On Thursday the Washington Post (subscription) was first to report about the Obama administration's desire to make it easier for the FBI to gain access to "an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation."

In short, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked Congress to make a "clarification" about the type of information the FBI can demand from a company via a National Security Letter (NSL). The DOJ wants to add the words "electronic communication transactional records" to the list of items an NSL can be applied to. The Post reports that government lawyers define this type of information as "addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history."

Of course, the Obama administration's request is sending up a lot of red flags over privacy and data security. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was one of the first groups to jump on the Post story yesterday.

On Thursday the Washington Post (subscription) was first to report about the Obama administration's desire to make it easier for the FBI to gain access to "an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation."

In short, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked Congress to make a "clarification" about the type of information the FBI can demand from a company via a National Security Letter (NSL). The DOJ wants to add the words "electronic communication transactional records" to the list of items an NSL can be applied to. The Post reports that government lawyers define this type of information as "addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history."

Of course, the Obama administration's request is sending up a lot of red flags over privacy and data security. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was one of the first groups to jump on the Post story yesterday.

Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia is stealing blood from hospitals and blood banks in some of Iraq's Sunni populated provinces for use in medical procedures performed on its members, according to a New York Times article (link below).

The Times reports that "Iraqi health officials say the raids have been occurring for some time", however officials in Iraq's Health, Defense and National Security Ministries, as well as the U.S. military, are unaware of these armed robberies.

Something happened to the Japanese oil tanker M Star as it passed through the strategic Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman last night. While CNN and others are reporting that the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism say there was an explosion onboard, officials in Oman and Iran claim that a wave caused by an earthquake struck the vessel.

A quick scan of USGS-recorded earthquake data shows no sign of an earthquake in the region last night.

If it was an explosion Japanese officials say there is a possibility it was an "outside attack". We'll see. The ship was headed to Fujairah in the UAE for inspection.

A roadside bomb exploded in southernwestern Afghanistan as a bus drove by on Wednesday (7/28). At least 25 passengers were killed and nearly two dozen more wounded by the blast on a highway in Delaram in Nimroz province.

Channel News Asia reports that Indonesia is creating a new "road map to combat radicalism" that involves a newly established counter-terrorism agency, appropriately dubbed the "Anti-Terror Agency".

This agency has been given the task of creating programs that encourage local community participation to help counter the radical ideas and teachings which fuel terrorism.