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US military prepares for 'cyber command:' official

Internet has only just begun, say founders
While the Internet has dramatically changed lives around the world, its full impact will only be realised when far more people and information go on-line, its founders said Wednesday. "The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past," said Tim Berners-Lee, one of the inventors of the World Wide Web, at a seminar on its future. Just 23 percent of the globe's population currently uses the Internet, according to the United Nation's International Telecommunications Union, with use much higher in developed nations. By contrast, just five percent of Africans surf the web, it said in a report issued last month. But that level is expected to rise, especially in developing nations, as mobile Internet access takes off, making it no longer necessary to use a computer to surf the Web, said Internet co-founder Vinton Cerf. "We will have more Internet, larger numbers of users, more mobile access, more speed, more things online and more appliances we can control over the Internet," the Google vice president and chief Internet evangelist said. Robert Cailliau, who designed the Web with Berners-Lee in 1989, said having more data on the Internet, and more people with the ability to access it, will spur the development of new technology and solutions to global problems. "When we have all data online it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many problems that humankind faces," the Belgian software scientist said. The Internet has already led to the development of businesses that could not have existed without it, boosted literacy and learning and brought people closer together through cheaper modes of communication, the Internet pioneers said. "We never, ever in the history of mankind have had access to so much information so quickly and so easily," said Cerf.Even its founders are surprised by its popularity. "What we did not imagine was a Web of people, but a Web of documents," said Dale Dougherty, the founder of GNN, the Global Network Navigator, the first web portal and the first site on the Internet to be supported by advertising. For his part, Cailliau said he was impressed that search engines can still sort through the myriad of material that is now on-line. "To me the biggest surprise is that Google still functions despite the explosion in the number of sites," said Cailliau.

Web founder makes online privacy plea
Plans by Internet service providers to deliver targeted adverts to consumers based on their Web searches threaten online privacy and should be opposed, the founder of the Web said Wednesday. "I just want to know that when I click on a link it is between me and the Web, and the Internet service provider is not going to immediately characterise me in different categories for advertising or insurance of for government use," Tim Berners-Lee told a Web conference in Madrid. "The postman does not open my mail, the telephone company does not listen to my telephone conversations. Internet use is often more intimate than those things," he added. New software called Webwise allows Internet service providers to show adverts to their clients based on their Web browsing habits instead of based on the content of a single Web page as currently happens. Several British Internet service providers, including BT and Virgin Media, have said they are considering using the software, which is aimed at making the Web more financially profitable for advertisers. With the help of other scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Berners-Lee set up the Web in 1989 to allow thousands of scientists around the world to stay in touch.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) April 22, 2009
The US administration is planning to create a new military command to counter cyber attacks on the country's sensitive computer networks, a US defense official said on Wednesday.

The move would be part of a planned overhaul of cyber security policies now being weighed by the White House, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The "cyber command" would likely fall under the US Strategic Command, which already leads efforts within the military to safeguard computer networks from hackers and cyber attacks, the official said, confirming media reports.

Plans to reorganize the US government's approach to information technology security come amid a growing threat of cyber spying and attacks, including a breach reportedly of the US electricity grid and of the F-35 fighter jet program.

The cyber security command would likely be led by a three-star military officer, though at one point officials weighed creating a higher level combatant command under a four-star officer, the official said.

"It was considered," he said.

Naming a top-ranking officer for cyber-security efforts will also mean added resources and funds to take on the mission.

"Creating a structure means more resources," the official said.

The results of a 60-day review of cyber security by the White House is due to be released soon, amid speculation President Barack Obama will name a cyber "czar" to oversee IT security.

No single agency is charged with ensuring IT security and lawmakers have called for creating a powerful national cyber security advisor reporting directly to the president.

A Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday it was "premature" to talk about what steps were planned for cyber security.

"There are certainly people looking at various ideas with respect to how we might be better organized to address this," spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

The Defense Department says it spent more than 100 million dollars in the past six months reparing the damage done by cyber attacks.

While government networks are better protected, attacks on private computer networks also pose a potential threat as the military partially relies on commercial IT infrastructure, officials say.

The role of other government agencies in future cyber security efforts remained unclear, particularly the secretive National Security Agency (NSA).

A top US cyber security official in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quit last month, complaining in a resignation letter that government efforts were flawed and dominated by the NSA.

Rod Beckstrom, former director of the National Cyber Security Center, had charged that his office had been effectively sidelined by the NSA and warned of the dangers posed by putting the surveillance agency in charge of cyber security.

But the director of the NSA, Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, reportedly said on Tuesday said his agency did not have ambitions to take charge of IT security.

"We do not want to run cyber security for the US government," Alexander was quoted as saying by US media at a conference in San Francisco.

He said the NSA would provide support to the Department of Homeland Security.

"We want to be here to provide technical support for the DHS so they can do their job. We need to dispel the rumours, it's not NSA and DHS; it's one team," he said.

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Asia militants get more sophisticated online: study
Singapore (AFP) April 19, 2009
Southeast Asian militants have grown more sophisticated in using the Internet to spread radical ideas, recruit and train supporters, according to a new study urging governments to take action.







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