Despite news yesterday that the Justice Department has closed its investigation of the graduate student behind the controversial fake boarding pass generator, Christopher Soghoian may not be out of legal jeopardy yet.

It appears I was too quick to declare a happy ending to the Christopher Soghoian story.

The TSA should be spending more time addressing the issues Soghoian called attention to, then investigating Soghoian. If they officially press charges against him, we should not have any problem making them look like incompetent fools in the media.

27B Stroke 6 - Its not over for Soghoian.

The Social Network section of the site has been updated. It now only produces graphs and statistics using data from the past month. The stats are more informative and include pictures. The graphs are not pure noise.

The Most Recommended Users page remains not quite as useful

There is still much room for improvement, but that portion of the site is actually useful now.

The short version of things, is that they've stopped the investigation, due to a lack of evidence of criminal intent on my part. They've given me back my passports, my computers, and I'll be getting the rest of my stuff back shortly. Essentially, I'm a free man - with no charges filed.

This story has a happy ending. Well, mostly happy. There are still major problems with airport security. Click through for the full story.

This quote from Chris in Wired 's coverage strikes a common meme:

"The message it sends to the community is that if you do security research, someday the FBI will come knock on your door."

Brian Krebs at the Washington Post's Security Fix blog is also covering Chris Soghoian breaking his silence.

Christopher Soghoian is no longer under investigation

We have begun pushing out a series of upgrades to MemeStreams. Some new features will be working their way into the site over the next few days.

We are pleased to announce that user profiles have gotten a much needed makeover. Among the changes, is the ability to post pictures.

Currently pictures are only displayed in user profiles and on user blogs. As we start rolling out more features, pictures will appear in more places.

Enjoy!

Update: This has gone into effect. Commentary is still welcome...

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The following is a draft of the new MemeStreams Privacy Policy.

We will leave this up for public review until Tuesday. We would very much like to hear your feedback before making it official. If you don't have any objections, we would still like to hear a "looks good to me comment".. We want to make sure that we have full community involvement in crafting any site policy.

There is little change in substance and spirit between this version and the current privacy policy. This rewrite is mostly to clarify things, be easier to read, and have the necessary statements in place to satisfy requirements for working with advertising partners.

MemeStreams is designed to enable you to share information with other Internet users about web sites you find interesting. All of the information collected by the system is intended to be published, except where specifically noted.

If you are concerned about the information you publish, we recommend that you publish your weblog under a pseudonym, and do not recommend web sites you do not want other people to know you are reading. Any information that you publish on your weblog or in your profile is available to others.

The people who run this site are concerned about privacy rights, and will make every endeavor to protect information that ought to be private. We will attempt to protect you, and inform you about how you can better protect yourself.

Your email address is private: MemeStreams makes you verify your email address when you create an account in order to be able to post. We must verify your email address because MemeStreams can be used to generate outbound emails. We will never sell your email address to spammers or share it with third parties. However, if you choose to publish your email address in your profile or in posts, others can obtain it.

Your click-through data is private: MemeStreams collects information about the websites you've visited from other user's weblogs. This information is used by our reputation system and search engine to improve results. We will not intentionally provide this information to any third party.

This website uses cookies: All users of this website are issued cookies. These cookies are used to associate transactions with user's accounts, as well as to gather statistical data on our visitors. This statistical data is used to gauge the size and nature of our readership, as well as target advertisements on the website. Third parties, such as our advertising partners, may also set cookies.

This website uses Javascript: MemeStreams uses Javascript to provide a more powerful end user experience, as well as to deliver advertisements and collect statistics. This website will not work prop... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

The Boy-Scouts have begun a propaganda campaign brainwashing youth about copyright law. Kids who go through this process earn an "Anti-piracy merit Badge."

I decided Piracy Badges would be a much more cool thing to have. Support your local pirate by giving them a much earned badge for all their hard work. Visit the Cafepress store...

terratogen chimes in on the Boy Scouts anti-piracy merit badge..

