Cyberkill

Details of new legislation to be introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller are leaking. Essentially, the legislation in its current form would give the President the power to declare a "cyber-emergency" and allow him or her to turn off the internet. It would also create a licensing standard for technology professionals to create a single standard. In the bill there is no definition of what is a "cyber-emergency" or any bounds to the President's powers.

This is a road paved with good intentions, and we know where that leads. Giving the President a kill switch and giving the President a blank check to declare a cyber-emergency is ridiculous. Let private industry deal with cyber-threats and attacks; given some motivation I'm sure they'll come up with something before the government does.

iPhone Threat to National Security

Apple has argued that if you jailbreak their iPhone it could be used as a weapon for mass technological destruction to bring down every cell tower in the United States.

Virtual Taxation

Adam Chodorow has published an article detailing a possible solution on tracking basis on virtual assets for tax purposes.

No More Commercials!

The Supreme Court denied cert on an appeal by the entertainment industry to block Cablevision Systems Corp new DVR that saves the shows at the cable location, not the user location, making the DVR service more like download on demand than a DVR. Licensing rates for broadcast is different than download on demand. The entertainment industry claimed it violated their copyrights, but the Second Circuit differed.

Dowload Case

A Minneapolis jury awarded the RIAA $1.92 million against Jammie Thomas-Rasset for illegal file sharing.

Right to Privacy?

Applicants for jobs in the city of Bozeman are being asked for passwords to their social networking sites. It is suposedly designed to verify personal information. But I find it had to believe that there's anything on somebody's facebook or myspace page that could not be verified by other means. The city attorney is looking into alternatives, such as requiring the job applicant to friend the city.

Las Vegas Paper to Produce Online Records

The Las Vegas Review-Journal will comply with a Federal Grand Jury subpoena compelling the identities of two people who posted comments on the newspaper's website about a criminal tax trial that could be construed as threatening to the jurors and/or judge. The paper said there isn't much to produce given that most of their postings are anonymous.