News

Bush Tabs Gonzalez for AG Post; D.C. and N.Y. No Change Their Colors; No Easy Answer to Spam Problem

By CSO Contributor

November 11, 2004 — CSO —

Bush Tabs Gonzalez for AG Post

President Bush didn't waste any time in finding a successor for John Ashcroft as the next attorney general. On Wednesday the president nominated Alberto R. Gonzales, White House counsel and longtime Bush friend, for the position. If confirmed, Gonzales would be the first Hispanic to serve in that post. Senate Republicans embraced the nomination, but Senate Democrats expressed concerns about Gonzales's stances on civil liberties, the USA Patriot Act and the death penalty.

For more details, read the full article in The New York Times.

D.C. and N.Y. No Change Their Colors

The Department of Homeland Security lowered the threat level Wednesday for sensitive areas of New York City, Washington D.C. and parts of New Jersey. James M. Loy, deputy secretary of homeland security, said the threat levels of the five financial institutions in these areas was lowered from orange (high risk) to yellow (elevated) because of security precautions taken during the last three months and tighter security measures in the financial sector overall. Loy said, "I don't like the idea of a beginning and an end. We're as concerned today as we wre a month ago. The whole notion of taking a deep breath and saying 'Wow, we made it thorugh that' is a dangerous train of thought."

For more details, read the full article in the Washington Post.

No Easy Answer to Spam Problem

Canning spam will take more than e-mail authentication, according to panelists at a forum sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. The Washington Post reports that e-mail authentication, a technique thought to be a cure for the spam epidemic, will not fully solve the problem because many spams are sent by infected PCs controlled by remote spammers. Some 30,000 computers a day were turned into these "zombies," according to Symantec. None of the panelists, however, recommended abandoning e-mail authentication.

For more details, read the full article in the Washington Post.