Archive for the 'National insecurity' Category
dan tynan on Mar 16 2010 | Filed under: Crazyass cults, Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, Julius Baer + Wikileaks, National insecurity, Privacy, Spy v spy, censorship
I just received an email from Wikileaks editor Julian Assange that’s pretty wild. It accuses the US government of deliberately trying to take the whistle-blower site down two years ago.
As proof, Wikileaks has posted a 32-page classified document [PDF] from the Department of Defense Intelligence Analysis program, dated March 2008, which details "the [...]
dan tynan on Jan 24 2010 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, censorship, politics
Yes, "information imperialists." That’s what the People’s Republic of China is calling us now, thanks to Google and the US State Department. Hey, it’s as good a description as any.
The blowback against Google’s announcement that it was hacked by Chinese cyber agents– and in response would be lifting the restrictions that keep users of [...]
dan tynan on Jan 18 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, censorship, politics
So far, 2010 has started off with a bang. Google decides to take on Apple in the ultra-smart phone market, while Apple appears on the verge of creating yet another new market for touchscreen tablet PCs. Google says "bite me" to China, after Chinese cyber-attackers target it and three dozen other tech firms. Yahoo [...]
dan tynan on Dec 08 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, Spy v spy, politics
Location, location, location. It’s not merely the key to success in retail. It’s also the key to your privacy — or what little is left of it. And that too is rapidly disappearing, thanks to that wondrous gizmo you probably carry with you at all times: the cell phone.
Earlier this week, security researcher and [...]
dan tynan on Oct 16 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Microsoft, National insecurity
Microsoft may have recovered most of Sidekick users’ missing data, but the bigger point remains: We’re deeply dependent on tech. When it screws up, lives can be lost.
dan tynan on Apr 17 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity
The residents of Cringeville had some strong opinions about my “turn out the lights” blog post last week. Here’s what some of them had to say.
dan tynan on Apr 10 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, National insecurity
Is the power grid under cyber attack? US spooks say yes. Better hunker down before Russia or China pull the plug.
dan tynan on Mar 30 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity, Spy v spy
By now you’ve probably read about GhostNet, the vast spy network that was uncovered after the office of the Dalai Lama asked researchers at the University of Toronto to examine their computer networks for malware. The researchers not only found nasties there, they uncovered an entire network that connected almost 1300 computers in 103 [...]
dan tynan on Nov 18 2008 | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, National insecurity, politics
It’s a lousy job, but somebody’s got to do it. Once we find someone who’s crazy–err, patriotic enough to take the position as our nation’s first CTO, what should he or she do?
It might possibly be the worst job in the world, outside of replacing Jerry Yang as Yahoo’s CEO. Yet people seem to [...]
dan tynan on Nov 03 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity
As the presidential election finally arrives, we’re hip deep in horror stories about voting machines run amok. Here’s how to make sure your vote really counts.
dan tynan on Aug 22 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, National insecurity, Spy v spy
What do Chinese gymnasts and FBI agents have in common? They believe laws (and/or regulations) are made to be broken.
dan tynan on Jun 30 2008 | Filed under: Google, Microsoft, National insecurity, PC World
Microsoft’s cofounder says he’ll do charitable work after he retires this month. But we have some other suggestions: driving instructor, expert witness, and circus clown for starters. And Bill has experience in all of them.
(A version of this post originally appeared on PCworld.com)
For more than 30 years he has roamed among us, a strange hybrid [...]
dan tynan on Jun 24 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy
(This post originally appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
Last week the House of Representatives passed a "compromise" amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, though it sounds like the only things that have been compromised are our Constitutional rights. Now the Senate is poised to do the same.
Unfortunately, the FISA Amendments Act of [...]
dan tynan on Apr 28 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Gadgets, Infoworld, National insecurity
(This post originally appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
by Robert X. Cringely
A Mexican press attache walked off with “six or seven” Blackberries belonging to US officials at a summit between the presidents of Canada, Mexico, and some guy named Bush in New Orleans last week.
Press officer Rafael Quintero Curiel was captured on video [...]
dan tynan on Mar 27 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity
(This post originally appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
by Robert X. Cringely
My last post about Sequoia Voting Systems and its painfully stupid e-voting machines inspired both cheers and jeers from the Cringe faithful.
Cringester E. N. believes we should all just grow up and accept that mistakes happen (though he seems to also believe [...]
dan tynan on Mar 27 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity
(This post originally appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
by Robert X. Cringely
I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but our elected officials are being determined by people who can’t do simple math or write a comprehensible sentence in English. And no, I don’t mean people who voted for Rudy Guiliani. I’m talking about [...]
dan tynan on Mar 24 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity
(This entry originally appeared last week on my Infoworld blog, Notes From the Field. Sorry, I just can’t keep up with myself these days.)
by Robert X. Cringely
It seems I can’t get wikis off my mind these days. And it’s not just because of that juicy story about Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and his one night [...]
dan tynan on Mar 06 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Julius Baer + Wikileaks, National insecurity, Privacy
(This post originally appeared in Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog.)
by Robert X. Cringely
If God had wanted me to be an attorney I’d have been born with a dorsal fin and razor sharp teeth. So the subtleties of the law sometimes elude me. But there have been a couple of recent court decisions that raise [...]
dan tynan on Feb 25 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Google, Infoworld, Microsoft, National insecurity
(This entry first appeared on Infoworld’s Notes From the Field blog. What field, you might ask. Good question.)
by Robot X. Cringely
Ignorance is truth. If George Orwell were alive today and working as a marketing wonk, he’d probably have a job at Microsoft. Case in point: MS’s Aussie division is offering $15,000 in prizes to OEM [...]
dan tynan on Feb 25 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Google, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy
(Originally posted on Infoworld.com’s Notes From the Field blog.)
by Robert X. (don’t call me Bob) Cringely
Sergey Brin has weighed in on the whole MicroHoo fandango, and not surprisingly he’s agin’ it. At Google’s Lunar X prize announcement last week, Brin told the Associated Press:
The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies. [...]
