Wednesday, July 19, 2006

July 19, 2006

We were concerned when RFID could store only your name, SSAN and credit card info...

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/0452236&from=rss

HP Provides Alternate Technology to RFID

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday July 19, @07:19AM from the rfid-farmers-planting-seeds dept. HP Wireless Networking

NerdForceMaster writes "HP has unveiled a new alternative to standard RFID technology, a chip the size of a tomato seed that has 500KB of memory and can communicate at 10mbps. Lets hope this one is commercially availible soon."

[Other stories say up to 4MB of data Bob]



Was this reported earlier? Hard to tell any more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-data-thefts,1,4565042.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

USDA Laptop With Personal Data Compromised

By Associated Press 8:50 AM PDT, July 18, 2006

WASHINGTON — A laptop computer bag was stolen from an Agriculture Department worker's car in Kansas, and the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of about 350 employees may have been accessed, the department said.

The case, containing a computer and a printout of the data, has since been returned to a meat plant, department spokesman Ed Loyd said Tuesday. But it was obvious someone had rummaged through the case, Loyd said.

The theft may have affected about 350 full-time and part-time employees and state contractors involved in federal Agricultural Marketing Service meat grading programs in 30 states and the District of Columbia, the department said.

... Local authorities and the department are investigating the recent theft, which happened Friday in Wellington, Kan., and was discovered on Saturday. The department also is looking into why sensitive employee data was left in a car.

__ On the Net: Agriculture Department: http://www.usda.gov



Looks like an invitation to write a high profile article to me!

http://www.llrx.com/features/computerbasedevidence.htm

Refining the Standard: Authenticating Computer-Based Evidence

M. Sean Fosmire is a shareholder in the Michigan law firm of Garan Lucow Miller, P.C., based in the firm's Marquette office.

Published July 15, 2006

... The few courts and authors that have mentioned those issues have usually cited Evidentiary Foundations, by Prof. Edward Imwinkelried of the University of Chicago, probably because he seems to be the only textbook author who has addressed the issue at all.


Is this news?

http://newsroom.finland.fi/stt/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=13178&group=General

Finland wiretapped Indonesia's Helsinki embassy -Paper

18.7.2006 at 15:29

The Jakarta Post quoted an Indonesian MP as saying on Tuesday that the telephone lines to Indonesian embassies in Finland, Norway, Denmark, South Korea, Japan, China and Burma had been wiretapped by the intelligence services of their host nations for years.



http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/011851.html

July 18, 2006

GAO Audit of Global War on Terrorism

Global War on Terrorism [GWOT]: Observations on Funding, Costs, and Future Commitments, Full-text GAO-06-885T, and Highlights, July 18, 2006.

  • "Since 2001, Congress has appropriated about $430 billion to DOD and other government agencies for military and diplomatic efforts in support of GWOT...neither DOD nor the Congress reliably know how much the war is costing and how appropriated funds are being used or have historical data useful in considering future funding needs.


Someone took the time to look through the report above...

http://digg.com/politics/Dept._of_Homeland_Lunacy

Dept. of Homeland Lunacy

jlivermore submitted by jlivermore 22 hours 3 minutes ago (via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003123566_danny13.html )

List of homeland security pork grants goes beyond parody to completely absurd.



It's okay with me, as long as I get to program the computer!

http://techdirt.com/articles/20060718/0811212.shtml

Soon, You'll Be Taking Orders From Your PC

from the Life-Emulating-Dilbert dept

It seems that as long as computers have been able to perform human tasks, there have been debates about what jobs will never be done by computers, because they rely on human judgment and intuition. But as computers advance, they have been able to take on an increasing number of roles. Now a researcher claims that much of middle management could be done by a computer, as algorithms perform better at budgeting, purchasing and personnel decisions. It's the consistency and lack of emotions displayed by the machines that cause them to be superior. Embedding knowledge into a computer is also advantageous, in that the knowledge can't just walk away when a top manager takes an offer from an opposing firm. Of course, there are those who dispute all this with their own research that shows the opposite, that human intelligence and intuition is extremely important in the business setting. In reality, it shouldn't be an either/or debate. Automation frees up humans to do things that computers can't begin to tackle. When computers start to do those things, it will create a new set of challenges and opportunities for humans, in an ongoing, beneficial cycle.



http://techdirt.com/articles/20060718/1058226.shtml

Even Friendster Looks Good Next To Wal-Mart Social-Networking Site

from the going-nowhere dept

By now it's no secret that every company wants to capture some of the MySpace magic (even if the money in it isn't that great). Several readers have alerted us that even Wal-Mart is looking to get in on the action, as it's launching its own social-networking site for teenagers. But, as if to embrace its boring image, the site will be strictly monitored, will not allow messaging between users, and will alert parents when their child signs up for the site. In other words, the only way teens will ever take to the site, is if it becomes a competition to slip subversive images or messages onto a profile. Of course, it's understandable that Wal-Mart not want its site to resemble MySpace -- but then there are other ways to make the site social without re-inventing MySpace. The kids interviewed for the article all described the current service as being corny and forced, so maybe a site that actually allowed them to express their interests (through products that Wal-Mart carries) might work better. As it stands, it appears that Wal-Mart is just the latest in a line of people and companies painfully trying to act hip, with all emphasis on the painful part.

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