Monday, February 12, 2007

An American Idol for Crypto Geeks. An American Idol for Crypto Geeks. The federal government is holding a competition for a new cryptographic hash function that will become the national standard. Really, this is exciting stuff. Commentary by Bruce Schneier. [Wired News: Security Blanket] 2:02:53 PM

FCW.com News - Lack of info feeds public outcries about privacy, experts say Federal agencies need to do a better job of informing the public about measures taken to protect their sensitive and private information, current and former government officials say. A lack of information can lead to trouble, said several experts, speaking at the CTO Forum held by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association. In some cases, agencies have been forced to end programs -- such as data mining or surveillance projects -- because of public outcry that stemmed from misperceptions that might have been better addressed with better information. "When we don't get the kind of meaningful public debate, decisions get based on inadequate knowledge and the public gets in an uproar on things based on incorrect information," said Linda Millis, director of the National Security Program at the nonprofit Markle Foundation. 1:52:39 PM

US surveillance of soldiers' blogs sparks lawsuit | The Register The US Army is being sued by a privacy group that wants the military to come clean about how it monitors websites and soldiers' blogs for potential military leaks. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) lawsuit (PDF) against the Department of Defense comes after the Department of Defense and Army failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the blog monitoring programme. According to news reports cited by the EFF, an Army unit called the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell (AWRAC) reviews hundreds of thousands of websites every month, notifying webmasters and bloggers when it finds "sensitive information". Some bloggers complain the unit's remit extends beyond a legitimate attempt to restrict the disclosure of military secrets, effectively forcing them to censure posts about their feelings about the conflict or shut down sites altogether. "Soldiers should be free to blog their thoughts at this critical point in the national debate on the war in Iraq," EFF staff attorney Marcia Hofmann said. "If the Army is colouring or curtailing soldiers' published opinions, Americans need to know about that interference." EFF's suit demands records on how the AWRAC operates, as well as any orders to soldiers about revision or deletion of web posts. "Of course, a military effort requires some level of secrecy. But the public has a right to know if the Army is silencing soldiers' opinions as well. That's why the Department of Defense must release information on how this program works without delay," Hofmann added. 1:28:34 PM

© Copyright 2007 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 3/4/07; 9:09:19 AM.