For the final installment of my series of blog posts outlining ten principles that governments and local communities should consider when evaluating whether they are using digital technology effectively to facilitate civic engagement, I will discuss the issue that goes to the core of democracy in our country – the public having access to information […]
Archives for December 2013
Information Facilitating Participation in Elections Must Be Readily Available – Principle #10 for Fostering Civic Engagement Through Digital Technologies
December 31, 2013 by
Top Tech Policy Stories of 2013
December 30, 2013 by
As the year draws to a close, it’s time to review the top tech policy stories of 2013. (1) NSA Surveillance. The most important story by far was the revelations about the scope and scale of surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency and allied services. It took a major leak of documents by Edward […]
RSA doesn't quite deny undermining customers' crypto
December 23, 2013 by
Reuters reported on Saturday that the NSA had secretly paid RSA Data Security $10 million to make a certain flawed algorithm the default in RSA’s BSAFE crypto toolkit, which many companies relied on. RSA issued a vehement but artfully worded quasi-denial. Let’s look at the story, and RSA’s denial.
Software backdoors and the White House NSA panel report
December 19, 2013 by
Yesterday the five-member panel appointed by the President to review “Intelligence and Communications Technologies” issued its report. The report is serious and substantial, and makes 46 specific recommendations for change. I expect to have a lot to say about the report and its aftermath, but for today I want to focus on one small aspect: […]
Judge Leon explains why the NSA uses everyone's metadata
December 17, 2013 by
There are many interesting things to discuss in Judge Leon’s opinion from yesterday, finding the NSA’s phone metadata program likely unconstitutional. In this post, I’ll focus on an interesting bit of computer science in the judge’s ruling, and I’ll explain why the judge’s computer science argument is actually more powerful than he realized.
