Cyberspace

One Reporter’s Opinion

No one who lived in the Los Angeles area between the fifties and the seventies, will forget the iconic television newsman, George Putnam. One of the regular features on his newscast was “One Reporter’s Opinion,” during which he would editorialize on a topical issue. I enjoyed watching Putnam’s newscast, primarily because of his conservative point-of-view in spite of the liberal Times-Mirror‘s ownership of the television station, KTTV.

Well, I’m happy to report that George Putnam’s “One Reporter’s Opinion” feature is alive and well at NewsMax on line. Better yet, his politics are still in line with reality:

One Reporter’s Opinion – Americanism Left ‘Cold in the Night’

It is this reporter’s opinion that the very heart of America is under attack. There are those, foreign and domestic, who actually HATE this great nation and all it stands for. Led by atheists and the ACLU, there are groups who would love to destroy the promises on which our nation was founded – our very way of life.

Aided and abetted by strange court decisions and oddball judges, each day brings a new shocker. We find federal judges ruling against the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional, finding that “one nation under God” violates schoolchildren’s right “to be free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”

The latest target of the atheists is to remove “in God we trust” from our currency, claiming that this phrase violates the so-called separation of church and state.

Continue reading George Putnam’s article on NewsMax: One Reporter’s Opinion – Americanism Left ‘Cold in the Night’

Server Outage

There was a glitch at our ISP today; the power went off for five minutes and after the backup came on it took another 45 minutes to recover/restore. Apologies if you weren’t able to connect.

It also affected the Never Forget graphic which is seen on many sites. Sorry for any problems it may have caused you.

SPYBLOCK Heads to Senate Floor

From PCWorld.com: Spyware Foes Push New Law

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee has approved a bill that would outlaw the practice of remotely installing software that collects a computer users’ personal information without consent.

In addition to prohibiting spyware, the Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge (SPYBLOCK) Act would also outlaw the installation of adware programs without a computer user’s permission. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the bill Thursday.

Source of AIM Worm is in Middle East

Attackers in the Middle East may be compromising computers that use AOL Instant Messenger.

Read PCWorld.com – AIM Worm Spreads.

Excerpt (emphasis mine):

The W32/Sdbot-ADD worm infecting some users of AOL Instant Messenger is more dangerous than previously thought, according to Facetime Security Labs, the researchers who discovered the worm in October.

The rootkit installed by the worm, lockx.exe, is allowing systems to be further compromised by a group of attackers based in the Middle East, according to Facetime researchers. The attackers are installing additional malicious code capable of stealing personal information, according to the group.

UK Court Imposes Soft Sentences for Cybercriminals

Apparently, UK courts don’t take $9.6 million in damages as seriously as the US, and even then it’s way too lenient in the US as well. From PCWorld .com (emphasis added):

LONDON — Two British men who pleaded guilty to charges they helped create the “TK worm” were sentenced to prison Friday in Newcastle Crown Court. The worm infected thousands of computers, including two owned by the Department of Defense.

Jordan Bradley, a 22-year-old electrician, was sentenced to three months imprisonment and Andrew Harvey received six months, according to the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU). Harvey is 23 years old and unemployed. Both men were part of the international hacking gang called the Thr34t Krew (TK).

From the same article:

A U.S. man, Raymond Paul Steigerwalt, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in May in connection with the Thr34t Krew, and ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to the DOD. Steigerwalt, 21, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of possession of child pornography.

Cyberpunks like these guys ought to receive a penalty suitable for the crime – they caused almost ten million dollars in damages – if I were legislating penalties to cover these crimes, I would impose a minimum of 10 years in prison. If i were the judge applying the sentence I would administer the maximum penalty under the law. How the hell else will the potential thousands of these types of criminals be deterred?

You may read the entire article at PCWorld.com – British Hackers Jailed for Worm.