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Friday, March 9, 2007
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An open-source rival to a Microsoft identity tool has been in limbo
for months, awaiting the software giant's go-ahead on certain
patent-related issues.
Developers working on the Higgins project want to create a tool equivalent to Microsoft's Windows CardSpace,
but fear the software giant's legal wrath if they don't receive
permission on certain features. Although parts of the project continue
to move forward, proponents say it may not reach its full potential
without Microsoft's help.
"There are some pieces that we would not be able to release
that we would like to," Mary Ruddy, a Higgins project leader, said
Thursday. "We want to make sure that the intellectual property for all
of our open-source projects is really clean, so that people can feel
confident about using our code."
In September, Microsoft pledged not to assert its patents pertaining to nearly three dozen Web services specifications.
That did help the Higgins project, but developers say that wasn't
enough to help them deliver all the features they hope to. They have
asked Microsoft to provide guarantees that it won't sue on other parts
of its intellectual property.
4:42:06 PM 
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Open-Source ID Project Awaits Microsoft's Blessing. An anonymous reader writes to mention that an open-source alternative to Microsoft's CardSpace tool has been on hold for months while they await patent blessing from the Redmond software giant. "While CardSpace is available on Windows, one goal of the Higgins project is to cover other operating systems. Higgins wants to offer an open-source alternative that works on Windows and on alternatives such as Linux and Mac OS X. The application would work similarly to CardSpace." [Slashdot]
4:39:39 PM
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The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.And for three years the FBI underreported to Congress how often it forced businesses to turn over the customer data, the audit found. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who oversees the FBI, described the problems cited in the report as unacceptable and left open the possibility of criminal charges. He ordered further investigation. "Once we get that information, we'll be in a better position to assess what kinds of steps should be taken," Gonzales told reporters following a speech to privacy officials. [...]
The FBI also used so-called "exigent letters," signed by officials at
FBI headquarters who were not authorized to sign national security
letters, to obtain information. In at least 700 cases, these exigent
letters were sent to three telephone companies to get toll billing
records and subscriber information.
"In many cases, there was no pending investigation associated
with the request at the time the exigent letters were sent," the audit
concluded.
In a letter to Fine, Gonzales asked the inspector general to
issue a follow-up audit in July on whether the FBI had followed
recommendations to fix the problems.
"To say that I am concerned about what has been revealed in
this report would be an enormous understatement," Gonzales told the
privacy officials. "Failure to adequately protect information privacy
simply is a failure to do our jobs."
Senators outraged over the conclusions signaled they would provide tougher oversight of the FBI -- and perhaps limit its power.
"The report indicates abuse of the authority" Congress gave the FBI, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt. "You cannot have people act as free agents on something where they're going to be delving into your privacy."
The committee's top Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record),
said the FBI appears to have "badly misused national security letters."
The senator said, "This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing process
where the federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and
go far beyond what we have authorized."
Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., another member on the panel that oversees the FBI, said the report "proves that 'trust us' doesn't cut it."
The American Civil Liberties Union said the audit proves Congress must amend the Patriot Act to require judicial approval anytime the FBI wants access to sensitive personal information. "The Attorney General and the FBI are part of the problem and they cannot be trusted to be part of the solution," said Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU's executive director.
4:34:53 PM
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Audit Finds FBI Abused Patriot Act. happyslayer writes to mention that according to Yahoo! News a recent audit shows that the FBI has improperly and in some cases illegally utilized the Patriot Act to obtain information. "The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found that FBI agents sometimes demanded personal data on individuals without proper authorization. The 126-page audit also found the FBI improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances. The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct. Still, 'we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities,' the audit concludes." [Slashdot]
4:27:43 PM
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A far-reaching wiretapping programme proposed by Sweden's government to
defend against foreign threats, including monitoring emails and
telephone calls, has stirred up a fiery debate in the past few weeks,
with critics decrying the creation of a "big brother" state.
The new legislation, to be presented to parliament on Thursday, would
enable the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) to tap all
Internet and telephone communication in and out of Sweden.
