Spy vs. Spy by Ronald Kessler provides a good description of the FBI's counterintelligence program.
It compares U.S. spying/counterspying efforts to soviet efforts(it was written in 1988, when the Soviet Union still existed). According to Kessler, to discourage double agents, soviet intelligence officers are shown a video of a KGB double agent being repeatedly raised and lowered into a blast furnace. The worst that Hanssen will get is some time in jail. Which side would you feel more comfortable betraying?
It looks like the folks at Napster have the means to keep misguided attacks like the one coming from Metallica from ever bothering them again. You can see the whole thing live here.
In the past, I worked for the Department of Defense for several years, both as a civil servant and a civillian contractor. Let's just say that if you think DoE is paranoid, DoD is worse. I was subjected to the same sort of warnings and disclaimers about consenting to monitoring, and consenting to allow such monitoring to be used as evidence should they investigate me for wrong doing. IANAL, but this monitoring has been in place for many years, and has been used successfully in disciplinary cases, so I have to figure that there is a legal basis for it.
To me, knowing that "big brother" was watching didn't really bother me. I can see that they have interests to protect, and I was not doing anything unauthorized. I have since left the government scene for the corporate world, and it seems to me that the biggest difference in monitoring between the two is that at least the government makes sure you know you are being watched. I see just as much monitoring in the enterprise, only it's done much more surreptitiously. My question is, is it really an invasion of privacy for my employer to keep track of what I do on his/her computers and office equipment inside his/her office space during hours when I am on his/her payroll?
Popular Science has some recent articles discussing planet detection as well.
They cover the announcement of the two smallest extra-solar planets discovered to date (announced Wednesday) here.
They also have an article that summarizes techniques for planet detection (including SIM and the TPF, among others) here. This article also offers some insights into the challenges of actually sending probes to these remote places, with some possible (and definitely futuristic) suggestions.
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Thank god! Now all those wasted hours of TinTin coding qualify me as an expert systems programmer!
Spy vs. Spy by Ronald Kessler provides a good description of the FBI's counterintelligence program.
It compares U.S. spying/counterspying efforts to soviet efforts(it was written in 1988, when the Soviet Union still existed). According to Kessler, to discourage double agents, soviet intelligence officers are shown a video of a KGB double agent being repeatedly raised and lowered into a blast furnace. The worst that Hanssen will get is some time in jail. Which side would you feel more comfortable betraying?
Well, at least John Romero isn't to blame this time.
It looks like the folks at Napster have the means to keep misguided attacks like the one coming from Metallica from ever bothering them again.
You can see the whole thing live here.
In the past, I worked for the Department of Defense for several years, both as a civil servant and a civillian contractor. Let's just say that if you think DoE is paranoid, DoD is worse. I was subjected to the same sort of warnings and disclaimers about consenting to monitoring, and consenting to allow such monitoring to be used as evidence should they investigate me for wrong doing. IANAL, but this monitoring has been in place for many years, and has been used successfully in disciplinary cases, so I have to figure that there is a legal basis for it.
To me, knowing that "big brother" was watching didn't really bother me. I can see that they have interests to protect, and I was not doing anything unauthorized. I have since left the government scene for the corporate world, and it seems to me that the biggest difference in monitoring between the two is that at least the government makes sure you know you are being watched. I see just as much monitoring in the enterprise, only it's done much more surreptitiously. My question is, is it really an invasion of privacy for my employer to keep track of what I do on his/her computers and office equipment inside his/her office space during hours when I am on his/her payroll?
Popular Science has some recent articles discussing planet detection as well.
They cover the announcement of the two smallest extra-solar planets discovered to date (announced Wednesday) here.They also have an article that summarizes techniques for planet detection (including SIM and the TPF, among others) here. This article also offers some insights into the challenges of actually sending probes to these remote places, with some possible (and definitely futuristic) suggestions.