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US Politics Page Launched By Facebook

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:20:52 +0000

Facebook has launched a new page devoted to US politics (Facebook.com/USpolitics). The page will monitor how US politicians, political campaigns and elected officials use Facebook to connect with citizens.

Facebook and other forms of social media have become vital places for politics, political support and interest, and building connection between users, campaigns and political figures.

Facebook already has a similar page for sports and celebrities.

DOD Allows Social Media On NIPRNET

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:41:13 +0000

The US Department of Defense will now allow social networking and Web 2.0 social tools access within it’s Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network (NIPRNET). A statement “Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities” (DTM 09-026) was released on February 25th to formally allow social networking use within the non-classified network–unifying the policy across military branches for social network usage. This memorandum will also provide unified authority for public affairs communication for the military within social networking websites and tools.

http://www.ironpaper.com/current/2010/02/pentagon-allows-social-media-within-non-classified-network/

US State Dept To Formally Protest To China Regarding Hacking Attacks

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:20:17 +0000

Following the Google investigation of recent hacking attacks, which resulted in the discovery of potential Chinese government involvement or acceptance, the US State Department will formally protest to the Chinese Government demanding an explanation. “We will be issuing a formal demarche to the Chinese government in Beijing on this issue in the coming days,” said state department spokesperson PJ Crowley. “It will express our concern for this incident and request information from China as to an explanation of how it happened and what they plan to do about it.”

Yahoo and other US companies have also come forward with cases that potentially point back to China.

Google has already threatened to pull out of China following the hacking attempts and security violations which intruded on intellectual property rights. The hacking attempts included illegal access of human rights workers using Gmail.

Google announced that the company is no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine – google.cn. In response to the hacking attempts, Google demanded that China allow it to operate within censorship restrictions. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, asseted the internet in China was “open.” Some of the current censorship restrictions that the Chinese Government require of web operators include removing content covering: 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence or Falun Gong, among others.

FTC To Regulate Blogs On Product Endorsement

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:27:57 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking increased transparency with product endorsement on blogs and social networks. Paid product endorsements on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social websites will need to reveal their sponsorship, otherwise they will be faced with fines, a lawsuit or other penalties.

The new guidelines will come into effect on December 1st. The FTC however has not disclosed how bloggers or product endorsers should reveal their sponsorship.

FBI Predictive Data System Revealed In Unclassified Documents

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:50:53 +0000

The FBI is using a data-mining system that closely resembles DARPA’s Total Information Awareness program. The purpose of the data-mining system is to uncover terror sleeper cells in the US. The data collected by the system includes travel records, including hotel and airline records.

The FBI has plans to expand the program to help solve cyber-crime investigations.

Ultimately the program is predictive. It can help solve crimes before they help by piecing together data from a vast host of sources and contains more than 1.5 billion government and private-sector records.