Is there no end to stupidity? I sure don't understand it. What was there to gain in doing this? How could anyone “repair” the damage?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20070812104947804
It's ID theft, but money's not the goal
Sunday, August 12 2007 @ 10:49 AM CDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Internet & Computers
It began innocently enough. A college student studying in southern Spain snapped photos of herself in a bikini and e-mailed them to her boyfriend in the United States. In the months that followed, she didn't give the images much thought. That is, until early last year, when they popped up in her inbox attached to an ominous e-mail.
[...]
What happened to Christine is difficult to categorize. Although Norris used her personal information without her knowledge – effectively stealing her identity – this wasn't identity theft in the traditional economic sense. And even though she felt scared and harassed, it wasn't cyberstalking as California law defines it.
Some experts say the state needs a law that directly targets people who impersonate others online and do irreparable damage to their reputations. Often, the perpetrators are angry with their victims, and they exact revenge by humiliating them personally and professionally.
Source - SignOnSanDiego
[From the article: At Norris' sentencing hearing in February, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh called the defendant's actions “evil” and commended Christine and her sister, who broke off her engagement immediately, for speaking up in court.
“There's going to be a time – and it's unfortunate – that some employer of yours is going to Google you, your students are going to Google you,” the judge said. “Things are going to happen and this isn't going to go away.
“I'll tell you I'm shaking, because these kind of things really bother (me) because they're new and, frankly, the system doesn't know how to handle them yet,” the judge continued.
“And I don't think it will be long before we see the punishments significantly increased in this area legislatively.”
Because I don't post everything...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=200708130239583
Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week
Monday, August 13 2007 @ 06:23 AM CDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches
A recap of incidents or privacy breaches reported last week for those who enjoy shaking their head and muttering to themselves with their morning coffee. Source - Chronicles of Dissent
Perhaps we need to get the word out?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015707.html
August 12, 2007
Commentary on Understanding Privacy -- and the Real Threats to It
Understanding Privacy -- and the Real Threats to It, August 4, 2007 (20 pages, PDF), by Jim Harper, the editor of Privacilla.org and director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute.
Executive Summary: "Properly defined, privacy is the subjective condition people experience when they have power to control information about themselves. Because privacy is subjective, government regulation in the name of privacy can only create confidentiality or secrecy rules based on politicians' and bureaucrats' guesses about what "privacy" should look like. The most important, but elusive, part of true privacy protection is consumers' exercise of power over information about themselves. Ultimately, privacy is a product of personal responsibility and autonomy.
Law has dual, conflicting effects on privacy. Law is essential for protecting privacy because it backs individuals' privacy-protecting decisions, but much legislation plays a significant role in undermining privacy. Indeed, the principal threats to privacy come from governments.
These threats fall into three classes. The first, government surveillance, is a profound and well-recognized threat to privacy. Governments also undermine privacy by collecting, cataloging, and sharing personal information about citizens for administrative purposes. Less acknowledged -- but no less important -- is the wide variety of laws and regulations that degrade citizens' power to protect privacy as they see fit."
It would be interesting to follow the outcomes. How does one say “Guantanamo” in Zulu?
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2007-08-03-voa58.cfm
Zimbabwe President Mugabe Signs State Eavesdropping Law
By Blessing Zulu Washington 03 August 2007
Interview With Beatrice Mtetwa 
Listen to Interview With Beatrice Mtetwa
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday signed into law the controversial Interception of Communications Bill, which gives his government the authority to eavesdrop on phone and Internet communications and read physical mail.
... But Communications Minister Christopher Mushowe said Zimbabwe is not unique in the world in passing such legislation, citing electronic eavesdropping programs in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa, among other countries.
Network Neutrality by any other name... (Charge the content providers, not the people who demand the content?)
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=423287&in_page_id=2
Pay up if you jam the web, BBC warned
Simon Fluendy, Mail on Sunday 12 August 2007, 11:39am
Internet bosses could demand a 'congestion charge' from the BBC to help pay for the corporation's ambitious scheme to offer thousands of hours of programmes online.
Senior executives, including BT Retail's Ian Livingston, The Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone and Tiscali UK's chief Mary Turner have held informal talks amid growing anger over the BBC's hitching a 'free ride' [Is anyone paying now? Bob] with its new iPlayer system for downloading TV programmes over the web.
... Another source said: 'The BBC is proposing a technology that means it does not pay for the cost of carrying TV programmes around the web. The nuclear option is to tag or deprioritise its traffic - that would not stop users downloading BBC content but would slow it down enormously.' [You might want to review “queuing theory” in your old statistics textbooks. Bob]
Disorganized crime? What would the pros do?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6943385.stm
UN's website breached by hackers
Hackers have attacked the United Nations official website, forcing some sections to be taken offline.
Slogans accusing the US and Israel of killing children appeared on the pages reserved for statements from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Other pages on the site were also breached by the group, who described their actions as a "cyberprotest".
In other attacks by hackers using the same names, they have claimed to be from Turkey.
The message on the UN site said: "Hey Ysrail and Usa dont kill children and other people Peace for ever No war."
The hackers named themselves as "kerem125", "Gsy" and "M0sted".
Groups using the same names have attacked many websites.
In one message left on a travel agency site, they described themselves as "Turkish defacers".
The UN was forced to take down the affected pages for repair, but later managed to restore the secretary general's statements.
Always worth listening to one of the Supremes...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015706.html
August 12, 2007
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Addresses ABA Annual Meeting
Explain Independence of the Judiciary in Words that People Can Understand - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer tells ABA opening assembly, August 11, 2007 - Video / Audio
As webcasts become more popular, expect bloggers to cut and paste the conflicting statements together. Should be amusing to all but the politicians.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015700.html
August 12, 2007
Library of Congress Webcast Available on Torture, Detainees and the U.S. Military
The Law Library of Congress is pleased to announce the following new resource: Webcast: A Panel Discussion - "Torture, Detainees, & the U.S. Military" [via Emily Carr/Law Library of Congress]
TITLE: A Panel Discussion: "Torture, Detainees, and the U.S. Military"
SPEAKERS: Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, United States Army; Brigadier General James C. Walker, United States Marine Corps; Ms. Jacki Northam, National Public Radio Correspondent; Professor Gary Solis, Law Library Scholar in Residence; Mr. Lee A. Casey, Baker Hostetler
EVENT DATE: July 11, 2007 RUNNING TIME: 1:31:03
DESCRIPTION: On July 11, 2007, The Law Library of Congress hosted its first program in its new multimedia room. Law Library Scholar in Residence, Gary Solis, moderated the panel discussion touching upon several current topics of national interest and concern: Guantanamo; "high value" detainees; military commissions; fair trials; and allegations of torture by agents of the U.S., including military personnel. With their extensive personal involvement in combatant operations, expertise in legal issues relating to prisoner torture and mistreatment, and their association with legislative concerns, the panelists provided tremendous insight to these timely subjects. The discussion was followed by a questions and answer session with the audience."
Research
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015701.html
August 12, 2007
The European Library Offers Access to 150 Million Entries Across Europe
"The European Library is a non-commercial organisation. It provides the services of a physical library and the opportunity to benefit from a virtual environment in 20 languages. This website allows to search through the resources of 30 of the 47 national libraries involved in The European Library. Resources can be both digital or bibliographical (books, posters, maps, sound recordings, videos, etc.). Currently The European Library gives access to 150 million entries across Europe. The amount of referenced digital collections is constantly increasing. Quality and reliability are guaranteed by the 47 collaborating national libraries of Europe." [via Gerry Mckiernan]
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