[...]

To find out, I logged on to the Citizen Corps Web site, went to the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) page, and signed up as a volunteer. I quickly discovered that TIPS is having a devilish time getting off the ground. After an initial welcome from the Justice Department, I heard nothing for a month. When I finally called two weeks ago to ask what citizens were supposed to do if they had a terror tip, I was given a phone number I was told had been set up by the FBI.

But instead of getting a hardened G-person when I called, a mellifluous receptionist's voice answered, "America's Most Wanted." A little flummoxed, I said I was expecting to reach the FBI. "Aren't you familiar with the TV program 'America's Most Wanted'?" she asked patiently. "We've been asked to take the FBI's TIPS calls for them."

Has Ashcroft turned his embattled volunteer citizen spy program -- which has been blasted by left and right alike -- over to Fox Broadcasting's "America's Most Wanted"?

3:36:46 AM    

An anonymous reader writes "There is an ongoing arms race between privacy tools and info harvesters (spammers, advertisers, marketers, bosses, governments). In the latest move in this battle Anonymizer has released a new version of its privacy service. The Register has an article on the new version. CNET has the press release if you want the company line."

3:21:59 AM    

It just got easier to remain a nobody on the Web. On Tuesday, Anonymizer.com is launching the first major update to its $29-a-year privacy service, called Anonymizer Private Surfing 2.

The Anonymizer service, unveiled in 1997, lets you surf without giving away personal information to nosy Web sites. It cloaks you by rewriting your browser's request, sanitizing the resulting pages, and returning them to you. The whole process adds 20 to 50 milliseconds to your browsing experience, but sites you visit can't identify you or your trail.

The update elevates the level of security while making it even easier to use, says Lance Cottrell, company founder and president.

[ ... ]

Launched as a free service that offered extra capabilities for a fee, Anonymizer is now a pay-only service. Its largely disabled free trial is for demonstration only, Cottrell says. "It's really only intended to give a flavor" of Anonymizer's capabilities.

Moving to an all-fee model reflected the times, he says. "When the dot-com bubble started to implode, we realized it was imperative that we get to profitability quickly. We limited the free trial, and turned it into a demo rather than a fully functional service." Anonymizer competitor SafeWeb.com, which hoped to offer anonymous surfing through advertising, dropped its service in November.

Now profitable with more than 500,000 users, Anonymizer offers several levels of service. For $29 yearly, you get the full-blown version 2 surfing service. Current subscribers automatically receive all the new features.

Users interested in even higher security can pay $99 annually to route all of their Internet communications through Anonymizer. By creating a personal virtual private network between a customer's PC and its servers, Anonymizer offers complete encrypted delivery of all e-mail and instant messages.

3:02:38 AM