Last week Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced “Aaron’s Law,” legislation that would significantly amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The proposed bill, drafted by Rep. Lofgren and Sen. Ron Wyden, is named in honor of the late Aaron Swartz, who took his own life earlier this year while under indictment for CFAA
June 2013
Using Attribution to Deter Cyberespionage
Foreign Policy has published my article on how attribution can be used to deter foreign governments’cyberespionage. Excerpts below:
The Obama-Xi summit in Sunnylands ended without any Chinese concessions on cyber-espionage. This came as no surprise; cyber spying has been an indispensable accelerant for China’s military and economic rise. And though Beijing may someday agree that…
Cloudy With a Chance of Exploitation
With all the controversy surrounding the leaks regarding the PRISM program, there is at least one constituency that is likely rejoicing — Europe-based cloud computing companies.
For the past few years, cloud providers in Europe have tried to gain a competitive advantage over US-based providers in the European market by arguing that the Patriot Act…
“I’m shocked—shocked—to find that surveillance is going on in here.”
It seems we can’t go a day without another bombshell in what we can now call the “Snowden Affair.” Many people are calling Edward Snowden a “whistleblower” for leaking two classified intelligence programs. But that term is usually reserved for someone who reveals government lies, law-breaking, or malfeasance. What Snowden revealed, though, are government…
The FISA Court Order Flap: Take a Deep Breath
There may be a lot less to the NSA “scandal” than meets the eye. In an article for Foreign Policy, I explain why I am quite confident that the program underlying the FISA court order is lawful:
[T]his is not some warrantless or extra-statutory surveillance program. The government had to persuade up to a…
Total Information Awareness, Redux
There have been many critics of the Obama Administration’s aggressive pursuit of leakers. But today’s news offers a new line of attack on the Administration’s tactics: they’re apparently not working. The UK paper The Guardian was the beneficiary of a huge new leak, this one about a secret court order to a Verizon subsidiary…