I'm now a full-time writer for Wired News, covering a mix of online rights, security and tech policy. Much of that work starts in the THREAT LEVEL blog, which now covers everything from e-voting to global warming. THREAT LEVEL (formerly known as 27bStroke6) features a growing squad of writers who know how to mix snark with original reporting.

Ever heard of the Series of Tubes? We started that.

For you RSS junkies, here's the subscription link for THREAT LEVEL.

My contact information is on the left side of the page. This site likely won't be updated for a while, at least not until it gets a full overhaul.

Posted by Ryan Singel on Sunday April 22, 2007

Kevin Poulsen, my rocking editor at Wired News, made me an offer I couldn't refuse -- co-blogging with him over on the Wired News site.

So now I'm moving my prose stylings over to a Wired News blog called 27B Stroke 6. I for one welcome my Lycos overlords.

Kevin describes the new site like this: "Investigative reporter Ryan Singel and senior editor Kevin Poulsen scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, in a daily briefing on security, freedom and privacy in the wired world."

I love this little blog and will post here irregularly, but the new blog is gonna be even better more greater.

Sorry to mess with your bookmarks, but remember, we are all in this together.

For those who want to update their RSS readers, here's the XML file for 27B Stroke 6.

Technorati Tags: 27BStroke6, 27B Stroke 6, Kevin Poulsen, Ryan Singel

Posted by Ryan Singel at 05:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Passengers willing to undergo perpetual government background checks in exchange for the promise of shorter screening lines at the airport will be able to register as soon as late summer in a corporate-run Registered Traveler program set to debut in ten to twenty airports.

The Transportation Security Administration announced the latest timetable and specifications Thursday. While each airport could be run by a different company, which will have to pay for its own security lanes, screeners and registration process, a traveler registered with one company will be able to use the lanes at other airports.

But the press release is vague on what the benefits for travelers will be:

In order to enter the RT program, applicants must provide biographic information, which will be verified and authenticated to safeguard against the use of a false or stolen identity. All applicants must undergo a TSA Security Threat Assessment that includes perpetual vetting. When traveling, an RT participant must confirm his or her identity at an RT station using biometrics (fingerprints or iris). RT participants will still be required to pass through the metal detector, have their carry-on and checked luggage screened, and will be subject to secondary screening by TSA if they trigger an alarm. Consistent with TSA policies, an element of randomness will also be integrated into Registered Traveler to ensure unpredictability and disrupt potential efforts by terrorists to thwart the system.

The release also alludes to benefits: "While the combination of benefits and security measures available at each participating airport may vary, all RT travelers should receive an expedited and more convenient checkpoint experience." However if participants still have to have their luggage checked and could get secondary screening randomly, I don't see what the benefits are? Shorter lines? Snappier dressed security personnel? Free Starbucks while waiting in line? The feeling that while we are all in this together, some of us are more all in this than others?

Posted by Ryan Singel at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A software bug in the system designed to keep carry-on bag screeners alert shut down Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International airport, the nation's busiest airport, on Wednesday, according to CNN.

In order to break up the tedium of scanning bags full of books and cosmestics, the TSA uses software that randomly inserts images of bags with explosives and weapons. A few seconds later, hopefully after the screener identifies the bag as a threat, the software is supposed to flash a message that the image is fake.

Only this time it didn't.

While screening carry-on luggage, a TSA employee identified the image of a suspicious device but did not realize it was part of routine testing for security screeners because the software failed to indicate such a test was under way, [Transportation Security Administration Director Kip] Hawley said.

Authorities evacuated the security area for two hours while searching for the suspicious device, causing flight delays and forcing travelers who could not get through to the terminals to wait outside the airport.

Link.

Two thoughts. One, I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often. And two, systems, especially one as sprawling as the air transportation system, are fragile. For over three years now, the TSA has been working to take the job of checking passengers' names against a terrorist watchlist out of the hands of individual airlines and centralize the checks in D.C. What happens to airline travel if the government's planned computer system goes down? Is that an acceptable risk?

Posted by Ryan Singel at 08:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

My blog got smacked hard today with automated comment spam.

I found the host of the responsible site and reported the abuse.

I also dropped a note to the spammer, who lives in Mexico. He wrote me back saying his spam wasn't illegal and that my IP ban wouldn't work and that his ISP wouldn't disconnect him.

HostGator took his site down minutes later.

No hosting company wants to lose a customer, so I'm super impressed with these folks.

For those who don't run blogs, this may seem not to be a big deal, but blog spam is really tedious and really tough to shut down. I highly appreciate any help I can get keeping these folks off my site.

Posted by Ryan Singel at 04:47 PM | Comments (1)

This is Animal Farm situated in Orwell, Vermont.

Their butter is better than normal capitalist butter:

It also has a butter-fat content of 87 percent, significantly higher than other butters made in the United States and the equivalent of the finest French butters. This makes Animal Farm butter superb for pastry-making - as well as for every other use.

(brazenly borrowed from A. Shostack)

Posted by Ryan Singel at 08:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)