Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether to limit the First Amendment protections currently available to the video game industry.
Thorsten Feldman outlines the tensions between Germany’s data protection and free speech laws.
Someone needs to take a good hard look at the Internet surveillance stories being strategically placed on the front page of the New York Times.
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.
SecurityWeek News has a story on a recent survey conducted by Unisys, which found 61% of Americans favor some form of an Internet “kill switch” for the President to use in the event of a “coordinated malicious cyber attack.” Other interesting aspects of the survey include:
The overall score for the current Unisys Security Index for the United States was 136, indicating a moderate level of overall security concern. The overall score declined from 147 since the last survey taken in February 2010, reflecting a decrease in concern across all four areas of security.
(snip)
American’s fear surrounding Internet security continues to be on the decline with the number of Americans “not concerned” about computer security in relation to viruses or spam increasing to 34%, the greatest number since the Index’s inception. The most dramatic decline was reported in those “seriously concerned” about the security of shopping or banking online – from 43% in February 2010 to 34% in August 2010.
A Unisys press release with more details of the survey may be found here.
A high-ranking Homeland Security official says the agency will protect Americans’ civil liberties and privacy while it partners with the military to protect the nation’s computer networks.
China is solidifying its tech superpower status. China’s Tianhe-1A supercomputer has bumped the U.S.’s Jaguar from its top spot as the world’s fastest supercomputer.
Lime Group, whose LimeWire software has allowed people to share songs and other files over the Internet, received a federal injunction Tuesday to disable key parts of its service.
Laura O’Brien over at Silicon Republic reports that the FTC has decided to drop its investigation of the Google Wi-Fi snooping incidents. But as Cecilia Kang from the Washington Post writes, this development highlights the “growing rift” between the US and Europe on privacy regulation.
Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing writes on the widespread effects of the ROK’s copyright infringement enforcement plan, which was in large part developed at the behest of the United States. Doctorow notes:
Under the new rules, Korean ISPs are obliged to kick their customers (and their families) off the Internet after receiving three unsubstantiated copyright accusations.
Marvin Ammori 