Boy Scout Piracy Merit Badge

We need to make a minor change to the MemeStreams Privacy Policy. In the tradition of putting this stuff up for discussion before doing it, here are the details...

Currently, it says the following in the section about email addresses and bio information:

We may make use of some of the information you supply to target the banner ads on our site, and in aggregate to provide advertisers with demographic information about our user base.

This about cookie data:

This website uses cookies: In order for this website to work effectively, it has to know who you are. Each user on this site has an account, and transactions have to be associated with that account. When you login, you are issued a cookie. Its the only way we can keep track of which account you are logged into. You must have cookies enabled in order to use this site.

And this about javascript:

This website uses JavaScript: This website has been developed using JavaScript. Personally, we have a poor opinion of the way that JavaScript is used by most websites, where it primarily offers useless animation or annoying pop-up ads. We have attempted to use JavaScript as it should be used, to provide a more powerful user interface. While it may be possible to use this website without JavaScript enabled, the user experience is likely to be poor. We would recommend enabling it for this site.

In spirit these are accurate. However, these three sections are slightly out of line with both reality and future plans. Here are the factors:

1) We use currently using cookies for tracking unique visitors, as well as handle authenticated users.

2) We are going to need to allow third party entities (Google) to use cookies/javascript to track visitors for advertising and analytical purposes, as well as eventually deliver advertisements.

We are not sure if/when we will turn on advertisements. There is no benefit in doing so until we can get an idea of how much revenue it will generate, as well as gain an understanding of what the site's current geo/demo/psychographic is. However, we do need to get on a footing were we can do so. We have been making a large number of changes to the site, and more are on the way. We expect operational costs to start rising. It is also fast becoming time to do a server hardware upgrade.

We need to have our ducks in a row in order to create a revenue stream to support MemeStreams. So far, all expenses have been paid out of our own pockets. (Ok, Tom's pocket...)

The statement about using email/bio information to supply ads and aggregate demographic information about our user base is not accurate. We have not been using email/bio information to do this. We don't need to use email/bio information for this. We need to use cookies and javascript.

In this regard, the statement in the email/bio section needs to be moved into the cookie section, and changed to reflect this. The JavaScript section also needs to be tweaked slightly.

Comments?

“This war is more about will and perception than firepower. We have concluded that, in that sense, we are not equipped to attack the enemy. We must attack the intangible part of the network if we are going to win.”

“They have a safe haven on the Internet,“ he said. “No one in the U.S. military has been tasked with the mission of attacking these intangibles. Until we do they will operate with impunity.”

I'm sure there are assets in the AIA and the IC that can directly attack jihadist websites...

Remember this quote?

"I'm an artillery officer, and I can't fire cannons at the internet." -- Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt US Central Command

Speaking of CENTCOM.. Where is that guy from CENTCOM when we want some insight on something?

To win against terrorism DOD networks must be innovative

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin, wearing Vietnamese 'ao dai' silk tunics, take part in the family photo for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hanoi November 19, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young (VIETNAM)

Photoshop contest time! They need to be wearing wizard hats, holding wands, and holding hands.

Reuters News Photo | The Wizards of APEC

But the Air Force's Global Hawk has never flown a mission over the United States.

That is set to change Monday, when the first Global Hawk is scheduled to land at Beale Air Force Base in northern California.

"This landmark flight has historic implications since it's the first time a Global Hawk has not only flown from Beale, but anywhere in the United States on an official Air Combat Command mission," base spokesman Capt. Michael Andrews said in a statement.

Beale is to have seven Global Hawks by 2009. It is currently the only U.S. base with the drones. Eventually the Air Force's fleet will include 54 of the Global Hawks, but most will be based overseas.

What do we need surveillance drones in Northern California for?

BREITBART.COM - Global Hawk to Fly 1st Mission Over U.S.