John Markoff:

There is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and privacy have become so maddeningly elusive that the only way to fix the problem is to start over.

What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a "gated community" where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety.

Scientists armed with federal research dollars, working in collaboration with the industry, are trying to figure out the best way to start over.

In other news, cypherpunk futures rose sharply in after-hours trading.

Your Call Is Important to Us.

At a meeting of the Lebanese parliamentary communications committee, MP Marwan Hamada and internal security chief Ashraf Rifi said that Syrian intelligence was wiretapping everyone in Lebanon.

Can you hear me now?

NSA is said to be offering "billions" to any firm which can offer reliable eavesdropping on Skype IM and voice traffic.

Oh, Canada!

An Ontario Superior Court ruling could open the door to police routinely using Internet Protocol addresses to find out the names of people online, without any need for a search warrant.

"A lot more people would be apprehensive if they knew their name was being left everywhere they went."

Fear not:

We're going to be okay, aren't we Papa?
Yes. We are.
And nothing bad is going to happen to us.
That's right.
Because we're carrying the fire.
Yes. Because we're carrying the fire.

They are carrying the fire through a world destroyed by fire, and therefore -- a leap of logic or faith that by the time the novel opens has become almost insurmountable for both of them -- the boy must struggle on, so that he can be present at, or somehow contribute to, the eventual rebirth of the world.