The National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the PATRIOT Act was
struck down today by federal court judge Victor Marrero. The
controversial NSL provision has allowed the FBI to secretly demand
access to records held by organizations like libraries and Internet
service providers. National Security Letters, which can be used without
probable cause or judicial oversight, also impose “gag” restrictions on
recipients, forbidding them from disclosing that they have received the
letter.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070906-patriot-act-provision-stru
ck-down-by-federal-court.html

The multi-platform password cracker Ophcrack is incredibly fast. How
fast? It can crack the password “Fgpyyih804423” in 160 seconds. Most
people would consider that password fairly secure. The Microsoft
password strength checker rates it “strong”. The Geekwisdom password
strength meter rates it “mediocre”.

–> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000949.html