Hackers face life imprisonment under 'Anti-Terrorism' Act
Misc.
'Hackers, virus-writers and web site defacers would face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole under legislation proposed by the Bush Administration that would classify most computer crimes as acts of terrorism....'

'Most of the terrorism offenses are violent crimes, or crimes involving chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. But the list also includes the provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that make it illegal to crack a computer for the purpose of obtaining anything of value, or to deliberately cause damage. Likewise, launching a malicious program that harms a system, like a virus, or making an extortionate threat to damage a computer are included in the definition of terrorism.'

Oracle boss urges national ID cards, offers free software (9/22/2001)
Misc.
'Broaching a controversial subject that has gained visibility since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison is calling for the United States to create a national identification card system -- and offering to donate the software to make it possible.'

I'd like to ditto this.

 

Today, there's safety in spreading out (9/22/2001)
Misc.
'Then came the atrocities of Sept. 11. In the horror of that day, and in the way the Internet responded, the logic of decentralization has never been more clear.'

The first hint of dispersal talk that I wondered about on the original WTCAttack list.

 

Don’t Press the Panic Button
Misc.
'Congress is being asked to rush to pass emergency antiterrorist legislation written by the Department of Justice. House Committee hearings are scheduled for Friday, Senate hearings for Tuesday, and the DOJ is demanding the bill be enacted by the end of the week. It would be a serious mistake for Congress leaders to force this legislation into law without careful scrutiny, because much of the legislation turns out to have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. Instead, the legislation contains a host of items which have been on bureaucratic wish lists for many years....'

MS FrontPage Restricts Free Speech II (It's True!)
Free Speech
From Slashdot:

Several readers have told me their EULA for FrontPage 2002 does not contain the no-disparaging-MS term, or that the term only applies to the FrontPage logo or to the Web components like the MSNBC news headline component. Just to be sure, this afternoon I went down to the store and bought a copy of FrontPage 2002 myself. In the box was the "Microsoft Frontpage 2002" license on a four-page folded sheet, titled "End- User License Agreement For Microsoft Software." Under Section #1, Grant of License, the second paragraph headed "Restrictions" states in part: "You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services, infringe any intellectual property or other rights of these parties, violate any state, federal or international law, or promote racism, hatred or pornography." (Not only a stunning example of legal overreaching, in my opinion, but very poor grammar as well.) It appears to me to clearly apply to use of the program as a whole and not just the logo or Web components. I suspect that there are different versions of the EULA of FrontPage 2002. Perhaps the license was updated for the most recent SKU, or versions obtained through different channels don't yet have it. I'm going to try to get Microsoft to clarify where this EULA does and doesn't appear, but I'm not sure they will be very anxious to provide me with that information.

Open Letter to Michael Eisner, Chairman and CEO, Walt Disney Company
DMCA
'The SSSCA, which you are in the middle of buying from Congress, would outlaw the software that powers the independent Internet, the Internet that had many of us crying on our keyboards this week, from loss, relief or rage. At times like this, a slightly cracked monkey means more to us than a perfectly coiffed mouse.'

An Open Letter to the Media and Politicians
Personal Commentary
I'd like to see a letter like this placed in the New York Times as a full page ad. (I have posted this to the scriptingNewsWTC mailing list a couple of hours ago but as of this writing, it has not appeared there yet.)

I think this next week is going to set the tone for the next five or ten years. Those of us who love freedom, and think that curtailing freedom will have no good effects and lots of bad effects, need to pull out all the stops. If we lose next week, it's going to be immensely difficult to ever recover.

Flash Worm Analysis
Misc.
'In conclusion, we argue that a small worm that begins with a list including all likely vulnerable addresses, and that has initial knowledge of some vulnerable sites with high-bandwidth links, can infect almost all vulnerable servers on the Internet in less than thirty seconds.'

Steal a car in sixty seconds? Bah! Amateur stuff! You can steal the whole Internet in thirty! (Or so the authors claim, plausibly.)

They can't see why they are hated
Misc.
'Nearly two days after the horrific suicide attacks on civilian workers in New York and Washington, it has become painfully clear that most Americans simply don't get it. From the president to passersby on the streets, the message seems to be the same: this is an inexplicable assault on freedom and democracy, which must be answered with overwhelming force - just as soon as someone can construct a credible account of who was actually responsible.'

Civil Liberty the Next Casualty?
Misc.
'In the wake of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, scholars fear that Americans will sacrifice civil liberties that could be difficult to win back. Many civil liberties watchdogs say freedom in the United States have been slowly eroding for the past several decades. But they say Tuesday's attacks will redouble efforts by the government to infringe on civil freedoms, and now people won't resist.'