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Saturday, November 09, 2002

Echelon for the Rest of Us

A sweeping new computer monitoring system, similar to the NSA's Echelon but targeted at the American public, is under development by the DOD. The current Administration's total disregard for basic civil liberties and Constitutional protection, embodied in the massive Homeland Security Act, is an unprecedented power grab that may be more dangerous to America than the terrorists it was supposedly crafted to defeat.

The sad truth is that those charged with protecting us no longer have any regard for us as individuals, seeing us only as powerless sheep who must be cared for and monitored like dumb herd animals. Welcome to Empire...

New York Times via Arizona Daily Star - Anti-terror computer system plans wide, warrantless access.

The Pentagon is constructing a computer system that could create a vast electronic dragnet, searching personal information as part of the hunt for terrorists around the world - including the United States.

The program director, Vice Adm. John Poindexter, says the system would provide intelligence analysts and law enforcement with instant access to information from e-mail and calling records to credit card, banking transactions and travel records - without a search warrant.

Historically, military and intelligence agencies have not been allowed to spy on Americans without legal authorization. But Poindexter, national security adviser in the Reagan administration, has said the government needs broad new powers to process, store and mine billions of electronic details of life in the United States.

[ ... ]

To deploy such a system, known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed, some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland Security Act now before Congress. That legislation would amend the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies could do with private information.

The possibility that the system might be deployed domestically to let intelligence officials look into commercial transactions worried civil liberties proponents.

"This could be the Perfect Storm for civil liberties in America," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. "The vehicle is the Homeland Security Act, the technology is DARPA and the agency is the FBI. The outcome is a system of national surveillance of the American public."

Some background from our archives:
[Privacy Digest]


Architects and Planners Want Ownership of Designs

This article provides dry but interesting reading for those who need to draft contracts for services and design work. While it pertains to architects and engineers it could just as easily apply to software or network development.

There's an interesting parallel (at least for me) between this article's position -- that architects and engineers should own and control their work -- and the Terms of Trade that used to exist in the graphic arts. I believe that, just like the graphic arts, architects and engineers will eventually lose this battle despite the trade associations and insurers staunch defense of the practice. They'll lose because customers aren't going to pay for something they can't use, and won't stand for firms "double-dipping" in an age of transparency.

Of course, no one dies if a catalog, web site, or network design gets mangled by the next project. But, as this article points out, the right way to manage that risk is through indemnity clauses, not contracts that restrict the owner from using what he rightfully owns.

Copyright Infringement of Design Documents.
IRMI Nov 9 2002 2:07PM ET

Instruments of service produced by the design professional, including plans, specifications, drawings, opinions, reports, and calculations have historically been treated as intellectual property belonging to the design firm that created it. This has been plainly stated in standard form contracts such as those published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), in Document B141, and the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC) in EJCDC Document 1910-1. This article examines the ownership of such documents and examines a recent copyright case over an architect’s drawings. [...]

[...] If an owner is insistent that it be given ownership rights to the design documents, and you decide as a matter of business judgment that you are willing to grant such rights, you should seek to add an indemnity clause to protect you against claims that might arise out of the reuse of the documents. For example, you might include language like the following.

The Owner agrees to hold harmless, indemnify, and defend the design professional against all damages, claims, and losses of any kind (including defense costs), arising out of any use of the plans and specifications on any other project, for additions to his project, or for completion of this project.

You should also be careful not to give away your own right to reuse the documents in the course of your future services for other clients. The EJCDC Document 1910-1 (clause 6.04) handles this by stating:

Engineer shall retain an ownership and property interest therein (including the right to reuse at the discretion of the Engineer) whether or not the Project is completed.
[...] [Moreover - IP and patents news]


Duckett Out for Pitt Game

Damn, Duckett's gonna miss the Atlanta-Pittsburgh game Sunday. It would be close enough with Duckett playing, without him...

Falcons RB to Miss Steelers Game. Philadelphia Inquirer Nov 8 2002 9:29PM ET

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. - Atlanta Falcons running back T.J. Duckett will not play Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers because of a sprained left ankle.

Duckett, Atlanta's first-round draft pick this year, will miss his second game because of injury. He sat out a 37-35 victory over New Orleans two weeks ago with an ailing right foot. [...] [Moreover - NFL: Atlanta Falcons news]



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