Roy Mark

The House Committee on Government Reform will hold a hearing Thursday morning to investigate the availability of child pornography on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Lawmakers and law enforement officials say they are alarmed that kiddie porn is spreading through the networks, which allow users to download and directly share electronic files independent of the Web. Since […]

The White House has named John O. Brennan, the CIAs deputy executive director, as the first director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC). President Bush said in his State of Union speech the TTIC would be the “seam” between analysis of foreign and domestic intelligence on terrorism and put the agency under the control […]

The National Institutes of Health (HIH) has signed a two-year deal with Websense to manage Internet access for NIH’s more than 40,000 nationwide employees. The Websense software will block certain access to certain Web sites, such as gaming and pornography destinations, and limit employees’ personal time on the Internet. NIH will deploy the software solution, […]

The International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered all U.S. carriers providing facilities-based service on the U.S.-Philippines route to suspend all payments for termination services to six Philippine carriers pending restoration of all circuits and service on the route. The six Philippine carriers began disrupting the U.S.-Philippines networks of AT&T and WorldCom […]

In the wake of last week’s decision by a Pennsylvania appeals court to bar enforcement of the controversial 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA), Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.) introduced legislation Monday designed to strengthen the laws against online child pornography. Known as the Child Obscenity and Pornography Act of 2003 (H.R. 1161), Smith’s bill would […]

The International Information Systems Security Consortium (ISC2) has signed a five-year contract with the National Security Agency’s Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) to develop and administer a new Information Systems Security Engineering Professional (ISSEP) certification. The new certification will serve as an extension of the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), offered by ISC2 for information […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined Verizon $5.7 million for marketing long distance service in its local service region prior to receiving FCC authorization. In a separate action, the FCC released a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) proposing that T-Mobile be fined $1.25 million for apparently violating E911 rules. Verizon’s consent to the fine […]

The Liberty Alliance gained two major federal players Wednesday with the announcement the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are joining the coalition of companies focused on an open-system single sign-on for Web services. A system for verifying logon identities is one of the Bush administration’s 24 e-Government initiatives. The GSA […]

An administrative law judge has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) motion for a summary judgment against Rambus. The FTC claimed Rambus forfeited its right to a trial because of the Los Altos, Calif.-based company’s actions in allegedly destroying documents germane to an FTC antitrust action against the semiconductor chip designer. Judge James Timony agreed […]

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Consumers Union (CU), two of the nation’s largest consumer organizations, are asking Congress for an “extensive review” of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent broadband policy decisions, claiming FCC policy is “being formulated with little public discussion and debate and absolutely no economic analysis.” In a joint letter […]

FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that the infrastructure enhancements required to support the agency’s costly, oft-criticized Trilogy IT program are in place. The $458 million project, which has been plagued by cost overruns, is expected to allow FBI agents to receive multi-media case files at their desks and to link […]

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in the federal government’s appeal of a Philadelphia court ruling that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a violation of the First Amendment. The controversial law seeks to regulate inappropriate content and install content filtering technology in public libraries nationwide. Last May, a federal […]