contributed by abner and laney
The weekend did not manage to quell the massive amounts of coverage the Microsoft infiltration continues to garner. Virtually every news organization has its own version of the Microsoft debacle, of which we've provided a sampling below. Meanwhile, we are left wondering why the crown jewels of Microsoft were left at the mercy of passwords. There are all sorts of other authentication technologies that we have no doubt Microsoft will be investigating. Perhaps utilizing the smart card support in Windows 2000 wouldn't be a bad idea. It's a shame it takes negative incidents like this to get people to consider security as a strategic business issue. Shame on you, Microsoft.

The Wall Street Journal via MSNBC
CNET
MSNBC via ZDNet
Reuters via Yahoo
The Register

contributed by weld pond
The United States Copyright Office will lend its support to a "new federal law making it illegal to break the technological safeguards for books, movies and music," as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act . If passed, the ruling could make both reverse engineering and the duplication of any copyrighted material an illegal and punishable offense. The ruling stands to last for three years during which time its benefits/ramifications will be examined thoroughly.

The New York Times

contributed by laney
The debate over privacy has the attention of several different government factions as bureaucrats attempt to calm citizen concerns. Most notably may be Clinton's commitment to privacy, a stance that could cause him to veto the FY 2001 Commerce, Justice, and State appropriations bill. Clinton feels the bill, which involves federal funding and the sale of Social Security Numbers over the Internet, doesn't do enough to protect privacy.

Wired

contributed by weld pond
In what is being compared to the British Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act recently passed in the UK, New Zealand may adopt similar laws making it legal for government officials to surreptitiously read and copy email from the home computers of citizens. ISPs may also find themselves in key roles if these laws are passed as the possibility of them being required to install the monitoring software on their networks is all but certain.

STUFF

contributed by weld pond
Paulo Felix spends his days working at Europol, the policing agency of the European Union. Housed in the Hague, the infamous building once home to Gestapo headquarters, Felix fights what he calls “organized crime using telecommunications as a means to achieve their goals, or advanced technology as a means to achieve their goals.” Felix prefers this description to the more commonly used word “cybercrime,” a term that has lost much of the severity it used to connote and instead has become associated with website defacements.

MSNBC

contributed by laney
It has been determined that BankOne Online may be putting their customer bank account information at risk, which could result in a potential security breach. Cookies appear to be the source of trouble for BankOne, who claims to have never suffered any security related compromises since its 1998 inception.

CNET