Friday, February 10, 2006

Three from BNA News: AIR PASSENGER SCREENING PLAN STOPPED OVER SECURITY CONCERNS An ambitious program to check every domestic US airline passenger's name against government terrorist watch lists may not be immune from hackers. Because of security concerns, the US government is going back to the drawing board with the program called Secure Flight after spending nearly four years and $150 million on it. HBO SEEKS TO BLOCK ALL DVR COPYING HBO has recently filed a petition with the FCC in which it argues that its programming—and all "Subscription Video On Demand" services—should fall into the category of "Copy Never." In a broadcast-flagged environment, that could result in consumers not being able to record content broadcast by HBO. MSFT PLAN AVERTS DOJ CONFLICT OVER ANTITRUST PACT Microsoft has averted a looming conflict with US officials by agreeing to disclose more information about its Windows server operating system. Lawyers at the US Justice Department's antitrust division who are overseeing the landmark 2002 antitrust settlement said in a filing Wednesday that Microsoft had eased most of their concerns about whether the company was doing enough to comply with the landmark 2002 settlement. [Washington Post] 11:13:26 AM    comment []

Reinventing Reality (cont'd.). Did Bush lie today about supposed foiling of LA threat? “Today Bush said: Bush Touted Thwarting of Post 9/11 U.S. Terrorism Plot. “In a speech today, Bush told members of the National Guard Association of a foiled 2002 Al Qaeda plot to fly a plane into LA's US Bank Tower, the tallest building on the West Coast. Bush said that the terrorist's plan was put into place after 9/11 but "was derailed in early 2002, when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al Qaeda operative." Bush added, "Subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how al Qaeda hoped to execute" the plot, and helped other allies capture the ringleaders."” (Washington Post) But in 2004: FBI Counterterrorism Official Said He Knew of No Thwarted Al Qaeda Attacks. “After a CIA official claimed last year that the government had "probably prevented a few aviation attacks against both the East and West Coasts" since 9/11, John Pistole, the FBI's counterterrorism director, said he was "not sure what [the CIA] was referring to."” - 9/11 Commission Testimony, 6/16/2004; New York Daily News, 6/17/04 Los Angeles Mayor knows nothing about the supposed threat: “Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent." "I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," the mayor said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't expect a call from the president — but somebody."” (Yahoo! News ) (via AmericaBlog) Technorati tags: Bush liar terrorism LA [Follow Me Here...] 8:09:24 AM    comment []

New Line's XXX web game demands your gov't. ID. [Boing Boing] Oodles of follow-on comments, too. 8:09:06 AM    comment []