Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Last Quiz in Midterm

1.Privacy
ans:
Privacy (from Latin privatus 'separated from the rest, deprived of sth, esp. office, participation in the government', from privo 'to deprive') is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share basic common themes. Privacy is sometimes related to anonymity, the wish to remain unnoticed or unidentified in the public realm. When something is private to a person, it usually means there is something within them that is considered inherently special or personally sensitive. The degree to which private information is exposed therefore depends on how the public will receive this information, which differs between places and over time. Privacy can be seen as an aspect of security — one in which trade-offs between the interests of one group and another can become particularly clear.
2.Privacy Protection In The Law
ans:
Congress enacted the Privacy Protection Act ("PPA") to reduce the chilling effect of law enforcement searches and seizures on publishers. The PPA prohibits government officials from searching or seizing any work product or documentary materials held by a "person reasonably believed to have a purpose to disseminate to the public a newspaper, book, broadcast, or other similar form of public communication," unless there is probable cause to believe the publisher has committed or is committing a criminal offense to which the materials relate. The PPA effectively forces law enforcement to use subpoenas or voluntary cooperation to obtain evidence from those engaged in First Amendment activities.

Many commentators believe the PPA extends protection to computer bulletin boards and on-line systems under the "other form of public communication" clause of the Act. However, the only case to present this question to a court, Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service , failed to resolve the issue. In Steve Jackson Games, the Secret Service seized a computer game publisher's electronic bulletin board system, e-mail and electronic files to search for evidence involving an employee of the company. The court decided the PPA protected the seized property, but based its decision on the fact that the company published traditional books, magazines and board games.



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Midterm Quiz

1. You are the CEO of a three-year-old software manufacturer that has several products and annual revenues in excess of 500 million dollars. You've just received a recommendation from the manager of software development to hire three notorious crackers to probe your software products in an attempt to identify any vulnerabilities. The reasoning is that if anyone can find a vulnerability in your software, they can. This will give your firm a head start on developing parches to fix the problems before anyone can exploit them. You're not sure, and feel uneasy about hiring people with criminal records and connections to unsavory members of the hacker/cracker community. What would you do?

Answer:
As the CEO of the company I would do everything to protect my product even if my life, I will be exchange for the sake of the company.

4. Your friend just told you that he is developing a worm to attack the administrative systems at your college. The worm is "harmless" and will simply cause a message - "Let's party!" - to be dispalyed on all workstations on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. By 4 p. m., the virus will erase itself and destroy all evidence of its presence. What would you say or do?

Answer:
I would tell my friend that he should not continue his plan, because the worm is harmless, it's
still play around with the system, even if there's a reason it's still unnecessary.