Internet Law Highlights for GFY
 

Internet Law Highlights for GFY ? January 31, 2005

Compiled by LawLaw. ICQ 232035213.
You can send e-mail to LawLaw at [email protected]

CONGRESS FAST TRACKS SPYWARE BILL
The U.S. House Commerce Committee voted to fast track anti-spyware bill HR29 (aka the Spy Act) in an effort to get it out of committee in the next two or three weeks. The bill would require spyware to be easily identifiable and removable, and would prevent programs from hijacking webpages or tracking surfer?s activities.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,66407,00.html

DOJ WINS FIRST P2P COPYRIGHT CONVICTIONS
The U.S. Department of Justice got its first criminal convictions for P2P copyright infringement. Each of the accused pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony criminal copyright infringement and will be required to destroy all infringing copies and all equipment used to make the infringing copies.
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/print.php/3461501

WILL YOU BE TAGGED AND BAGGED?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to RFID tags as part of its ongoing efforts to control access to U.S. borders. The current US-VISIT scheme already requires holiday travelers to provide fingerprints when entering the country. The new RFID scheme, which will begin limited testing in the spring, is expected to track people and cars to record when visitors enter and leave the country.
http://management.silicon.com/govern...9127374,00.htm

MILE HIGH VIDEO CLUB?
Southwest Airlines has partnered with Movielink to enable passengers to download movies to their laptops. The movies are viewable for a 24 hour period and can be viewed for up to 30 days after the download. Movielink is a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/10739933.htm

CYBERTIP.CA LAUNCHED TO FIGHT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The Canadian federal government has launched Cybertip.ca, a tip line for reporting incidents of suspected child sexual exploitation on the Internet. The initiative is supported by a number of industry partners including Bell Canada, Microsoft, Telus, Shaw, Rogers and others. According to the press release ?Cybertip.ca receives and analyzes tips from the public about potentially illegal material and activities on the Internet and makes referrals to appropriate law enforcement agencies.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../24/c6307.html

SURVEY: IT SECURITY BUDGETS TO INCREASE
A recent Gartner survey found that IT execs plan to increase their IT security budgets by 2.5% in 2005. In addition, CIOs ranked security enhancements tools as the number one technology priority. The survey seems to emphasize the growing concern that all companies have over cyber-attacks and the loss or exposure of their customers? personal information to hackers.
http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/57701452

CHINA TO EXCEED US INTERNET USAGE
Market analysts Panlogic has predicted that net users in China will exceed users in the US by 2008. However, according to the article, net use in China differs significantly from use in North America, with Chinese users reluctant to use credit cards online.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4190937.stm

@hotmail.com....

good reads

Good reads, man. The RFID development is very very troubling.

good info :thumbsup

good info, thanx for sharing it with us

Just spent a quality hour reading through that. Thanks

thanks for the info

The RFID stuff is indeed an evil thing.

The question is how much data is tracked on the chip. Even an ID is already bad, but imagine if it had the name and such.

In germany, there is a major debate going on about new passports, credit-card size with embeded RFID chips with ALL the details on it and it looks like its going to happen.

To everyone that does not know what RFID is: RFID is a system to embed data into microscopic chips you can put into stuff like clothes or the like. They work together with an RFID reader which can read the data on the chips. They are currently used a lot in anti-shoplifting devices or new kinds of price-scanners. Also some use in security access keycards.

There is no encryption standard for RFID currently, that means if everyone had an RFID chip you could sit in your car with an RFID reader, and record every single person walking by your car. RFID reaches up to 30 feet in best conditions as far as I remember.

Remember Minority Report? Those talking ads, are no fiction. RFIDs would make exactly that possible easily.

Technically speaking, RFIDs get powered by small magnetic fields emmitted by the reader, which causes the RFID chip to receive tiny amounts of current causing it to read the contents of the chip and send it out.

RFIDs are sure evil.

great post

re: rfid

not evil... but just like other technology, it's evil in the wrong hands. fyi, SecureRFID is in development.

Rfid is a bit scary yes..

But come on, aren't most of us interested in new markets..?

I'm surprised there's no discussion going on about new & better
ways to wring some dollars out of the chinese... :winkwink: :thumbsup

RFID is not evil.

Yeah, that's very professionnal :d

Awesome stuff, thanks for the info, LawLaw!

RFID Hacks and Contact Information
 

I noticed that a couple of replies referenced the item on RFID tags for cross-border access. Those of you interested in RFID technology and related security issues may also find the following item to be of interest:

RESEARCHERS HACK RFID CHIPS
Researchers at John Hopkins University and RSA Laboratories claim that they have figured out how to hack into RFID security chips commonly found in car keys and swipe-by gasoline passes. Using relatively inexpensive technology, the security experts claim, they can circumvent the security features in the chips and fool card readers in gas stations and cars.
RFID Chips Hacked

Also, some people took issue with my hotmail account :)

The account is a temporary measure until a more permanent site goes up, but you can find my full contact information, including my "regular", professional e-mail address here:

Contact Information

And that is just the begining.

RFID = radio frequency...what's this magnetic stuff?

RFID isn't evil, people are evil. There are many uses for it, it's just the purpose it's used for which can be evil. For your clothes example, you can have a washing machine that can read the RFID in the clothes and automatically wash it according to its instructions.