White House Announces Initiative To Fight Botnets 89
benfrog writes "ISPs and financial-services companies would share data about computers made into botnets under a pilot program announced today by the Obama administration. From the article: 'The voluntary principles announced today include coordinating across sectors and confronting the problem globally. They were developed by the Industry Botnet Group, comprising trade groups including the Business Software Alliance and TechAmerica.' The White House is also backing a bill proposed by Joe Lieberman that would put the Department of Homeland Security in charge of cybersecurity of vital systems such as power grids and transportation networks."
So the BSA is leading the charge (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone want to start taking bets as to when a copy of uTorrent or Transmission will deem you as a part of the botnet?
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It's OK. They'll declare war against botnets, and then implement a bunch of laws to combat them, all of which will result in a further slide into tyranny. Eventually we'll have government agents from the to-be established Department of Home Computer Security come into our homes once a week to inspect all of our computing devices. For our own protection, of course.
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My meme-sniffing dog just got very excited about the parent post...
Re:So the BSA is leading the charge (Score:5, Interesting)
You didn't check very well. The SOPA was introduced by a Republican.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act [wikipedia.org]
Re:So the BSA is leading the charge (Score:4, Interesting)
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You're the one with the partisanship. I just gave a fact to contradict your prior assertion that this was a Democrat and not Republican trait. It's bipartisan.
If there's more Democrat weight behind anti-piracy moves, it's probably that Republicans don't tend to be creative people. They're more likely to consume than create.
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To be fair, PIPA was introduced by a Democrat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act [wikipedia.org]
Not to detract from the blame due either side, of course.
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Then you should check again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and_Protection_Act
Democratic - yes votes: 42 no votes: 140 did not vote: 8
Republican - yes votes: 206 no votes: 28 did not vote: 7
But you missed the point anyways, the Republicans say they oppose jobs bills because it might help poor people but they will support "backdoor" jobs bills like military, prison and law enforcement spending which tends to put neanderthalic white knuckledraggers to work cracking skulls.
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But will they touch my crotch while they're here? This is important.
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It's OK. They'll declare war against botnets, and then implement a bunch of laws to combat them, all of which will result in a further slide into tyranny. Eventually we'll have government agents from the to-be established Department of Home Computer Security come into our homes once a week to inspect all of our computing devices. For our own protection, of course.
Department of Cyber Security. They're working like crazy to resurrect that word.
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Re:So the BSA is leading the charge (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, and they'll stop these with drone attacks. Welcome to the age of corporate Stalinism
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel prepared a lengthy memo justifying that extraordinary step, asserting that while the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process applied, it could be satisfied by internal deliberations in the executive branch.
Attorney General Eric Holder then publicly claimed: "'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process."
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/30/how_extremism_is_normalized/singleton/ [salon.com]
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Hey Holder is the same guy who doesn't have any problems with the New Black Panther Party using voter intimidation at polling places, so...I guess I shouldn't be surprised at a statement like that.
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Do you have a link where this occurred? Last I recall the NBP numbered apprxoimately four fucking people.
In the meantime, Rick Scott has thrown thousands of minority Florida voters off the rolls because they have a funny-sounding name. And Teabag state after Teabag state is adopting unconstitutional poll taxes (disguised as Voter ID laws).
If you're gonna start bitching about
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Don't forget that folding@home is also basically a big botnet.
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Anyone want to start taking bets as to when a copy of uTorrent or Transmission will deem you as a part of the botnet?
Don't forget that folding@home is also basically a big botnet.
So is Skype. Which shows that peer-to-peer will not be outlawed.
DHS in charge of cybersecurity?? (Score:5, Funny)
I feel safer already.
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I feel safer already.
Their with the government... Their here to help...
Now why don't you have a seat over there while they tabulate the ravenous fines and prison sentence for having a copy of 'Hackers - The Movie'.
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If by chance they also offer help with remedial spelling then you may profit from such a program!
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If by chance they also offer help with remedial spelling then you may profit from such a program!
No the government doesn't help with that sort of education.
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You missed a golden opportunity for a comeback:
We are the United States government. We don't do that sort of thing.
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Uh Oh, define "Botnet" (Score:5, Insightful)
I try not to be paranoid, but when I see the BSA and the department of Homeland Security are joining forces, I can't help but have a feeling of dread...
It really makes me wonder just what constitutes a botnet. After all, large numbers of computers contributing to torrent downloads are a form of bonnet also.
If this doesn't make you think the government has too much money and free time, nothing will.
I know where this is going..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bittorrent = Terrorism.
I guarantee the BSA scumbags are already pushing this point.
Re:I know where this is going..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bittorrent = Terrorism.
I guarantee the BSA scumbags are already pushing this point.
Do not forget Bitorrent == Pro Child Predator
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Bittorrent = Terrorism.
Yeah, and BT uploaders and seeders are vTerrorists or "Virtual" Terrorists, who should be jailed immediately upon identification, for life, without trial, as enemy vCombatants.
bullshit (Score:2, Insightful)
if botnets were the issue they'd ban windows and bam! all botnets down.
but botnets aren't the issue. illusion of control is.
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That's ridiculous analogy. You want to treat cancer by incinerating victims, too? But, since there's a slam on MS, I see you're getting modded up.
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the only real solution is education. but that's gonna be a hell of an effort and i don't see how the white house, the department of homeland security, the house of representatives, joe lieberman or a bunch of crap selling fluff spraying corporations could be of any help at that, not to mention they could very well be part of the problem!
