Since The Washington Post first broke the news that the Obama administration is moving ahead with Einstein, a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, the drum beat from privacy advocates has been growing. Today, Siobham Gorman of The Wall Street Journal reports that the latest…
Category: Govt
Court orders spammers to give up $3.7 million
A U.S. district court has ordered key players in an international spam ring to give up $3.7 million that they made by sending out illegal e-mail messages pitching bogus hoodia weight-loss products and a “human growth hormone” pill they claimed reversed the aging process. In a Federal Trade Commission law enforcement action, the court found…
DOJ wins rehearing in Tooley wiretapping suit
Scott Tooley narrowly won an appellate court victory earlier this year in his suit against top government officials, accusing them of invading his privacy through purported wiretaps, clandestine surveillance and “terrorist watch lists.” Now he may lose again. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-to-1 in February…
NSA to monitor civilian agency networks
The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials. President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve…