user ID's passwords are also less stringently enforced, according to the report.

Business News from Wired News - What Amazon Knows, Amazon Keeps.

In a move to placate state regulators, Amazon clarifies its privacy policy -- again. Still, some worry that Amazon knows way too much about its customers.

[ ... ]

However, the attorney general's office also wrote that it agreed that providing customers the ability to change and delete records would "greatly enhance the ability of consumers to protect their privacy."

Political News from Wired News - Justices Doubt Free Speech Link.

In a case that could affect how many digital works end up on the Internet and in other areas of the public domain, U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed measured skepticism that copyright law and the First Amendment are intertwined.

"This would be quite a new proposition," said Justice Sandra Day O'Connor during oral arguments for the case, Eldred v. Ashcroft.

[ ... ]

Justices also said that throwing out the CTEA could affect the validity of past copyright extensions and the 1976 Copyright Act, which anchors current copyright law.

But, First Amendment issues aside, justices also asked if CTEA violates the "limited time" copyright clause in the U.S. Constitution.

Justice Breyer wondered whether allowing Congress to extend copyright terms whenever it chooses could defeat the purpose of the copyright clause itself. "Isn't there no difference between this and a permanent copyright?" he asked.

Justice Antonin Scalia agreed, suggesting that allowing unlimited extensions makes the term "limited" in the copyright clause meaningless.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Digital ID World Conference.

Denver is playing host to the Digital ID World conference, which is intended to discuss and examine the future of "digital identity" - how you'll be identified, tracked, and monitored online. Several people from the weblog community are in attendance and have reports available: Denise Howell, David Weinberger, Doc Searls.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Eldred v. Ashcroft Oral Arguments.

PMuse and others wrote in about the oral arguments held today in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case challenging the most recent 20-year retroactive extension of copyright terms. Google News will cover the mainstream news stories about it; transcripts of the arguments will eventually be posted; but as I write this the only first-hand reports appear to be LawMeme and the Associated Press. Reader McSpew adds a link to a piece by Steven Levy explaining the importance of Eldred v. Ashcroft and what's really at stake. Update: 10/09 19:12 GMT by T: khkramer links to his own summary of the arguments, writing --- "I have press credentials at the court, so I was able to take notes during the argument, and in the summary I tried to cover all of the major issues that the Justices asked about."

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - MS Backs Down On Encrypted Digital TV Recording.

karrde writes "CNet (and others) is reporting that: 'Microsoft has bowed to consumer pressure and pulled back from a controversial plan that would have encrypted TV shows recorded on forthcoming digital media PCs.' One could hope that this will be the first many decisions in this direction."

Slashdot | OS X Conference DRM Panel Video Available Online.

gnat writes "Tucked away on the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference presentations page are links to Quicktime video and mp3 audio recordings of the Digital Rights Management panel featuring Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News, Cory Doctorow of the EFF, and others. (My apologies for the sometimes shaky video--three Cokes for breakfast is the anti-steadicam)"

New York Times - free registration required Supreme Court Hears Copyright Challenge.

No member of the Supreme Court had a good word to say today for the 1998 law that added 20 years to all existing copyrights. But that did not make the job any easier for Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School, who faced an uphill battle to persuade the justices that the extension, which Congress adopted at the behest of the Walt Disney Company and other powerful corporate copyright holders, was not only bad policy but unconstitutional.

LawMeme (Yale) - Live From Eldred v. Ashcroft - I. Posted by Raul Ruiz on Wednesday, October 09 @ 11:18:34 EDT

Your humble reporters (Ernest Miller and Raul Ruiz) have just exited from the Supreme Court after hearing oral arguments in the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft. We are providing you this first report from memory as members of the public are not permitted to take notes in the Supreme Court.

Slashdot | "Ask Slashdot" - What Would You Do With a New Form of Encryption?

Kip Knight asks: "I've been sitting on an invention for six months now. I'm debating whether to 'give it to the world' or patent it. I would obviously like to feed my family on the fruits of my endeavour but don't see much hope in the open source route. My invention improves upon the 80 year old One-Time Pad encryption turning it into a 'Many-Time Pad'. Since I haven't got my export license to speak about the details yet, I won't describe further. The advantages are proof (i.e. unbreakable) against brute force attacks and known-plaintext attacks (unlike the OTP). The disadvantage is carrying around a very large digital key (which could easily fit on one of those USB memory key fobs). My question is this: Could I sell enough $10 shareware GPG extensions to compensate for not locking in 20 years of patent protection (and the $20,000 to patent it)?" --- While the claims made by the submittor have yet to withstand the crucial test of time (and prying eyes), if you had developed a new form of encryption, what would you do?

Freevo.

Freevo is an open-source digital video jukebox (PVR, DVR) based on Linux in addition to a number of open-source audio/video tools. MPlayer is used to play audio and video files. MPlayer is an excellent media player that can play most popular file formats. Freevo can be used both for a standalone PVR computer with a TV+remote, as well as on a regular desktop computer using the monitor and keyboard.

I just hope they don't have any tracking in the TV Guide program update module.