No, the answer is not education. I don't care how much education you throw at a head of lettuce, it's still a head of lettuce and it's still about as stupid as the average American. Intelligence is a choice. We don't need to educate the masses; we need to encourage the masses to educate themselves, which is a far more difficult task. Oh, and I'm rather convinced that there's no government program or agency that could possibly accomplish this--in fact, they probably see to it that it maintain status quo.
BRUCE SCHNEIER and EUGENE KASPERSKY announces... (Score:4, Interesting)
It makes sense for "Homeland Security" to secure power grids, and critical infrastructure.
They know nothing of computer security, botnets, or doing much more than confiscation.
The BSA knows even less.
I would be excited to see a team of REAL security experts (Schneier and Kasperksky)
working together with the folks at http://garwarner.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com] to eliminate the real threats.
Grandmothers, breastfeeding mothers, little girls with insulin pumps, and people who copy
Windows 98 are _NOT_ the real threat.
Ehud
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should I expect a takedown coming my way now?
How big does my tinfoil hat need to be... (Score:2, Interesting)
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war on botnets (Score:5, Funny)
Re:war on botnets (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:war on botnets (Score:5, Funny)
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Well we won the war on poverty. Welcome to North Korea.
Anything Leiberman likes... (Score:3, Informative)
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Maybe so but he's one of the better Democrats out there :)
Anybody still thinking in Republican or Democrat terms is a sucker. One party, two factions. Their rivalry is complete theater.
Botnets exist due to the BSA & propritary soft (Score:5, Interesting)
It is humorous that the BSA is taking charge of solving a problem that is essentially created by its members (and not able to solve it). The BSA is all about fighting for proprietary software. They ensure third parties (like antivirus companies) can't fix the code which lets botnets propagate and they ensure we don't have an Debian-like/apt-get like solution to software maintenance, distribution, and trust models.
This BSA lead solution is bound to fail.
The only thing I can conceive of working well to reduce or eliminate botnets is to free the software, implement official security standards all software need comply with, and fix the distribution problem. We would need to properly fund free software platforms and ecosystems. The move to free software with carefully scrutinised (think Debian) channels of trust exist and the software is available for third party review. These software repositories should require certain minimum security standards too. For the most part it's already being done as such with Debian although without any such standards (apart from trust in relation to distribution). They need to eliminate all but essential features of applications which execute scripts.
- applications should not generally implement support for unnecessary scripting features, embedded objects, etc
1. Web browsers should not have flash, PDF readers, java applets, GPU accelerated 'gaming' features, or silverlight.
2. PDF software should not support scripting or embedded objects (like flash).
3. Office software should not support macros; there is a business case although that needs restrictions and should not generally be in consumer office applications. Even within the business situation there needs to be restrictions on the businesses users ability to install such macros without technical advise.
4. E-mail clients and similar should not support scripting or even html except for a minimal subset of features.
5. Instant messaging software should also not implement scripting and limit any HTML to a subset of the standard.
6. Applications should not install third party plug-ins to web browsers or similar.
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so...why dont you make all these pieces of software you believe should be made "your way"? I dont disagree with your wishlist,but dont just complain about it be about it
So nobody has a right to criticize anything that they don't personally have the skills to do themselves?
If you're dissatisfied with the airlines, don't bother with criticism, start your own. Train is late? Don't bitch. Start your own railroad. Your doctor commit malpractice or just does a crappy job? Don't whine, go to medical school and treat yourself. Your lawyer falls asleep in court and fails to properly represent you? Don't file a complaint with the Bar, get a law degree and represent yourself.
See how
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it takes many materials to create an airline or a railroad, it takes a word processor and a compiliar to create a program, the knowledge part is free, and 1000% in your control. and with torrents out there, you can clearly get the tools needed to create such a product to suit your needs
this is
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it takes many materials to create an airline or a railroad, it takes a word processor and a compiliar to create a program, the knowledge part is free, and 1000% in your control. and with torrents out there, you can clearly get the tools needed to create such a product to suit your needs
What a narrow view you have, grandma!
You are aware that there are people who spend all their time doing much more important things than write software, right? Like a nurse that works 60-70-80 hours or more a week taking care of sick/dying people, and then has to come home and take care of a family and doesn't have the time or energy to learn programming and then fix some random application.
That "fix/write it yourself or don't criticize" attitude is fine for somebody that doesn't have an important & esse
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option one: whine about software and ... well thats it, hope it gets fixed automagically
option two: either write or help other write/fix the software... job done.
you get to pick either option one OR option two.
OR, how about thinking of the solution in more than black and white, one extreme or the other, terms?
Look, I get it that you write the stuff mostly because you wanted to for your own reasons, and it's wonderful that you've shared it when you didn't have to at all. You're under no obligations, that's understood. But there needs to be some better way to do things that allows the users a more convenient & friendly way for users to find willing programmers and pay for changes/improvements.
How about a web se
A new angle? (Score:1)
Don't we already have this? (Score:2)
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Do they go on a kill list? (Score:2)
Of all the things to complain about, this program? (Score:2)
It's cooperative effort to confront a huge, insidious problem on the internet. I'm as paranoid about government control, but this is hardly a blip flashing on my radar. My only problem is that by giving Homeland Security a vital role, it's that much more unlikely that it'll ever go away.
The US Government Uses Botnets (Score:3)
Nothing good will come of this... (Score:2)
First, there isn't anything the US government can do that isn't already being done.
Second, this will serve as justification for a massive expansion of US Executive power onto the currently anarchic internet.
Precisely what we need. (Score:2)
Again - fix this with capability based security... (Score:2)
Capability based security can fix this, virus scanners and blind linux fanboyism aren't enough any more.