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Technology News

GROUP CONSIDERS GOVNET AND OTHER SECURITY MEASURES 
Bush administration officials expect to make a final decision on the proposed GovNet government intranet within 90 days. They are currently reviewing the technical feasibility and usefulness of the system. Approximately 170 comments about GovNet have been submitted to the General Services Administration, with comments ranging from extremely supportive of the proposed network to extremely opposed to it. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, which is reviewing the comments, is also tasked with devising a national strategy to protect the nation's digital infrastructure from attack. The Board is working on a strategy to protect the cellular phone network; tools to predict how breakdowns in one computer system may affect others; and a plan to protect networks from computer viruses and worms. The group also supports funding an NSF scholarship program for computer sciences, including network security.

RUSSIAN SPIES, THEY'VE GOT MAIL
In Russia, the FSB intelligence agency is permitted to tap into ISP systems and monitor the Internet communications of their users through a little-known set of technical standards called the System for Operational-Investigative Activities (SORM). This is in spite of both the Russian constitution and a 1995 law that bans monitoring of private messages by law enforcement agencies. Yuri Vdovin, a member of the civil rights group Citizens' Watch, said SORM is uncontrollable and endangers citizens' rights. Unfortunately, Russian civil liberties groups are far weaker and less numerous than their Western equivalents. Under the SORM regulations, ISPs are required to provide the FSB with the equipment necessary to effect such eavesdropping. However, Nail Murzakhanov, of ISP Bayard-Slavia Communications, defied the law and refused to comply with SORM. The FSB harassed him with audits and by cutting off his main transmission line, and his business license was suspended. But it was restored when officials from the Communications Ministry did not show up for several court hearings, a move that Murzakhanov said reflects their reluctance to disclose such practices.

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