I was concerned when a New Jersey bank mentioned this yesterday. Looks like it was bigger than they suggested. How big? Stay tuned... (Will this help the TJX defense?)
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6555715&nav=9Tai
MasterCard security breach bad news for some
May 23, 2007 03:39 AM David MacAnally/Eyewitness News Debit card security breach
Indianapolis - MasterCard is warning it's member banks about a rash of thefts from the bank accounts of card holders, some here in Central Indiana.
... Kristin has a MasterCard debit card and her bank, Sky Bank, blames a security breach at MasterCard.
"We were notified very late last week that a member merchant of Master Card had a data breach and account numbers were compromised," said Mike Newbold, Regional President of Sky Bank Indianapolis.
If it sounds familiar it's because it's a little like the case last year when a hacker got into customer financial records at TJ Maxx and its affiliated stores. The crooks quickly bought merchandise and gift cards from major national retailers like Wal-Mart. This breach may not be as big as that one but look where someone was spending Kristin's money with her stolen debit card data.
Kristin shows us her online bank statement. "Well they were Wal-Marts." In two days, $2,000 in charges were rung up in California Wal-Marts.
"Only the last charge was declined," Kristin said, "and that was today for $700." And that's because the crooks had pretty much emptied out her account.
... She wishes her bank warned her Master Card accounts were targeted. The bank says it just learned of the group of cards that could be vulnerable in the last 24 hours. It urges we all be vigilant. If you have online access Mike Newbold with SkyBank recommends "log in periodically and look at your account activity and see if anything looks suspicious." The bank says it will work to restore customers balances. [No guarantees Bob]
Listen very carefully for employees who say “Oops!”
LI university mistakenly published personal information online
May 22, 2007, 11:20 AM EDT
STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) _ Stony Brook University has admitted it mistakenly published the personal information of nearly 90,000 faculty members, students and alumni online.
... The letter said that during an overhaul of the Health Sciences Center library Web site, a long-dormant file was made public. It held names and Social Security numbers of 89,853 current and former faculty, staff, students, alumni and others. The file had been stored on a university Web server from 2002 until it was inadvertently copied to a publicly accessible area. [Data Inventory + Data retention plan + management = no oops Bob]
In case you think that's an isolated incident...
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/NEWS0201/70523026
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Worker mistakenly sends personal email database
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ A worker in the Manchester branch of a national company that provides temporary office workers was working in the company's database when she mistakenly sent a mass e-mail showing employees' computer addresses and Social Security numbers, officials said.
The worker tried sending e-mails to recall the message, but it was too late, officials said.
The e-mail originated from the Manchester branch of Officeteam.
Company officials said it was a mistake' the worker was trying to send an e-mail about job opportunities when she mistakenly sent the one with personal information.
Guidelines are useful... (HP take note!)
http://www.out-law.com/page-8072
PCC issues privacy guidelines on undercover reporting
OUT-LAW News, 23/05/2007
Newspaper regulator the Press Complaints Comission (PCC) has issued new guidelines on privacy and data protection for newspapers conducting investigations which involve subterfuge.
The new rules are a reaction to the recent jailing of a News of the World reporter and a private investigator. Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire tapped the phone messages of Royal Family employees to source stories.
... The new recommendations also said that all journalists working for a paper should be trained and briefed on privacy and the law, and that controls of cash payments should be very strict.
... See: The report and guidelines (12-page / 54KB PDF)
Think of it as “pre-targeting” you weapon...
http://www.kyivpost.com/bn/26622/
German authorities use scent tracking to keep tabs on G-8 protesters
May 22 2007, 16:04
BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are using scent tracking to keep tabs on possibly violent protesters against next month's Group of Eight summit - a tactic that is drawing comparisons with the methods of former East Germany's secret police.
Scent samples have been taken from an undisclosed number of people believed to be a possible danger to the upcoming summit so that police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported Tuesday.
Think about this. All manufacturing models could be changed...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070522/071101.shtml
Tesla's Battery Deal More Significant Than Just The Batteries
from the vroom dept
Electric car startup Tesla Motors has signed a deal to sell $43 million worth of lithium-ion battery packs to a Norwegian electric car company. This is a big deal for the company, as it's evidence of a growing market for the company's technology. The technology, however, is only part of the story. What's interesting is that a new generation of auto companies have business models that look more like computer makers than Detroit automakers. Instead of simply thinking about the car as the finished product, new companies in the automotive space (with Tesla being the most prominent) are able to focus on specific technology problems while nimbly swapping in and out parts made by other companies. It'll be some time before the change is complete, but it's clear that the technology itself is only part of the revolution.
