Giving the public too many details about significant network service outages could present cyberterrorists with a "virtual road map" to targeting critical infrastructures, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which this month urged regulators to keep such information secret.

At issue is an FCC proposal that would require telecom companies to report significant outages of high-speed data lines or wireless networks to the commission. The plan would rewrite regulations that currently require phone companies to file a publicly-accessible service disruption report whenever they experience an outage that effects at least 30,000 telephone customers for 30 minutes or more. Enacted in the wake of the June 1991 AT&T long-distance crash, the FCC credits the rule with having reversed a trend of increased outages on the phone network, as telecom companies used the disclosures to develop best practices and learn from each others' mistakes. [via SecurityFocus]

Oh yea -- good idea. We should also keep it a secret if friends of the president defraud the country for billions of dollars with their scam energy companies.

New York Times: Mayor Bloomberg announced plans to close off the area around Madison Square Garden to traffic during the convention hours.

Argh.

Keep watching.

I'll be back soon.

Ha ha! Voivod!

Two Apple employees established an iChat AV session, one on the ground, and another 30,000 feet in the air, on a Lufthansa jet with high-speed wireless onboard.

Pretty cool.

Stop the presses! Britney Spears' mother ran over a photographer with her car.

I knew we'd get some real news sooner or later.

So bring it! Deliver that thing!

Zoinks. Rumors are circulating that Microsoft is considering purchasing Network Associates.

An online petition to save the darkroom at the New School from destruction. Though it may seem like hyperbole, quite a few important photographers learned there. It does have a touch of history.

As we speak, I am installing SUSE 9.1. I'm hoping one of the five WiFi cards sitting to my left will be recognized.

"Bermuda-based IT services vendor Accenture Ltd. is taking heat from Illinois lawmakers who want to prevent the company from receiving taxpayer-funded contracts. At issue is the offshore location of Accenture's headquarters." [Via Computerworld]

I wish my government had the balls to do this.

POTD

Sérgio Amadeu, president of Brazil's ITI and technology advisor to President Lula uses a drug dealer analogy for Microsoft's software products ("the first hit is free"). Shamefully, Microsoft sues Mr. Amadeu. Robert Scoble speaks out against his employer.

That takes integrity, Scoble. Good job.

Maybe Microsoft should point its lawyers in a different direction:

"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." [Bill Gates, 1998]

Dave Pollard takes an interesting look at the irony of small farmers voting with the Republican party.