4:21:39 PM
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FTC Finalizes Landmark Adware Settlement. The Federal Trade Commission today finalized its landmark settlement requiring adware distributor Zango Inc. (formerly 180solutions) to hand over $3 million and change some of its most egregious practices. The settlement bars Zango from contacting the computers of people who installed Zango software before Jan. 1, 2006. After the proposed settlement was announced in November 2006, CDT submitted recommendations to the FTC highlighting the challenges that will come with enforcing it. In a letter to CDT, the FTC today acknowledged that it would need to remain vigilant to ensure that Zango abides by the terms of the settlement. The commission also urged CDT to pass along any evidence of future offenses by Zango stemming from CDT's ongoing forensics work in the adware/spyware arena. [Center for Democracy and Technology]
4:08:24 PM
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The FBI repeatedly failed to follow the strict guidelines of the
Patriot Act when its agents took advantage of a new provision allowing
the FBI to obtain phone and financial records without a court order,
according to a report to be made public Friday by the Justice
Department's Inspector General.
The report, in classified and unclassified versions, remains closely
held, but Washington officials who have seen it tell ABC News it
documents "numerous lapses" and describe it as "scathing" and "not a
pretty picture for the FBI."
FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to brief Congress on the report at noon.
The officials say the inspector general found the FBI underreported
by at least 20 percent the use of the controversial provision, known as
National Security Letters, NSLs, in required disclosures to Congress.
The Patriot Act gave FBI agents the ability to demand telephone,
bank, credit card and library records by issuing an administrative
letter, bypassing the need to seek a warrant from a federal judge.
1:02:02 PM
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Video: the New Kid for the Block. It looks like video sites are the new flashpoint in the battle against
free speech online. Perhaps it is that many states control television
broadcasts far more tightly than they control the press. Judges across
the world clearly think they understand how to censor television - and
are surprised when their attempts to do the same to video online don't
work as effectively.
In January it was Brazilian judges who found themselves caught in a hailstorm
of criticism when attempting to prevent all Brazilians from downloading a
salacious video of a Brazilian celebrity. When the only method of obeying the
order at local ISP's disposal was blocking all of YouTube from Brazil,
Brazilian net users rose up and complained. The decision was overturned three
days later.
This week, it was Turkey, whose Istanbul First Criminal
Court ordered Turk Telekom to redirect its users away from YouTube to
prevent them seeing a video that poured scorn on Turkey and the country's
founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
As in so many cases of government internet censorship, Turkey's reaction
has affected the free speech rights of thousands of innocent parties,
and done nothing to stop what they want to stop. The growing
legions of Turkish net users were denied access to tools to share
their own stories, while anti-Ataturk commentary still exists on YouTube
and elsewhere. Meanwhile, nationalists inside Turkey found themselves
unable to post their own responses to the video, meaning that the ratio
of Turkey critics and supporters on YouTube no doubt lurched towards the
critics. Those who agreed with the judges that this video was outrageous
found themselves as effectively silenced as the video's maker. As one of
the four college students who bravely
petitioned the court Thursday, Kursat Cetinkoz, said:
"Banning access to the Website does not punish those who
did that (posted the videos) but the citizens of the Turkish Republic."
It looks as if the court will now restore access now that the one video
has been removed. To YouTube's credit, the company did not remove the
video itself. Then again, it didn't have to: the original user appears
to have deleted it from his or her account.
The reaction in Turkey, and fear of discovery and retribution by the creator
may have played its part in that personal decision. For free speech online to
grow, we need to have not only network operators that cannot be intimidated,
but we also need safety through anonymity for speakers. Tor, and services like it, work for both
viewers and writers. With Tor and other anti-censorship programs, bypassing
the court's censorship was straightforward - and publishing via anonymizers
helps give intimated speakers the confidence to stand their ground.
[EFF: Deep Links]
12:13:14 PM
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© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick.
Last update: 3/18/07; 6:32:05 PM.
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