Politechan

A pretty scary amount of information is obtained by DHS everytime you book a flight.  A FOIA request was sent to DHS to deliver an actual travel report from DHS for a person who booked a flight online.  Credit card, mileage and IP numbers were all reported to DHS, and the Feds even knew his [...]

NSA and DHS moves cybersecurity FEBA (Forward Edge of the Battle Area) out of government networks and into civilian systems with Einstein 3

The Obama administration is going to announce that they will be following the Bush era plan to use the National Security Agency (NSA) to screen traffic of private Internet companies, so says the Washington Post.
Under a classified pilot program approved during the Bush administration, NSA data and hardware would be used to protect the [...]

A new audit by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General is raising questions about the security of the Federal Aviation Administration’s computer systems, which could potentially affect air traffic control systems.  However, you need to read the fine print.
The audit found that several of the administrative systems, such as personnel records and whatnot were vulnerable [...]

Well, it’s just a theory I’m thinking about right now.  But the Posse Comitatus Act is a very old law designed to keep the Federal Government / Military out of the law enforcement business.  Yesterday, in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, the new director of CyberCommand hinted that technologies and skills developed by [...]

Obama’s new CTO has been quoted as a fan of ‘green computing‘–more energy efficient desktops and servers and data centers.  Given the federal government’s haphazard computer purchasing system (a little here, a little there, and more than likely never the same thing twice) it will be interesting to see if he can bring some semblance [...]

Well those who worried that the NSA wants to make more of a power grab than just listening to your phone calls can rest a bit easier.  Unless it is some sort of double bluff, the NSA head has spoken out about a potential role for the NSA in the nation’s cybersecurity plan–”we don’t want [...]

The Washington Post is asking some pretty tough questions today about the FCC’s role in the broadband stimulus program–mainly, will it even get done in time to be considered ‘economic stimulus’?  How, well it’s typical Washington.  
The broadband plan tells the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute the money [...]

As part of the broadband ’stimulus’ package in the stimulus bill, there are provisions for $7.2 billion to go for “broadband” in “unserved” and “underserved” areas.  But just what is broadband is subject to debate and public comments are being accepted for a definition until April 13.
Opinions about what constitutes “broadband” vary wildly. Big incumbents [...]