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July 19, 2002
M. Shahid Alam
Through
Racist Eyes:
Is Eurocentrism Unique?
July 18, 2002
Mokhiber / Weissman
Business
As Usual
Jerre Skog
I Spy: Now
Let's be Fair,
the USA Ain't East Germany
Ralph Nader
The CEO
Crimewave:
Corporate Socialism
Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
The Rising Tensions
Between Spain and Morocco
Alexander Cockburn
Drivel
and Squawk:
Can the Times' Jeff Gerth
Save the White House?
July 17, 2002
Philip Farruggio
The
New Role Model:
Remember Jesus, George?
Zara Gelsey
Who's
Reading Over
Your Shoulder?
Behzad Yaghmaian
9/11 and
Fotress Europe:
the Drama of the New
Moslem Diaspora
Mike Ferner
War, Incorporated
Gary Leupp
Bush, Burqas
and the Oppression of Afghan Women
July 16, 2002
Pierre Tristam
Faith-based
Capitalism in
the Ruins of the Market
Kurt Nimmo
How My
35mm Camera Almost Became a Tool of Treason
Robert Fisk
The Kashmir
Distraction
Salam al-Marayati
When
is Terrorism
Not Defined as Terrorism?
Kathleen Christison
The
Image Problem:
Anti-Palestinian Bias
from Wilson to Bush
July 15, 2002
Gavin Keeney
In One
of Safire's Ears,
Out the Other
CounterPunch Wire
Nader in
Cuba
Ralph Nader
The Secret
World of Banking
Dave Marsh
Vincible:
Michael Jackson, Racism and the Music Cartel
Rahul Mahajan
Justice
for Bhopal
Jeffrey St. Clair
Seduced
by a Legend
The Return of Jimmy T99 Nelson
July 14, 2002
Bill Christison
The
DOA (Poem)
David Vest
I'll Never
Get Out of This Band Alive
July 13, 2002
M. Junaid Alam
A Process
of Dehumanization
Gavin Keeney
Go Tell
Karl Rove!
Matt Vidal
Corporate
"Ethics" Red Herrings
Ed Whitfield
Lessons
from Independence Day
July 12, 2002
Sean Donahue
The Other
Harken Energy Scandal: Oil, Death Squads
and Colombia
Walt Brasch
Sin Tax
Scam
"Psst. Cigarettes. A Buck Each."
Steve Perry
A Tale
of Two Twits
Wall Street Burns, Bush Fiddles, But Where's Wellstone?
July 11, 2002
Lloyd Marbet
Arrested
by the Chamber
of Commerce
David Krieger
Law vs.
Force
David Vest
Fountain
of Foo:
Strike Three Called
Irit Katriel
A Deep
Ideological Crisis
Richard Glen Boire
Dangerous
Lessons:
Public School Drug Testing
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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July
19, 2002
Of
Mice, Bullets & Bombs
by Kurt Nimmo
You may not realize it, but your home computer
is a potential threat to national security. With an Internet
connection and a few accomplished keystrokes, you have the ability
to shut down electric and telecommunications grids, nuclear plants,
water systems, subway trains, even the United States government.
Yes, that seemingly innocuous eggshell colored box of metal and
plastic on the desk beside you is capable of becoming a formidable
weapon of cyber terrorism.
Soon, if you use your Dell or Mac in
the wrong way, you may earn a life sentence in prison.
This past Monday, the House of Representatives
overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow for life prison
sentences for malicious computer hackers. H.R.3482, otherwise
known as the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA), was passed
on a 385-3 vote. Only Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich, Texas libertarian
Ron Paul and Republican Jeff Miller of Florida stood up against
it. It will now head for the Senate.
"Until we secure our cyber infrastructure,
a few keystrokes and an Internet connection is all one needs
to disable the economy and endanger lives," said the bill's
sponsor, Lamar Smith, R-Tex. "A mouse can be just as dangerous
as a bullet or a bomb."
If you bother to ask any well-informed
computer security expert, chances are she may tell you computer
systems are routinely left wide open to attack due to lazy system
administration, easily guessed passwords, out-dated firewalls,
and a general lack of virus software. In fact, the number one
threat to computer network security is not America-hating terrorists,
but disgruntled and careless employees.
Will the employee with a grudge who takes
down an e-commerce site for the afternoon be subjected to life
in prison? Under the provisions of this bill, it is a distinct
possibility a bitter or vengeful employee who has tampered with
a computer network will never see the light of day again, that
is if it is decided "the violation was intended to or had
the effect of significantly interfering with or disrupting a
critical infrastructure." Of course, we may argue if eBay
is a "critical infrastructure."
Easily compromised e-commerce web sites
and corporate networks aside, it would seem our government -
ever so security conscious since the calamitous events of 911,
as we are continually reminded - needs to shore up its own glaring
vulnerabilities before passing draconian laws that will ultimately
prove useless so long as networks remain easy pickings for hackers.
Back in May, for instance, the Navy was
forced to take down an important computer network after hackers
gained access to employee passwords and other vital user information.
While SPAWAR - the San Diego-based Naval command that serves
as the information technology provider for the entire US Navy
- assured the public no classified information was snatched,
the incident was not only a major faux pas, it also demonstrated
how easily the military's computers can be hacked. Over the last
few years, dozens of military and government sites have been
hacked and defaced with relative ease.
Finally, while civil liberties groups
have objected to portions of CSEA, big corporations such as WorldCom
and Microsoft have fervently endorsed it.
Any endorsement by WorldCom - the now
infamous cooker of books and purveyor of other financial misdeeds
- should be viewed as nothing less than seriously tarnished and
thus its endorsement should be discarded out of hand. Microsoft's
endorsement is nothing short of ludicrous, considering it is
the most prolific dispenser of security compromised software
on the planet. Instead of backing ineffectual laws aimed at life
sentences for hackers - most of whom will have no association
with the likes of Usama bin Laden - Microsoft should go back
to the drawingboard and engineer secure email and server software.
As for the government, they need to make
sure their own house is in order before drafting and passing
more wasteful and unnecessary legislation.
Kurt Nimmo
is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New
Mexico. He can be reached at: nimmo@zianet.com
Today's Features
M. Shahid Alam
Through
Racist Eyes:
Is Eurocentrism Unique?
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