Probably as they surmise.
http://www.goshennews.com/local/local_story_132001116.html
College reports computer security breach
FROM GOSHEN COLLEGE Published: May 12, 2007 12:11 am
From May 5 to 7, a Goshen College computer was remotely accessed by a “hacker” with the suspected motivation of using the system to send spam e-mails, Goshen College officials said Friday.
The improper access involved a database containing information on about 7,300 current or prospective students, from fall 2003 to the present, as well as some of their parents.
The breach of the college’s computer security systems may have allowed a hacker to view the names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers and phone numbers of students and some information on some parents.
... The unwanted access began on Saturday, May 5, when an outside computer “hacker” remotely accessed a computer. This computer then was used to attack additional computers, according to Michael Sherer, director of Information Technology Services.
“Based on activity in log files, we believe the hacker’s motive was to gain access to our computers, which could then be used to send out e-mail spam — not to obtain our confidential data,” Sherer said. “Our best assessment is that no data was lost, [But was any copied? Bob] but we are continuing to investigate this incident.
... Students and parents also have been advised to check the college’s Web site, www.goshen.edu, for updates.
Students indifferent or ignorant?
http://www.keloland.com/News/Education/NewsDetail7796.cfm?ID=0,56973
05/11/2007
Augie Student Website Security Glitch
Augustana students can access a website that holds all of their personal school information. But for four months, a security glitch allowed students to see too much information about their peers.
My.augie.edu is a website some students visit daily.
Freshman Ashley White says, “That's where you like check your grades and you check like your class schedule and stuff, so it’s pretty important.” [One hopes that by the time they like graduate they no longer like talk like that... like Bob]
But from December to the middle of April each student's information was also available to any of their 1700 classmates.
Junior Amy Weber says, “It just kind of seemed a little bit strange [but not strange enough to report? Bob] almost like a farce that all of our information was just open.”
President Rob Oliver says the problem was taken care of the day it was reported.
Oliver says, “We looked at it, immediately shut the site down, immediately contacted the software provider and discovered that there was a potential, a potential for someone other than that particular student to view pieces of information.”
Oliver says the school was installing new computer software and the security glitch happened while it was in test mode. [Test mode lasted from December to April? Bob] But he says the information on the site cannot be changed and does not include any information that could result in identity theft.
“That didn't happen. There was no evidence what so ever of any unauthorized entry [So, everyone was authorized to access the data? Bob] into any information,” Oliver says.
... President Oliver says very few students accessed the site while it was in "test mode". He sent an email to all students shortly after the problem was fixed. Along with grades, transcripts and residence information were also on the student site.
No legal requirement, but expect one of them to make it a “political issue” (Why won't my opponent level with the American People? What is he/she hiding?)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3165953&page=1
No Disclosure: Presidential Candidates Defy Tradition, Refuse to Release Taxes
Since Watergate, Only Clinton Refused to Release Income Information
By JENNIFER RUBIN May 11, 2007
A contract is a contract, unless you don't like one of the provisions... (Teachers don't want to be treated like second class citizens, or students)
Drug testing of teachers likely to face legal hurdles
By Beverly Creamer Advertiser Education Writer Posted on: Sunday, May 13, 2007
"We're not going to let drug testing become a witch hunt for people who decide they don't like a particular teacher."
Joan Husted | Executive director, Hawai'i State Teachers Association
Some constitutional law experts say the random drug-testing clause in the newly approved public school teachers contract could be a violation of teachers' privacy and civil rights and may make a strong case if challenged in court.
"The many teachers who voted against the contract would seem to me to have a solid basis for challenging the drug-testing requirement," [If the ballot was secret, how do we know who these people are? Bob] said Jon Van Dyke, a professor of constitutional law at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
Tools & Techniques Just like their cookie tracking, only different.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/google-plans-to-profile-players/2007/05/12/1178899164199.html
Google plans to profile players
David Adam and Bobbie Johnson May 13, 2007
INTERNET giant Google has drawn up plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly [non-impactively Bob] monitoring the way they play online games.
The company thinks it can glean information about an individual's preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says.
