Security of Intellectual property

A man from Queens, NY is charge in Federal Reserve software theft. Bo Zhang, 32 a Chinese computer programmer who work at a Federal Reserve Bank of NY is facing charges. Federal Reserve Bank protects customers dealing with Banks and helps operate U.S. payment system. Zhang was hired as a contract employee in May and was a programmer at a Bank. For his own computer training business he stole that computer code. Last year in summer while he was working as a government employee he was arrested for copying the software to an external hard drive. About $9.5 million was the cost to develop this software and its own by US Treasury Department.

The suspected breach was uncovered when one of his friends told his supervisor that he has lost the hard drive, which contains the code. The suspected breach was investigated by the Bank and reports it to the authorities. He admitted that he copied that code in his private computer to use it in his computer training Business. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted. After a brief court hearing Judge ordered him released on $200,000 bail. The FBI does not believe that this is connected to international espionage so he was released on Bail and charges only with theft. Computer security is at risk as a government contract employee like Bo steals government intellectual property. Fighting cyber crime sounds complicated when government employee like him misuse his position. 

Protect Children's on the Internet

In order to protect children’s on the Internet, it is difficult to restrict their access because we also have to restrict adults. U.S. government has laws to protect children, national security and the rights of business. In order to block access to objectionable material, software manufacturers have invented special software.


Communications Decency Act (CDA) (1996) protects children from pornography. Child Online Protection Act (COPA) (1998) protects children from any materials that are harmful to minors. Not following this act shall be not more than $50,000 and imprisoned not more than six months or could be both.  Children Internet Protection Act (CIPA) (2000) required federally financed libraries and schools to use Internet filter or form of technological protection to block access to pornography or obscene material.

When anonymous email criticizes the company or reveal company secret and upset the company, it may file a John Doe lawsuit. This lawsuit is especially to protect the rights of business. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act (2003) is law, which requires commercial emailers to follow specific requirements when promoting a commercial service or product by advertising through messages. Violation of this act can result in $250 fine or it can be tripled in some cases. These all acts proved that U.S. government is serious about the protection of rights and is taking major steps to control it. Socially conservative emphasize the importance of tradition and put the family ahead of the state. Online content became an important focus of government across the world with the wide spread availability of Internet and the increasing number of users.

Laws and Court Rulings

As hackers and identity thieves break into computers and network, there are laws by lawmakers for those clever cybercriminals to help protect users. FBI has been working very hard to arrest those cybercriminals and had just arrested group of Russians cybercriminals who steal funds from various businesses. To make better decisions information about people is gathered and analyzed. In business information about customers is gathered to serve them better. Governments and business collect information and fails to provide required protection of this information. Internet users lack the confidence in online information privacy. There should be a limit on business and government to access our personal information.

 Right of privacy let people free so it is most valued by people who want to be left alone. Information privacy let people to communicate without being monitored and data privacy. There are different to protect our privacy as Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970), which outlines the limit of who can access credit information and also stops credit reporting bureau to issue your information without your permission. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (2003) to allows customers to obtain their free credit report. The National Fraud Alert system was also establish due to this act to help prevent identity theft.

 Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 protects from unauthorized personal to access financial records of customers. Due to this Act, institution cannot release financial records of customers until permitted by government authority. Financial Services Modernization Act (1999) also known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) prohibits any institution from offering commercial banking and investment. Another Act is Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986) protects us from three main issues. Any communication held in electronic storage, protection of communication while in transfer from sender to receiver and record dialing, signaling information cannot be done without search warrant. Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits U.S. government form hiding any personal data record-keeping systems.

Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing

Everyone is concerned about the security of technologies we depend on. Method of computing that are secure, available, and reliable is trust worthy computing. There are several steps taken by Microsoft to create trust worthy computing environment. Microsoft has more secure and reliable software code. Microsoft always makes sure that all systems are up to date by distributing updates using the Internet. In case of any incident Microsoft has capability to early recovery.Microsoft has four pillars of trustworthy computing as Security, Privacy, Reliability and Business Integrity.
Security means that a system and its data are protected. Privacy means that users have ability to control data. Reliability means that it is available when needed. Integrity means that being able to solve customer problems and being responsible to them. Microsoft has taken actions for trustworthy computing. It has educated customers on secure computing and has developed trust. Microsoft has always given privacy a priority and designs its product accordingly. It has always made sure that any changes or upgrades have not disturbed users. Microsoft takes action to correct things and takes responsibility for problems.

What is exactly being shared?

People should not trust other unless you know them face-to-face. People are using camera-enabled mobile phones to take pictures and images are being cropped before uploading. Images taken with smart phones revealed all your personal details. Metadata often includes geographical coordinates, date and time when images were taken. It is revealing our information to criminals, burglars and so on. Images do not have to be posted on real time. Criminals will also know about you from historical data. As you keep on updating your status, they know where to expect you or your favorite location in a certain time. Mobile phone users should ensure if they are sharing location information. Check options or settings on the phone. It’s always a good idea to give your personal information after knowing what that website exactly do? Before giving any of your personal details make sure you check the websites or company’s terms and conditions.

If you received anything that asks you to provide your financial information do not reply to that email. You could become a victim of identity fraud and those email most of the time looks very official just to make you feel it’s real. Always use a strong password rather than something anyone can guess. It is a good idea to include symbols, letters and numbers in your password. Always remember to logout especially when you shared a computer.