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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=1958544 Encryption of Agency's Web Documents Probed Tue December 24, 2002 01:27 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer security followers are questioning the way the U.S. transportation security administration, which oversees airport security and other transportation issues, is protecting some restricted documents on its Web site. Four documents available on the "Security and Law Enforcement" section of the TSA Web site can be accessed and stored by any Internet user. A password in Microsoft Word keeps the document from curious eyes. But once on a user's hard drive, the documents -- intended for local law enforcement and airport management -- can then be probed by password-breaking software that can spend days or weeks trying combinations of passwords, without triggering a security alarm or locking the user out of the file. [...] A reporter for CNET News.com wrote on Monday that he was able to secure the password for the documents from a person he did not name. The Transportation Security Administration defended the protection of the documents. "We think it's safe," a spokesman said. "From our standpoint it's very workable and secure." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------