This was taken from LockerGnomes daily GnomeSOAPBOX and is well worth the read.
A lot of people are excited about the SSSCA, a bill being put forward by a couple of U.S. senators on behalf of large corporate backers in the software and music industry, which would make it a crime (not just an actionable civil matter) for end users to copy certain kinds of information on their computers, or even attempt to read or play it, if the copyright holder didn't want it used that way. In company with the DMCA, this bill could conceivably make it illegal even to use software that COULD be used to accomplish that purpose (including open-source OS's, such as Linux).
If this bill were to be signed into law, it would represent the first such restriction on the individual use of intellectual property (at least in a Western democracy) since the Middle Ages. The medieval church, which was the primary institution of its day, comparable to the large corporations of the industrial era in its ability to influence or even dictate the policies of governments, controlled what was read and who got to read it. All books were held in church libraries and copied only by monks, and it was necessary to take religious orders even to learn how to read. We call it the Dark Ages. Fortunately, culture was being kept alive by the Moslems.
View: GnomeSOAPBOX (scroll down to read)
View: Stop Policeware Eligible signatories: American citizens
A lot of people are excited about the SSSCA, a bill being put forward by a couple of U.S. senators on behalf of large corporate backers in the software and music industry, which would make it a crime (not just an actionable civil matter) for end users to copy certain kinds of information on their computers, or even attempt to read or play it, if the copyright holder didn't want it used that way. In company with the DMCA, this bill could conceivably make it illegal even to use software that COULD be used to accomplish that purpose (including open-source OS's, such as Linux).
If this bill were to be signed into law, it would represent the first such restriction on the individual use of intellectual property (at least in a Western democracy) since the Middle Ages. The medieval church, which was the primary institution of its day, comparable to the large corporations of the industrial era in its ability to influence or even dictate the policies of governments, controlled what was read and who got to read it. All books were held in church libraries and copied only by monks, and it was necessary to take religious orders even to learn how to read. We call it the Dark Ages. Fortunately, culture was being kept alive by the Moslems.
View: GnomeSOAPBOX (scroll down to read) View: Stop Policeware Eligible signatories: American citizens
Part of the problem seems to be that business managers buy IDS systems (often on the advice of auditors or consultants) without committing to the people and resources needed to make the technology work, or having a managed services firm maintain an installation.
The concern is that adopters of the technology will fail to maintain it or simply leave it to gather dust as overworked admins get bombarded with false alarms.
In recent weeks The Register have spoken to two service providers, COLT Telecom and Data Return, who both told us customers request the installation of IDS systems in their datacentre but then subsequently fail to monitor the alerts generated.
Speaking at a recent Black Hat conference, Nicolas Fischbach, senior IP and security engineer at COLT Telecom, said IDS systems if hosting environments generate "thousands of alerts but no one watches them."
This can generate a false sense of security, he warned.
Users at last night's conference echoed these concerns and one summed up the feelings of the meeting by saying "installation of IDS systems is only 10 per cent of the solution".
Brian Milnes, general manager in Northern Europe of security tools firm Intrusion.com, said buying a IDS systems was like "buying a Christmas puppy" because both needed attention.
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