FC: TSA quietly deletes password-protected MS Word docs from site

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Here are the four documents I downloaded last month that have been, ah, 
disappeared from the tsa.gov site:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/tsa.security.docs.121402.tar.gz

Where they used to live:
http://www.tsa.gov/public/theme_home6.jsp

My column:
http://news.com.com/2010-1028-978636.html

Someone may want to call up the Transportation Security Administration and 
ask why they're gone. They don't appear to be eager to talk to reporters, 
though, except to reassure Reuters 
(http://www.politechbot.com/p-04278.html) that: "We think it's safe. From 
our standpoint it's very workable and secure."

Hmm. Then why were the files deleted?

-Declan

---

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978981.html?tag=fd_top

   Federal agency pulls Web documents
   By Lisa M. Bowman
   January 2, 2003, 3:34 PM PT

   The Transportation Security Administration has quietly removed four
   password-protected documents about airport security from its Web site
   after reporters raised questions about locking up government data.

   In a column last week, CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh speculated on
   whether he would be violating the contentious Digital Millennium
   Copyright Act (DMCA) if he viewed downloaded documents from the TSA's
   Web site after obtaining the password in an unauthorized manner. At
   the time, anyone could download the encrypted documents, but a
   password was required to open and read them.

   [...]




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