Inside CERT Australia

mask.of.sanity writes "The Australian Government has a list of software holes that are so sensitive they're kept hidden from the public. These weaknesses are being used by criminals to steal our money and our data. They may even be a cornerstone to planned attacks on critical infrastructure, like energy, water and transport. But in the murky battle between those that protect us and those who seek to harm, these vulnerabilities are also the bait with which cyber-criminals are caught."

Re:corporate welfare

[circletimessquare]

it's not new, it goes way back before the '80s, corps used to get away with a lot worse, in some cases, they ran everything:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson's_Bay_Company [wikipedia.org]

in fact, if we go to the stars, it will probably under the same form as this:

http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Weyland-Yutani [wikia.com]

it makes sense that corporations take these risks, profit, then they are absorbed. the point is, corporations are never going away, because they do make sense for many reasons in terms of the most efficient way to do things. however, they are like beasts of burden: you must harness them and put them to use, or they run roughshod over your society. like GE, which paid no taxes to the USA, where the corporation is corrupting our system of government to stand above the people:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-2010/story?id=13224558 [go.com]

additionally, we are making progress. the labor movement a hundred years ago made a huge step forward (that yes, we are backsliding on now)... after the civil war, corporations had a larger military than the federal govt, to suppress labor. blackwater is a hiccup in comparison:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency [wikipedia.org]

2 steps forward, 1 step back. this struggle is going on for centuries. but please do not forget we ARE making progress against the corruption of the people's will by monied interests. it is very difficult, and takes time and much effort. today, they have an entire corporate propaganda machine, fox news, that incenses the poor and middle class to actually fight against their own interests, like affordable healthcare. it is absurd, but real

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations [wikipedia.org]