p2pnet - rss feed: Bush violates ‘official US guidelines’
p2p news / p2pnet: It’s being called a “security slip”. But it looks like even more cause for serious concern on the parts of people in America who suspect their privacy rights are being routinely violated.
“The White House and National Security Agency have been caught tracking visitors to their websites in ways that may violate official US guidelines,” says the BBC.
“The organisations have been using different techniques to spot return visitors and monitor what they are looking at. Although widely used on commercial websites, US federal guidelines prohibit official use of such tools.”
This follows recent news that the Dick Cheney / George W. Bush presidency has been using nebulous threats of terrorism to raid citizens’ data without their permission, and without telling them
However, ” Bush, “brushed aside criticism over his decision to spy on suspected terrorists without court warrants” and said he’ll keep it up, “for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens”.
US federal rules, “allow government agencies to use session cookies that exist only as long as a visit to a particular website. Many online stores use them to remember the contents of a visitor’s virtual shopping trolley,” says the BBC. “However, persistent cookies that are never deleted are prohibited following guidelines first issued in 2000 and subsequently updated in 2003 by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
“The persistent cookies used by the NSA expired in 2035.”
But it was all a mistake, the BBC has a NSA spokesman saying, A software upgrade had “inadvertently left it using persistent cookies” but, “It has now stopped using this sort of text file.”
Cookies aren’t the only problems, however. Tiny image files called web bugs can also track users and even better, they’re “not specifically prohibited by the rules on monitoring visitors to official websites,” says the BBC, adding:
“The web bugs were reportedly used by net firm WebTrends which oversees the White House site. A spokesman for the company said it did not use the information generated by the web bugs and cookies to track users or spot repeat visitors.
“A White House spokesman said it would investigate to find out if the combination of web bugs and cookies broke official guidelines.”
Also See:
BBC - Privacy slip on official US sites, December 30, 2005
raid citizens’ data - Bush admits spying on US citizens, December 19, 2005
December 30th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
***k Bush
December 30th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
Where exactly does the DoD fit into all of this? Those who have an IP blocker on ther computer, like Peerguardian or Protowall, should have noticed the DoD trying to access their computer every half hour like clockwork. Since I have in no way ever done anything that could even be remotely considered terrorist activity, even with the wildest imagination, I can only assume these are regular sweeps of the internet and all connected to it. I think this is truly reason for concern. What exactly are they doing when connecting to the computers of those who do not have them blocked?
December 30th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Here’s the administration’s position on the warrentless “wiretaps” they have been using.
“The administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress last week, saying the nation’s security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored.”
(quote from an AP story)
“…the nation’s security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals…”
I guess they feel they can do ANYTHING they want as long as they can somehow hang a “national security” tag on it.
George sez, “Constitution? We don’t need no stinking constitution!”
December 31st, 2005 at 2:27 am
WOW. The title is misleading as hell. Nowhere in this article or links does it say that Bush or his cronies violated official guidelines, only an overseeing company that was hired to oversee it did. Your headline should be “White House and NSA Website violate ‘Official Guidelines’”
December 31st, 2005 at 2:37 am
What with the RIAA, Sony’s DRM, and now Bush’s b—-sh, it’s really getting depressing these days surfing my beloved internet, but one needs to know the truth, right? And they are all guilty of spying! Guess what, I don’t think my Adaware will catch any of these, do you?
I can say, as an American, IMHO, the best thing that could happen in this country would be an impeachment of both Bush and Cheney. If you are American, you may want to go to this site: Calling All Bloggers: These Documents need publishing | AfterDowningStreet.org and this one - impeachcentral.com.
One interesting note - I found my way to these sites via a test for my shockwave software that led me to a CBS editorial (read mainstream media) that led to the above sites and on and on it went. I did write my congressmen and urged them to introduce the articles of impeachment.
They make for very interesting reads as more and more facts and documents are being made public.
‘nuf said.
December 31st, 2005 at 3:53 am
Impeachment will never happen in a Republican controlled Congress. I would rather my elected officials spend their time, our money, and most importantly, their political capital on stuff that is more likely to come to fruition.
I’m tired of people calling for politicians to do this or that. Politicians aren’t gods you know. They have to give some stuff up to pursue others. As a result, we should push for politicians to throw their weight onto good things that need their weight in order to pass. That way, they don’t waste their weight on stupid stuff. That’s the nature of compromise that is built into the American system.
December 31st, 2005 at 7:35 am
Considering you people are literate, the ignorance of above posts is disturbing. I have a degree in information sciences. If you care to do a little research, you could discover how useless cookies are. You will also find that no cookies are blocked by firewalls. Cookies cannot execute scripts. If you would like to disable your cookies, you can do so in the privacy settings of whichever browser you may be using. I would also like you to know that, web trackers are used by any major website. Ask your local administrator if this site has placed cookies on your computer without your implicit comsent. I would be shocked if this site were not using webtracking software as well. Any well designed webpage will probably implement “persistent” cookies. It is good design practice. Webtrackers are generally used for markteing purposes.
Personally I am no more comfortable with large corporations monitoring my every move. They do control the government don’t they. Different bussinesses, different parties. It’s really all the same. It seems evident that corporate america wields more power than the american government. Niether republicans nor democrats are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in campagn funds from people like you.
If you doubt what I have said about the technological issues, I urge you to find an unbiased source of your choosing to explain the functions and capabilities of persistent cookies.
By unbiased, I mean find yourselves a flaming liberal with education (area of focus) in internet technologies.
Their are plenty of reasons to hate politicians in modern society, but dont support this movement. It will only negatively impact your credibility. It general, isnt a good idea to argue about a topic you are ill-informed of.
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:18 am
I second that motion!
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:47 am
I have written letters to my Congressman and Senators to let them know how I and others feel about the wanton abrogation of the Bill of Rights, how the Constitution is no longer “preserved, protected’ and defended” by anyone in government, whether in the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, or the Judicial Branch. The effort is futile!
Think about it: only ONE Senator voted against the PATRIOT Act, which callously butchers the rights and freedoms upon which this great nation was founded.
How are we to expect that those very same lawmakers who violated their oaths of office would impeach anyone else who violated that same oath?
Impeachment petitions? Letters to our Representatives? Calls for a return to the principles embodied in our Bill of Rights (without which this nation would never have formed and gelled)?
The time to ask or petition has passed. TELL your representative that you will vote against him or her (and put aside all partisanship!) to oust them from office if they don’t start protecting and defending your rights and freedoms!
Then, by God, DO IT! Every vote does, indeed count, and the best way to make yours count is to let elected officials know what you plan, then do it!
George Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, and every Member of Congress needs to be reminded of what Benjamin Franklin once said, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”