Here's where the reality meter goes into overdrive. VeriSign is also the company that sells about half of the net's SSL certificates for "secure ecommerce [4]." These SSL certificates are what presumptively protect connections between consumers and merchants. It is claimed that a certificate that is signed by a certificate authority (CA) can protect against the man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack and also domain name spoofing.

A further irony is that VeriSign also runs the domain name system for the .com and the .net domains. So, indeed, they do have a hand in the business of domain name spoofing;

The point here is that, on the one hand, VeriSign is offering protection from snooping, and on the other hand, is offering to facilitate the process of snooping.

It's not just SSL certs and the .net/.com domains VeriSign is being trusting with anymore. The ability to tap mobile phone calls is on the slate now too. VeriSign is a wolf in wolf's clothing. I can't think of any reason to trust them, and they are positioned in a way where there is no choice or recourse other than to deal with them. They are a perfect example of a(n even more) major problem waiting to happen.

Financial Cryptography: VeriSign's conflict of interest creates new threat

Mass surveillance isn't just illegal, it's probably a bad idea. We need to ferret out real terrorists, not create a smoke screen of expensive and distracting false positives that they can hide behind. More information doesn't make us smarter. We need smarter information.

Jennifer Granick checks in on TMS.

Wired News: Mass Spying Means Gross Errors

Who is listening-in on your phone calls? Probably nobody. Right now, there is huge interest in phone tapping in the United States because the Bush Administration (through the National Security Agency) was caught listening in without appropriate court orders. What I have noticed is that, for all the talking and writing on this subject, there seems to be very little real information being presented. So this column is my attempt to share what I've learned about the topic. It might surprise you.

This article by Robert Cringley contains the basics surrounding phone taps and the history surrounding the legality of them.

Cringley on phone tapping

The post points to broadcast flag draft legislation sponsored by Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) that contains provisions which appear to limit digital broadcast media reception devices to "customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such use is consistent with applicable law and that prevents redistribution of copyrighted content over digital networks."

It is being widely alleged that Gordon Smith has been influenced by the $250,000 the National Association of Broadcasters gave to his party last year.

It is imperative that the Senate not pass laws that halt innovation. Just because these things can be nocked down in the courts does not mean they do not pose a serious risk. This is exactly the type of thing that stops innovation by making investors unwilling to take risk in companies and individuals working on new ideas. We have not reached the place we need to be yet in the digital content space. Legislation such as this will not help our progress, it will stop it dead in its tracks.

Oddly, I was not able to find any information about this bill in Thomas.

Big Content would like to outlaw things no one has even thought of yet

The T-Shirts are now available! Enjoy the METAL!!!!!
James Vance made metal history on 12/23/85 when he was inspired by Judas Priest to blow his face off.
WAY TO GO JAMES! A TRUE METAL HERO!!
Support the METAL!!! Tell your friends!!!!
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U: By Popular Demand, BLACK T-shirts also available HERE!

To honor the 20th Anniversary of one of American music's most stupid events, MemeStreams user Terratogen has made a t-shirt memorializing the only survivor of the suicide pact that shook the metal world.

Put on your METAL FACE!!! | James Vance vs. Judas Priest

Iran has started moving its foreign exchange reserves out of Europe in a bid to shield the country from the threat of sanctions, reports suggest.

9/11 may have caught you by suprise, but whatever goes down with Iran, say you knew it was coming...

The 20th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster comes around this April. Prepare for a blitz of documentaries on the History Channel, CNN, and other media outlets remembering this horrible event. Expect it all to be spun into reasons why Iran shouldn't have access to nuclear energy. Say you read about it on MemeStreams first.

The meme will go something like this: "If we can't build more plants ourselves to get out of our energy bind, why the hell should Iran? NUCLEAR ENERGY IS DANGEROUS!"

BBC NEWS | Business | Iran 'moves assets out of Europe'

Decius and I where lucky enough to be able to attend the last day of witness testimony for the Samuel Alito Confirmation Hearing. Thanks to Tim Ball and John Flym, we were able to acquire a pass to witness part of an important historic event.

As the story goes, Professor Flym was having a problem with his laptop causing him to be unable to file his statement in time to give testimony. Tim's boss told him to do anything necessary to solve his problem. In the process, due mostly to chance and good timing, "anything necessary" wound up involving Tom and I. We were not able to completely fix John's problem the first night, but we were able to get him in a position where he could get his work done. The next day we returned to completely fix the problem, and John gave us a witness pass he had.

Having watched what must amount to several solid months of C-SPAN, being on the other side of the cameras was interesting. The hearing room in the Hart building is like being in a pressure chamber, more so than any court I've been in. I can only imagine the stress felt by those testifying. Tim was busy the entire day, so Tom and I took shifts attending the hearings. I was present during Flym's testimony, as well as that of Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Amanda Frost, Reginald M. Turner, Jr., Theodore M. Shaw, among others, and the closing of the hearings. Tom will probably chime in with his take on the hearings, but I remember him being very happy about being there for the testimony of Fred Grey, who defended Rosa Parks.

Later at Shmoocon, there was some humorous discussion about if the badge qualified as a ticket to the "Nerd SuperBowl" or the "Nerd World Series". At the time, I was strongly on the side of "Nerd SuperBowl", but lacking a well worded concise argument for why. Given some time to think about it, its clear that "Nerd SuperBowl" does fit best. The "Nerd World Series" would better fit a string of WTO and G8 summits, while the Security Council would be the "Nerd World Cup". Its good to be a nerd.

Anyway, joking aside, this was a really cool experience. Both Tom and I spend much time thinking about legal problems. It was a honor to be present in person for even the small portion of proceedings we were. On the linked page, I included a few pictures and screen captures from C-SPAN where I can be spotted. I was unable to find any screen shots where Tom was present. Since he knows where he was sitting and at what time, maybe he will have better luck.

Rattle and Decius at Alito Confirmation Hearing

The American Constitution Society and the Liberty Coalition host a speech by Fmr. Vice Pres. Al Gore at the DAR Hall in Washington. Gore speaks about the limits of executive power, the issue of monitoring domestic communications and the authorization of the use of torture in the war against terrorism.

Transcript here.

This is the best speech Gore has given lately. It may be the best speech he has ever given. Its rare you get to see Al invoke some true passion. In many of his speeches, he takes sly swipes at the opposite political party in ways I've often thought were inappropriate. In this case, the entire speech was a swipe, but an entirely deserved and accurate one. Not just against the Bush Administration, but the entire Congress.

One comment that has been abound lately, is that the Democratic party is lacking a single clear and concise voice. Is Al prepared to be that voice, again, for real this time?

C-SPAN: Fmr. Vice Pres. Gore Speech on Executive Powers

In fairness to Yahoo, which handed over information -- and MSN which likely did the same -- it is important to note that it is not just spin that no privacy issues were involved with this particular data. As I explained in the story, the information is completely divorced from any personally identifiable data.

Lots of good information in here about the Google FBI thing. Apparently they don't want IP addresses...

Bush Administration Demands Search Data; Google Says No; AOL, MSN & Yahoo Said Yes

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases.

The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

Here we go... Many of us, Decius in particular, were predicting this. Only difference, is we didn't think Google would take a stand.

Bush wants Google search data