Perilocity

Google to be Dragooned Into U.S. Wiretapping?

I'd wondered when the feds would think of this:

"Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. "Giorgio warned me, 'We have a saying in this business: `Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'"

— A New Internet Wiretapping Plan? Steve Bellovin, SMBlog, 15 January 2008

Their saying is wrong, as Bellovin points out:

The risks are quite similar to those posed by CALEA: this is an intentional vulnerability which can be exploited by the wrong people. (That's what happeed to the Greek cellphone network.)

But some people believe the saying anyway, and will act on it, unless they are stopped.

-jsq

Chinese Firewall Viewed as Vacuum

In addition to the Chinese national firewall being used as a Panopticon that encourages self-censorship, other uses are now emerging:

Further to our earlier story on visitors to Google Blogsearch being redirected to Baidu in China, new reports have surfaced that would indicate that China has unilaterally blocked all three major search engines in China and is redirecting all requests to Baidu.

— Cyberwar: China Declares War On Western Search Sites, by Duncan Riley, TechCrunch, 18 October 2007

Sort of an involuntary proxy, going somewhere other than where you thought.

Note the distinction between censorship and this new action:

...the redirect to Baidu would indicate an economic motive; if the Chinese Government were serious about censorship alone we would have reports of page not found/ blocked messages, not redirects to Baidu. The Chinese Government is clearly using its censorship regime to the economic benefit of a Chinese owned (but NASDAQ listed) company.

And also remember that there are U.S. government sponsored web panopticon projects. Research so far, or so far as we know.

-jsq

PS: Seen on Dancho Danchev's blog.