Posted on March 13th, 2013 by Derek Bambauer
My paper “Ghost in the Network” is available from SSRN. It’s forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. I’m appending the abstract and (weirdly, but I hope it will become apparent why) the conclusion below. Comments welcomed. Abstract Cyberattacks are inevitable and widespread. Existing scholarship on cyberespionage and cyberwar is undermined by its futile [...]
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Filed under: badware, Computer crime, Encryption, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Microsoft, national security, NSA, Politics, Privacy, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on November 21st, 2012 by Derek Bambauer
The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, after a cyberharassment investigation brought his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell to light, has generated a fascinating upsurge in privacy worries. (Side note: I believe “working with my biographer” has now superseded “hiking the Appalachian Trail” as the top euphemism for infidelity). Orin Kerr has an excellent summary [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, Computer crime, Encryption, Fourth Amendment, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Media, national security, NSA, Politics, Privacy, Security
Posted on May 7th, 2012 by Derek Bambauer
Adam Dachis has an interesting and worrisome post up at Lifehacker. (Disclosure: he kindly asked me for input into the post.) It thinks about a post-CISPA world, where privacy exists only at the behest of companies who hold our information. CISPA would immunize these firms for sharing information with the federal government, so long as [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, Computer crime, Encryption, Filtering, Google, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, ISP, Media, national security, NSA, Politics, Privacy, Security, Software
Posted on January 24th, 2012 by Derek Bambauer
Cybersecurity is in the news: a network intrusion allegedly interfered with railroad signals in the Northwest in December; the Obama administration refused to support the Stop Online Piracy Act due to worries about interfering with DNSSEC; and the GAO concluded that the Department of Homeland Security is making things worse by oversharing. So, I’m fortunate [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, Computer crime, Encryption, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, ISP, Minnesota, national security, NSA, Politics, Privacy, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on January 21st, 2012 by Derek Bambauer
It may seem strange in a week where Megaupload’s owners were arrested and SOPA / PROTECT IP went under, but cybersecurity is the most important Internet issue out there. Examples? Chinese corporate espionage. Cyberweapons like Stuxnet. Anonymous DDOSing everyone from the Department of Justice to the RIAA. The Net is full of holes, and there [...]
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Filed under: badware, Computer crime, Digital Media, Encryption, Impersonation, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Media, national security, NSA, Privacy, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on November 10th, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
Cybersecurity is a hot policy / legal topic at the moment: the SEC recently issued guidance on cybersecurity reporting, defense contractors suffered a spear-phishing attack, the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive issued a report on cyber-espionage, and Brazilian ISPs fell victim to DNS poisoning. (The last highlights a problem with E-PARASITE and PROTECT IP: [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, badware, Computer crime, Digital Media, Encryption, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Media, national security, NSA, Privacy, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on October 17th, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
UPI’s article on cyberterrorism helpfully states the obvious: there’s no such thing. This is in sharp contrast to the rhetoric in cybersecurity discussions, which highlights purported threats from terrorists to the power grid, the transportation system, and even the ability to play Space Invaders using the lights of skyscrapers. It’s all quite entertaining, except for [...]
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Filed under: Anonymity, badware, Computer crime, international, Internet & Society, national security, NSA, Politics, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on June 26th, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
For those interested in whistleblowing, WikiLeaks, and the role journalists can play as the Internet saps traditional media, I shamelessly recommend Consider the Censor, an essay I wrote in the Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy that is now available on-line.
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Filed under: Anonymity, Computer crime, Court Decisions, Digital Media, Encryption, Filtering, First Amendment, Intermediaries, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, national security, NSA, Open Access, Peer Production, Scholarship, Security
Posted on June 8th, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
David Opderbeck put together a terrific cybersecurity conference at Seton Hall today. I was on a panel discussing cybersecurity policy and legal theory. The audience was primarily law enforcement and practicing attorneys, so I asked, “What are you doing here?” In good academic fashion, I proceeded to (try to) answer my own question – why [...]
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Filed under: badware, Computer crime, Corporate Law, Digital Media, Encryption, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Law School, Media, Microsoft, national security, NSA, Privacy, Scholarship, Security, Software
Posted on May 31st, 2011 by Derek Bambauer
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Department of Defense has formalized its doctrine for responding to cyber-attacks. (Hat tip: Thinh Nguyen.) Unsurprisingly, the Pentagon has adopted a pragmatic posture of equivalence: cyber-attacks of sufficient impact could meet with a kinetic response. In other words, logic bombs might prompt America to employ real ones. The [...]
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Filed under: badware, Computer crime, Digital Media, Intermediaries, international, Internet & Society, Media, national security, NSA, Security, Software