Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
United States

Bush Cyber Initiative Aims To Monitor, Restrict Access To Federal Network 120

dstates writes "Details of George Bush's Cyber Initiative are beginning to trickle out. The Cyber Initiative was created in January to secure government against electronic attacks. Newsweek says that over the next seven years, Bush's Cyber Initiative will spend as much as $30 billion to create a new monitoring system for all federal networks, a combined project of the DHS, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The U.S. government has launched a classified operation called Byzantine Foothold to detect, track, and disarm intrusions on the government's most critical networks. ComputerWorld reports that all data traffic flowing through agency networks will be checked, and that it will be inspected at a deeper level than the current system is capable of. BusinessWeek, meanwhile, reports that one requirement is to reduce the number of internet access points in the Federal Government from the thousands now in use to only 100 sites by June 2008. How this will impact public information resources such as the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine or even the US Congress remains to be seen."
Government

Bill Gates's Wish Is Homeland Security's Command 374

theodp writes "PC World reports that DHS has extended the time foreign graduates of US colleges can stay in the country and work to almost two-and-a-half years, an 'emergency' change that drew kudos from Microsoft and other H-1B visa stakeholders. Looks like when Bill Gates says 'Jump,' the government asks 'How high?' Bill Gates's Congressional Testimony, March 12, 2008: 'Extending OPT from 12 to 29 months would help to alleviate the crisis employers are facing due to the current H-1B visa shortage. This only requires action by the Executive Branch, and Congress and this Committee should strongly urge the Department of Homeland Security to take such action immediately.' DHS Press Release, April 4, 2008: 'The US Department of Homeland Security released today an interim final rule extending the period of Optional Practical Training (OPT) from 12 to 29 months for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students.'"

Comment Re:This could backfire (Score 1) 176

As for "shutting them down", I seriously doubt it will be that drastic - a win here would definitely start pushing things in the right direction, but this is civil law, not sports. As for "if they win, we are screwed", as above it wouldn't be that drastic either, it would push things in the other direction. However - and IANAL, just a criminal justice/IT student, I'm willing to bet that if it started looking like the RIAA was going to start winning, it could be withdrawn. (the RIAA cannot withdraw it if it looks like they're going to lose, because they didn't file - that doesn't stop the other, plaintiff party, from withdrawing) Legal crap like this is never so clear cut - it's usually just a big goatfuck no matter what side your on - the only winners are the lawyers.

Slashdot Top Deals

Competence, like truth, beauty, and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder. -- Dr. Laurence J. Peter

Working...