This story is flagged, just when it hit 200 Diggs it disappeared from the upcoming stories with most diggs, Digg doesn't want it on it's front page. http://digg.com/news/software/upcoming/mostCurrently the story has 269 "diggs" (or votes up) and counting.
UPDATE (13:20 10 March 2009): The original story with over 300 diggs is no longer showing up in a search for "PIFTS.exe" on digg.com anymore. Lower rated stories still show up but are being systematically removed as this is being written. Screenshots of digg.com:
Original storyUPDATE (13:20 10 March 2009): The story about the Digg cover up of the PIFTS.exe cover up has reached Digg itself: http://digg.com/tech_news/Digg_covers_up_Symantec_s_cover_up
Search for "PIFTS.exe
UPDATE (14:55 10 March 2009): If PIFTS.exe is related to the FBI's Magic Lantern software, it would not be surprising if Digg was pressured to squelch this.
UPDATE (03:59 31 March 2009): The story in question was the fifth most popular story on Digg that day.
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Most likely they're caving to pressure from whatever agency has released the PIFTS virus.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Lantern_(software)
ReplyDeleteMagic Lantern is keystroke logging software developed by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Symantec, the makers of Norton AntiVirus and related products, is reportedly working with the FBI on ways to preclude their products from detecting Magic Lantern. Eric Chien, a top researcher at Symantec, emphasized the ability to detect "modified versions."
P.I.F.T.S.
Public Internet and File Tracking System
It goes offshore because there's no law forbidding sending it to foreign governments. If governments want to spy on their own citizens, it is normal for them to have foreigners do it in order to get around normal restrictions about spying on their own people.
SANS Internet Storm Center reports:
ReplyDelete"I just had a phone call from a Symantec employee confirming the program is theirs, part of the update process and not intended to do harm, more to follow, stay tuned."
Source: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5992
symantec employee post in norton forum
ReplyDeletehttp://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&thread.id=39119
http://digg.com/search?s=pifts&submit=Search§ion=all&search-buried=1&type=all&area=all&sort=new
ReplyDeleteAs of this moment, 2 pages of results, one with 299 one over 400 diggs.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10192899-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
ReplyDelete