AFP reports that European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding wants the EU to expand its online privacy rules, aiming at the goal of allowing users to have control over their data. Short excerpt:
“People should be able to give their informed consent to the processing of their personal data, for example when surfing online, and should have the ‘right to be forgotten’ when their data is no longer needed or they want their data to be deleted,” the commission said.
From CBC News comes word that the Tories in Canada are seeking to implement legislation that would allow for the interception of online communications and the warrantless collection of information from ISPs. The purported motive behind the legislation is to increase law enforcement effectiveness against online crime involving pornography, child predators, identity theft, and terrorist activities.
AFP has a story on a pending Internet law in Syria that will result government oversight of online publishing by the Information Ministry and make it easier for the government to shutdown sites which it finds objectionable. Some 240 websites are already blocked in Syria, according to a human rights activist interviewed by AFP.
Spencer Ackerman at Wired’s Danger Room reports on the standing-up of US Cyber Command. Ackerman spells out the official role of the Command, noting it is largely a reactive force and will only intervene on behalf of the public and private sector networks during emergencies.
Audrey Watters at Read, Write, Web reports that the group Anonymous launched a DDOS attack on the US Copyright Website yesterday, rendering the site inoperable for upwards of a half hour and causing delays for a few hours more. Watters comments on the use of DDOS attacks as an emerging form of political activism, and warns of “fireworks,” on Nov. 5, likely an homage to Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta.
Neil Schwartzman has a piece at CircleID arguing against the distinction between “cyber-crime” and “crime,” and suggests that crime conducted using technological means be treated as any other crime, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Read it here.
Francis Wade of Democratic Voice of Burma discusses the latest news regarding the country’s massive Internet outages. Wade notes that Burma’s primary ISP has been down for nearly two weeks, “rendering access to foreign news website, email accounts and a host of domestic services almost impossible.” He also notes that some news outlets are suggesting this is due to a DDOS, but a conclusive determination of the cause remains unclear.
(Hat-tip InfowarMonitor)
Qichen Zhang at ONI has a story on Kindle users in China finding themselves able to access websites banned under country’s “Great Firewall.” The article closes on an ominous note however, suggesting that this is merely a loophole the government will soon close.
Mark Hayward of the New Hampshire Union Leader reports on the difficulties faced by Republicans and Democrats in their telephone-based GOTV efforts, with both parties blaming each other for the problem. Comcast has attributed it to a large volume of robocalls hitting the local networks.
WCVB TV5 out of Boston has further updates.
At least according to Noah Shachtman writing for Wired’s Danger Room. He points to a draft of a federal report indicating that if this year’s rate of attacks remains the same as last year’s, we could be on track to see a reduction in the number of cyber attacks on military systems. However, Shachtman noted:
The report cautioned that the drop in “malicious activity … may or may not represent a decrease in the volume of attempts to penetrate defense and military networks.” Instead, the Pentagon seems to be doing a little better job in securing its networks, ever since a relatively-unsophisticated worm made its way onto hundreds of thousands of military computers in late 2008.
Marvin Ammori 