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And unlike ordinary warfare, where it's pretty obvious who's shooting at you, in cyberwar I doubt that it's possible to tell who are your friends, or even if the concept of allies actually exists. It's not about ideology it's about sticking the boot in to anyone who appears to be getting the upper hand.

If you've read the newspaper over the last 30 years, there's no doubt our allies are definitely doing the same thing to us.
Of our allies, Israel typically gets the most press for their repeated spying/hacking/espionage attempts and successes.

Every year, Congress gets a report titled "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage Reports"
This obviously doesn't include thefts from the government, but it'll give you an idea of what's happening.

why?

I liked http://www.ncix.gov/images/publications/posters/hanssen_poster_100.jpg ;-)

First things first. I propose that the U.S. government tap the creative forces of the 4chan, worth1000 and Fark Photoshop communities for a cost-effective and highly creative solution to replace the godawful uninspiring motivational posters being distributed by the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive :

Check 'em out here: http://www.ncix.gov/publications/posters/index.html

"ONCIX does not provide printed copies of our posters. These materials are NOT copyrighted, and you are welcome to download, print, and disseminate our posters freely to promote greater counterintelligence awareness."

First things first. I propose that the U.S. government tap the creative forces of the 4chan, worth1000 and Fark Photoshop communities for a cost-effective and highly creative solution to replace the godawful uninspiring motivational posters being distributed by the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive :

Check 'em out here: http://www.ncix.gov/publications/posters/index.html

"ONCIX does not provide printed copies of our posters. These materials are NOT copyrighted, and you are welcome to download, print, and disseminate our posters freely to promote greater counterintelligence awareness."

anybody "in the know" wanna chime in?

Lets Chat

"The Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Counterintelligence and Security Activity (DAC) recently produced a guide to help its members understand their responsibilities for reporting suitability issues and potential espionage indicators that may surface in a colleague's behavior"

http://www.ncix.gov/archives/docs/Your_Role_in_Com bating_the_Insider_Threat.pdf

Gee, what's chilling or McCarthyist about that?

Oh, wait: everything. . .

I call shenanigans!

The DIA guidelines on "combating the insider threat" refer to people with security clearances of at least SECRET. That's a standard list, and goes back to at least the 1950s. The article doesn't make a connection with it being applied to universities.

What's puzzling about this is that it's totally out of touch with reality. The USSR was interested in American R&D, but that's because they had an industrial base and weapons plants that could use R&D. No enemy of the US today has anything like that. (North Korea and Iran, maybe, but they're mostly trying to do things the superpowers did in the 1950s.) Al-Queda consists of loosely affiliated small groups that use off the shelf weaponry. This seems a mis-aimed effort, which isn't unusual for the current administration.

>exalts nation and sometimes race above the individual
Um... not really. Yes, nationalism is high, but not as high as when JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you..." line. Was JFK a Fascist?

Straw man. Presenting this fact does not disprove the point.

>uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to forcibly suppress political opposition
Nope... doesn't happen. I've been threated with violence more by "peace" protestors than I have by any government official.

Another straw man. Presenting your anecdote does not disprove the point.

The Bush team has often prevented members of their politicial opposition from attending their public speeches.

Here are modern techniques of propaganda. This one is especially well themed to the current sub-topic.

>engages in severe economic and social regimentation
Don't see this happening

You do not see RealID as a form of regimentation? That is clearly it's primary intent.

>engages in corporatism
This could be a matter of opinion. Libs are screaming that this is the case, and with the airline bailouts, they have a small case, but I'd hardly call this a Bush thing.

Politicial corruption is growing. The corporations have a lot of money. Lobbyists are writing bills. Connect the dots.

Also, as someone who considers themself politically independent, I see both Libs and Bushies engaging in corporatism, though the latter seems to be less subtle about it.

>implements totalitarianism
Again, not happening here. Has Bush declared himself emporer when I was not looking?

We will not flip a switch and instantly have totalitarianism. It comes from a snowballing effect of changes. RealID is a big clump of snow that we have now picked up on our downhill tumble.

Show some education.

Ending your post with an ad hominem does not enhance your position as a good critical thinker.

>exalts nation and sometimes race above the individual
Um... not really. Yes, nationalism is high, but not as high as when JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you..." line. Was JFK a Fascist?

Straw man. Presenting this fact does not disprove the point.

>uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to forcibly suppress political opposition
Nope... doesn't happen. I've been threated with violence more by "peace" protestors than I have by any government official.

Another straw man. Presenting your anecdote does not disprove the point.

The Bush team has often prevented members of their politicial opposition from attending their public speeches.

Here are modern techniques of propaganda. This one is especially well themed to the current sub-topic.

>engages in severe economic and social regimentation
Don't see this happening

You do not see RealID as a form of regimentation? That is clearly it's primary intent.

>engages in corporatism
This could be a matter of opinion. Libs are screaming that this is the case, and with the airline bailouts, they have a small case, but I'd hardly call this a Bush thing.

Politicial corruption is growing. The corporations have a lot of money. Lobbyists are writing bills. Connect the dots.

Also, as someone who considers themself politically independent, I see both Libs and Bushies engaging in corporatism, though the latter seems to be less subtle about it.

>implements totalitarianism
Again, not happening here. Has Bush declared himself emporer when I was not looking?

We will not flip a switch and instantly have totalitarianism. It comes from a snowballing effect of changes. RealID is a big clump of snow that we have now picked up on our downhill tumble.

Show some education.

Ending your post with an ad hominem does not enhance your position as a good critical thinker.

This case should not be confused with an independent person doing a "clean room" reverse engineering of the technology. This person was in a position of trust and violated that trust by stealing something that didn't belong to him.

Suppose someone does clean room reverse engineer a secret. I don't see anything in the text of the law that this article links to that exempts reverse engineering. It treats a secret that has been "obtained .. without authorization" as being the same as a secret that has been stolen. That wording would surely cover reverse-engineering, and that's pretty creepy.

Either this law hasn't been abused to its full potential yet, or there's some case law where a judge said, "Aw, surely Congress meant to exempt RE."

Seditious groups like the RIAA/MPAA are fighting a losing battle to try to back up outdated business models with legislation. Copy protection doesn't work, it's even been tried -- and later dropped -- by software companies like Lotus and Ashton-Tate during the 1980's. The role that RIAA/MPAA companies have played in the past has been as a channel for distribution. The Internet is a much more convenient distribution channel and they need to rework their business models to take that into account. DeCSS is perhaps so embarrassing for the RIAA/MPAA companies because it shows where they are falling far short of market needs -- DeCSS allows time-shifting or space-shifting, both of which are not just fully legal, but widely practiced and accepted.

Free as in market...the RIAA and MPAA are hurting the U.S. economy.

Secifically, this case should not hold water because Huges obviously did not hold it's trade secrets close enough. See the act itself, quoted here,

(3) the term 'trade secret' means all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if --
(A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret

What were these trade secrets doing in a law firm? What was that law firm doing handing them to an intern?!!! Did that intern sign anything binding him to non release of information? Details like this are very important.

This case may be the begining of a very real shift in "intelectual property" law. It's a very small step from jailing this intern, who may have been under no contract, to jailing you and me for picking up a paper on the street. Such a broadening of trade secret "protection" will eliminate the need for patents as all technology will be under protection, without the benifits of public disclosure.

Those are a few issuse that you might be worried about.