Another model changed...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070522/101846.shtml
Could Medical Journals Assume The Role Of The FDA?
from the outside-perspectives dept
Yesterday, pharmaceutical maker GlaxoSmithKline got dinged after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that patients on its popular diabetes drug, Avandia, were at an elevated risk for a heart attack. The company disputes the study's conclusion, but even if the drug stays on the market, it seems likely that patients will seek out competing drugs. What's interesting about the study is that it was conducted by a doctor who analyzed patient data that the company had posted to the internet. Unbeknown to him at the time he started his study, Glaxo had already discovered something similar, though it felt that the increased risk applied only to patients with pre-existing heart conditions. Coincidentally, a new law that's winding its way through Congress is likely to spur more of this "open source" drug safety research, as all companies will be required to post drug trial data on the web for others to chew over. The hope is that by allowing more third parties access to the data, the FDA's "broken" system for evaluating drugs can be fixed. While making more data public is usually a good thing, it's unlikely that this alone will prove to be a magic bullet. It's not hard to imagine trial lawyers and other motivated parties torturing the data so as to induce panic and lawsuits. On the other hand, the positive reputations of organizations like the New England Journal of Medicine could be put to good use if they play a more active role in informing the public about drug safety. Looking down the road, one could envision a system whereby it's the FDA's job to ensure that drug companies properly report safety and efficacy data, while third parties (think highly specialized versions of Consumer Reports) make judgments on a drug. Then, instead of having blanket pronouncements on whether a drug can be sold or not, it would be up to doctors to weigh all the risks and decide what's best for their patients on an individual basis.
Another e-Discovery nugget
http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/
Objections to Requests for Native Format Production
May 21st, 2007
... So, without further ado, presented in the order in which they were summarized in Bolton, here they are the four basic objections to native format production (with my short comments in italics):
Global Warming makes you dumb?
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/22/1610220&from=rss
Smithsonian 'Toned Down the Science' In Climate Change Exhibit
Posted by Zonk on Tuesday May 22, @01:04PM from the pre-emptive-censorship dept. Science Politics
An anonymous reader writes "According to an International Herald Tribune article, the Smithsonian pre-emptively toned down the scientific content of a climate change exhibit put into place last year. The changes, including removal of scientist conclusions and muddying of displayed data, were made to ensure that the exhibit would not offend the Congress or the White House. Pressure brought to bear by Institute officials resulted in the resignation of Robert Sullivan, a sixteen year veteran of the organization. 'This is not the first time the Smithsonian has been accused of taking politics into consideration. The congressionally chartered institution scaled down a 1995 exhibit of the restored Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, after veterans complained it focused too much on the damage and deaths. Amid the oil-drilling debate in 2003, a photo exhibit of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was moved to a less prominent space.'"
Why we don't have enough scientists?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070521/004544.shtml
Forget Actual Research; Suing Over Patents Much More Lucrative For Scientists
from the wonderful dept
Last year we wrote about how HP was hiring a bunch of scientists, not to work on the new and better products -- but in order to study competitor's products for potential patent infringement. Now, a new article is highlighting how many people with training to become scientists are shifting their focus and heading off to law school to become patent attorneys instead -- and the big IP law firms are paying exceptionally well for law graduates with science backgrounds. Consider this yet another unintended consequence of our screwed up patent system: it's now much more lucrative for those with an interest in science to focus on patent infringement lawsuits than on actual innovation. Of course, considering how many scientific researchers claim that their research is stymied due to fears over patent infringement, perhaps it's no wonder that many are figuring that's a better field to go into.
Business opportunity? All the technology is “off the shelf” – why not?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSINESS_OF_LIFE?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Hate Your Cell Company? Start Your Own
By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer May 22, 2:13 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Maybe it's time to stop grumbling about your cell phone company and just start your own.
That's what Rod Farthing did, at 2:30 a.m. no less. Oh yeah, it took him just a few minutes to get Farthing Mobile up and running, replete with a selection of national calling plans and cell phone models.
... Well no, Farthing didn't actually build a cellular network or develop a billing system and everything else that one needs to run a mobile phone business.
Instead, he created Farthing Mobile through Sonopia, a new "do-it-yourself" service that enables groups and individuals to design their own cell brands with a healthy dose of social networking gone mobile. Sonopia buys air time from Verizon Wireless to provide service, a fact hidden by each group's brand on the phone's screen.
"I don't expect to get rich off of it," said Farthing, 50, a self-described "cell phone junkie" in Toledo, Ohio, who is tailoring his cell service to people interested in technology. He's also using it for a class project in an e-business course he teaches at a local college. "If I get up to 100 members I'll be happy. If I get up to 50 I'll be happy."
Since Sonopia's public launch in early April, about 1,000 of these customized cell companies have been created, including about 100 by the startup's employees.
... On the Net Sonopia: http://www.sonopia.com/mvc/network/main.html?html/mvc/network/start.html#
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