Can (Should?) DHS Stave Off CISA?
Yesterday, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson announced some shifts in the leadership of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. The changes don't amount to much -- basically a change in reporting for Dr. Andy Ozment, who…
This Surveillance Bill Brought to You by the US Chamber of Commerce -- To Stave Off Something More Effective
The Chamber of Commerce has a blog post pitching CISA today.
It's mostly full of lies (see OTI's @Robyn_Greene's timeline for an explication of those lies).
But given Sheldon Whitehouse's admission the other day that the Chamber exercises…
Cy Vance Calls It In Dumbly on Smart Phones
There are two things Cy Vance (writing with Paris' Chief Prosecutor, the City of London Policy Commissioner, and Javier Zaragoza, Spain's High Court) doesn't mention in his op-ed calling for back doors in Apple and Google phones.
iPhone theft…
Gang of Transnational Crime Organizations Roll Out Own Encrypted Communication System
When Michael Chertoff made the case against back doors, he noted that if the government moved to require back doors, it would leave just the bad guys with encrypted communications.
The second thing is that the really bad people are going to…
FBI Brags about Solving Not-Terrorist Not-Hacker Attack on the Grid
As part of its PR feed, the FBI routinely sends out self-summaries of some of its case. Today, it sent out this one, on Jason Woodring, who took a plea deal in June for several counts of destruction of an energy facility.
Back in 2013,…
John Brennan Admits to Lying about Working with Human Rights Abusers
Back in May, I noted that in addition to an unclassified request that John Brennan correct his lies about CIA hacking the Senate Intelligence Committee torture investigators, Ron Wyden, Martin Heinrich, and Mazie Hirono also asked Brennan to…
Several Supporters of CISA Admit Its Inadequacy
In recent days, there have been reports that the same (presumed Chinese) hackers who stole vast amounts of data from the Office of Personnel Management have also hacked at least United Airlines and American. (Presuming the Chinese attribution…
Mankiw’s Principles of Economics Part 7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes
The introduction to this series is here.
Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.
Part 3 is here.
Part 4 is here.
Part 5 is here.
Part 6 is here.
Mankiw’s Seventh Principle of Economics is: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes.…
Buffalo's ISIS Supporting Terrorist and Its Klan Supporting Terrorist
Michael O'Neill
On January 21, 2015, the Niagara County Sheriff's office responded to a report of an explosion at the house of Chair of the Niagara County Legislature, William Ross. They discovered that his step-son, former corrections…
Mankiw’s Principles of Economics Part 6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to Organize Economic Activity
The introduction to this series is here.
Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.
Part 3 is here.
Part 4 is here.
Part 5 is here.
Mankiw’s sixth principle of economics is: Markets are Usually a Good Way to Organize Economic Activity.…
Jeb Bush's Service on Bloomberg Foundation Disappears into the Memory Hole [Updated: and Reappears!]
Update, 8/10: Time has a transcript, which was updated at 12:46 ET today, that includes the Bloomberg exchange. The exchange is also included in the broadcast available here now. Thanks to irootsorg for alerting me it is now available.
Ginalou…
Christie Lied about 9/11 to Try to Shut Down Paul's Opposition to Dragnet Spying [Updated]
One of the most contentious exchanges in last night's debate came when Megyn Kelly raised Chris Christie's past attacks on Rand Paul for opposing the bulk dragnet.
KELLY: Alright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about…
Tesla Patches Faster than Chrysler ... and than Android [UPDATED]
Wired's hack-of-the-day story reports that researchers hacked a Tesla (unlike the Chrysler hack, it required access to the vehicle once, though the Tesla also has a browser vulnerability that might not require direct access).
Two researchers…
On Hiroshima Anniversary, Iran Deal Opponents Make One More Push Based on Parchin Photos
Seventy years ago today, on August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. By November of that same year, approximately 130,000 people were dead because of that single bomb, which targeted a civilian population. Three…
FBI's 5-Year Effort to Avoid Inspector General Scrutiny of Its Phone Dragnet Use
As part of today's Senate Judiciary Hearing on DOJ OLC's decision to make DOJ's Inspector General ask nicely before it gets certain kinds of materials it needs to conduct its work, John Cornyn asked what changed in 2010 to make the FBI start…
FBI Flies Its Now-Exposed Spy Plane over America's Biggest Arab-American City
In June, the AP reported on the FBI's fleet of spy planes (following up on the work of the WaPo and independent journalists around the country). In it, they described how the FBI wanted them to keep the details of the front companies owning…
GM Supports Obtaining Cybersecurity Immunity Just after Hack Vulnerability Revealed
Dianne Feinstein just gave a long speech on the Senate floor supporting the Cyber Information Sharing Act.
She listed off a list of shocking hacks that happened in the last year or so -- though made no effort (or even claim) that CISA would…
Neoliberalism Helped Syrian Banks Evade Sanctions
I've written a lot about how neoliberalism has been counterproductive for any soft war we're waging against ISIS, Russia, or China. We keep forcing allies and client states -- including post Arab Spring Egypt and, especially, Ukraine -- to adopt…
The US Chamber of Commerce Is Pre-Clearing What It Is Willing to Do for Our National Security on CISA
Sheldon Whitehouse just attempted (after 1:44) to rebut an epic rant from John McCain (at 1:14) in which the Arizona Senator suggested anyone who wanted to amend the flawed Cyber Intelligence Sharing Act wasn't serious about national security.
Whitehouse…
Consider CISA a Six-Month Distraction from Shoring Up Government Security
Most outlets that commented on DHS' response to Al Franken's questions about CISA focused on their concerns about privacy.
The authorization to share cyber threat indicators and defensive measures with “any other entity or the Federal Government,”…