Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown
How back-assward can this president be?
Source: CNN Netscape

President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

Any shutdown of the network inside the United States would come under only the most remarkable circumstances, said a Bush administration official who spoke to a small group of reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity.

The GPS system is vital to commercial aviation and marine shipping.

The president also instructed the Defense Department to develop plans to disable, in certain areas, an enemy's access to the U.S. navigational satellites and to similar systems operated by others. The European Union is developing a $4.8 billion program, called Galileo.

The military increasingly uses GPS technology to move troops across large areas and direct bombs and missiles. Any government-ordered shutdown or jamming of the GPS satellites would be done in ways to limit disruptions to navigation and related systems outside the affected area, the White House said.

``This is not something you would do lightly,'' said James A. Lewis, director of technology policy for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ``It's clearly a big deal. You have to give them credit for being so open about what they're going to do.''

President Clinton abandoned the practice in May 2000 of deliberately degrading the accuracy of civilian navigation signals, a technique known as ``selective availability.''

The White House said it will not reinstate that practice, but said the president could decide to disable parts of the network for national security purposes.

The directives to the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department were part of a space policy that Bush signed this month. It designates the GPS network as a critical infrastructure for the U.S. government. Part of the new policy is classified; other parts were disclosed Wednesday.

The White House said the policies were aimed at improving the stability and performance of the U.S. navigation system, which Bush pledged will continue to be made available for free.

The U.S. network is comprised of more than two dozen satellites that act as beacons, sending location-specific radio signals that are recognized by devices popular with motorists, hikers, pilots and sailors.

Bush also said the government will make the network signals more resistant to deliberate or inadvertent jamming.

You thought Big Brother was bad? He's dirty too
Women, beware: Those "eye in the sky" surveillance cameras used by casinos don't just look for card cheats and crooked dealers.
Source: CNN

Sometimes, they look for low-cut blouses.

New Jersey casino regulators fined Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino $80,000 Wednesday for using surveillance cameras to spy on female employees and customers sitting at casino tables or riding escalators.

On three occasions in 2000 and 2001, Caesars surveillance camera operators "recorded footage of selected parts of the anatomy of several females," in violation of statutes governing the use of clandestine surveillance by casinos, authorities said.

Tipped off by a Caesars surveillance supervisor, investigators with the state Division of Gaming Enforcement obtained videotapes from the hidden cameras.

One tape from 2000 contained 16 minutes of footage focusing on the anatomy of several females, according to Deputy Attorney General Cyrus Pitre. Another tape made the same night, from a different camera, showed 80 minutes' worth of footage focusing on women's anatomy, he said.

Casino employees Paul Reyes and Peter Pallitto were fired as a result of the incidents. They still may face sanctions from the state Casino Control Commission, which will take up complaints against them next month.

The incidents were also the focus of complaints to the state Division on Civil Rights by two women fired from Caesars' surveillance department, allegedly for complaining about the use of the cameras to ogle women in "revealing clothing."

Caesars officials did not return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.

When the incidents came to light, casino officials said Caesars had "zero tolerance" for sexual harassment and that its employees were cooperating fully with the investigation.

I didn't feel bad for Patrick Norton when he left...
I didn't feel bad since I knew he was leaving for better days but I caught the Screensavers and I feel bad for the people who aren't wanted. I didn't opt to see this show, my TiVo decided to play jokes on me and recorded an episode. I noticed the studio audience is gone, I commented that was going to happen months ago. They brought in G4 staff to take over much of the show, I commented on that too months ago, outsourcing for cheaper hosts. They also got Kevin from the daily hosting and got rid of Dan, you didn't see that coming? By the way, if you need a laugh, view Dan's resume, I can't wait to see Kevin's resume. Anyone want to hire the Dark Tipper?

FreeiPods.com Update: Still waiting for 2 more people to complete offers
I have 3 friends that got a Free iPod from freeipods.com. It is easy to do. You just have to give an email. Watch out that the response doesn't go to your spam folder. Click no on all the offers. Give 5 friends a referer. Then sign up for a trial or offer. I signed up for blockbuster and waited till I got an email from freeipods.com to say I was credited, then I canceled my blockbuster. Didn't cost me anything, and I got 3 DVD's to watch. Sign up and you will get a free ipod. Thanks for the 2 people that singed up for an offer. Check out freeipods.com here

Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping?
source: NY Times
When it comes to computer security, do you have faith in firewalls? Think passwords will protect you? Not so fast: it is now possible to eavesdrop on a typist's keystrokes and, by exploiting minute variations in the sounds made by different keys, distinguish and decipher what is being typed.

Credit for this discovery goes to Dmitri Asonov, a computer-security researcher for I.B.M. at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., who (with Rakesh Agrawal) published his results this year. The principle is a simple one. Keyboards are a bit like drums: the keys rest atop a plastic plate; different areas of the plate yield different sounds when struck. The human ear can't tell the difference, but if the sounds are recorded and processed by a highly sophisticated computer program, the computer can, with a little bit of practice, learn to translate the sounds of keystrokes into the appropriate letters and symbols.

This means that firewalls and passwords will amount to nothing if someone manages to bug a room and record the cacophony of keystrokes. Asonov managed to pull off this feat with readily available recording equipment at a short distance. Even as far away as 50 feet, and with significant background noise, he was able to replicate his success using a parabolic microphone. He also anticipated an obvious practical objection: how does a would-be eavesdropper get into a building and spend enough time to ''train'' a computer program to recognize the keystrokes of a particular keyboard? Not a problem: it seems that keyboards of the same make and model sound sufficiently alike -- regardless of who is typing -- that a computer trained on one keyboard can be unleashed on another.

Having divulged this vulnerability, Asonov says he felt dutybound to come up with a countermeasure. Keyboards, he proposes, could be engineered in such a way that the sounds of different keys would be indistinguishable from one another. But even if engineers manage that, other loopholes will undoubtedly emerge. Asonov says that he has heard rumors of research into the possibility of using computers to translate the humming of ink-jet printers into the actual text being printed.

Thankfully, such approaches remain relatively exotic and beyond the reach of the average eavesdropper. ''Everyone still tries to break firewalls,'' Asonov complains. ''People don't think outside the box.''
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