The move is intended to customise ads shown to players of online video games by tailoring them to specific tastes and interests. But it has worried privacy campaigners, who said the implications of compiling and storing such detailed information were "alarming".
... The plans are detailed in a patent filed by Google in Europe and the US last month. It says people playing online role-playing games would be particularly good to target, because they interact with other players and make decisions that probably reflect their behaviour in real life.
One assumes: 1) The fingerprint is of the entire, uninterrupted video – leaving off the closing credits or eliminating commercials would yield a different hash. 2) They plan to fingerprint each upload and match it to the fingerprints on their database before allowing it to be used.
Two questions: 1) Are they now legally required to search videos already uploaded? 2) If I upload a video that matches on in their database, how do they know if I have the right (having paid the copyright holder) to use it?
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/13/0523216&from=rss
MySpace Begins Rollout of Video Monitoring Tech
Posted by Zonk on Sunday May 13, @06:26AM from the need-to-rollout-usability-tech-now dept.
C|Net is carrying an article looking into new technology MySpace is rolling out to combat user violation of copyright laws on their pages. Called 'Take Down, Stay Down', the service will attempt to ensure that once content is removed because of a complaint it can never be uploaded again.
"Copyright owners have access to Take Down Stay Down free of charge, according to a release from MySpace. If the social-networking service receives a takedown notice regarding a copyrighted clip hosted through its MySpace Videos hosting service, MySpace's new feature will take a 'digital fingerprint' of the video and add it to a copyright filter that blocks the content from being uploaded again. '(It's) the ability to have a piece of content imprinted and put in a database so we can identify it,' said Vance Ikezoye, CEO of Audible Magic."
The article goes on to discuss the problems YouTube is facing with the same issues, as well as recent investigations of this issue in the political arena.
There should be more people looking over government's shoulder.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/014852.html
May 11, 2007
League Launches Government Transparency Handbook
Press release: "The League of Women Voters (LWV) is pleased to announce the release of Observing Your Government In Action: Protecting your Right to Know. This comprehensive resource guide, part of the League’s Citizen Transparency Initiative, provides useful best practices and tips for observing government activities and promoting transparency."
A wide range of topics... (Good place to steal PowerPoint slides?)
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/014863.html
May 12, 2007
Presentation Links from Computers in Libraries 2007
Presentation Links from Computers in Libraries 2007
Another tool for my ongoing research... (I'm looking at the technology you understand...)
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/12/internet-pornography-stats/
Internet Pornography Stats
Michael Arrington May 12 2007
Check out this video
from Good Magazine that shows a number of stats about the Internet pornography industry, in an “almost” not safe for work format. It is staggering how much actual money flows through porn and how many people are involved in the industry:
89% of porn is created in the U.S.
$2.84 billion in revenue was generated from U.S. porn sites in 2006
$89/second is spent on porn
72% of porn viewers are men
260 new porn sites go online daily
We’ve covered a handful of adult-related startups here. These include a porn-specific browser called HeatSeek (that has connections to Sequoia-funded Songbird), a user-generated porn YouTube clone called Pornotube, as well as a few others like EroShare and ScrewTube.
Usually the porn industry innovates first and key features make their way to more mainstream sites. But over the last couple of years, many of the new ideas around web applications, like user generated content, video sharing, etc., went mainstream first and are now hitting the porn sites.
There are more laptops on employee desks than desktops. Organizations should have a well thought out plan for how they are to be used. Anyone want to bet they do?
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/12/2059225&from=rss
7 Things the Boss Should Know About Telecommuting
Posted by Zonk on Saturday May 12, @05:34PM from the sign-me-up dept. Communications IT
Esther Schindler writes "An article on CIO.com presents input from several telecommuting IT professionals about the benefits that working from home brings to the enterprise. They suggest some processes that help remote workers interact with other team members, and discuss the irritations that twist telecommuters' shorts in a knot. In short, it's what employees truly want the boss to know about telecommuting. Two sidebars also discuss tips for telecommuters who don't want their careers to stall because they're 'out of sight, out of mind,' and the out of pocket expenses that the company and telecommuter need to divvy up."
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