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Internet blackouts: Reaching for the kill switch | The Economist

http://www.economist.com/node/18112043?story_id=18112043

THE timing was dire. On January 25th American senators reintroduced a bill granting the president emergency powers to shut down parts of the nation’s internet as a defence against cyber-attack. Three days later Egypt’s embattled autocrats took their country offline. The American bill’s backers never expected an easy victory.

Obama 'Internet kill switch' plan approved by US Senate panel - Techworld.com

A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack. Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website. The committee unanimously approved an amended version of the legislation by voice vote Thursday, a committee spokeswoman said.

http://news.techworld.com/security/3228198/obama-internet-kill-switch-plan-approved-by-us-senate-panel/

FBI Investigating IPad E-mail Leaks - PCWorld Business Center

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into the leak of an estimated 114,000 Apple iPad user e-mail addresses. Artwork: Diego Aguirre Hackers belonging to a group called Goatse obtained the e-mail addresses after uncovering a Web application on AT&T's Web site that returned an iPad user's e-mail address when it was sent specially written queries. After writing an automated script to repeatedly query the site, they downloaded the addresses, and then handed them over to Gawker.com . Now the FBI is trying to figure out whether this was a crime. "The FBI is aware of these possible computer intrusions and has opened an investigation into addressing the potential cyberthreat," said Lindsay Godwin, an FBI spokeswoman.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/198547/fbi_investigating_ipad_email_leaks.html

http://techland.time.com/2011/04/26/class-action-suit-filed-against-apple-over-location-tracking/

Two men in Florida have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple over the recently-reported hidden database file found on iPhones and 3G-enabled iPads that periodically records users’ location coordinates. The suit claims that “users of Apple products have … no way to prevent Apple from collecting this information because even if users disable the iPhone and iPad GPS components, Apple’s tracking system remains fully functional,” according to PCMag.com . This data collection technique has apparently been in use since the release of iOS 4 (the current operating system running on the iPhone and iPad), which has been out for about a year. And while the initial report indicated that the data being collected wasn’t being sent to Apple, subsequent reports claimed that location information was being sent to Apple twice daily unless Location Services were disabled in the settings menu.

Class Action Suit Filed Against Apple over Location Tracking - Techland - TIME.com

A new survey shows U.S. consumers are shockingly lax about basic security on their mobile phones. Most of us have no qualms about making purchases via mobile, and the vast majority of us use the same phone for business and personal use — two common vulnerabilities in web security. Yet in spite of these yellow flags, few of us use phone-locking passwords and duplicate the same passwords for mobile apps that we use on our desktops. The survey [PDF] in question comes from security firm AVG and research and consulting firm The Ponemon Institute . One key finding we mentioned was the crossover between business and personal use of the same device.

Survey Shows We're Too Lazy About Mobile Phone Security

http://mashable.com/2011/03/25/mobile-phone-security/