Monday, November 12, 2007

Perhaps they should have held a “customer appreciation sale” like TJX? Another indication that the rules don't scale.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2007111113094950

After the Data Breach: Navigating State Disclosure Laws

Sunday, November 11 2007 @ 01:09 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

Bananas.com was caught off guard last year. The musical instrument sales site suffered a data breach that was followed swiftly by a double whammy of consequences.

Roughly 250 customer records were exposed, likely after an individual stole an administrative password by accessing systems remotely.

... Despite its efforts, Bananas apparently failed to meet all the various state notification requirements and was subsequently slammed with fines and fees by major credit companies. "They did not specifically provide a reason for the fees other than saying that we had not met all of the terms in our agreements with them," says Bananas President J.D. Sharp. "They'll fine the pants off you," he adds.

Source - TechNewsWorld



Because...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071112071442885

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, November 12 2007 @ 07:14 AM EST 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



If you don't look for it, this isn't a problem.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/votes-flipped-i.html

Votes Flipped in Ohio Race that Used E-voting Machines

By Kim Zetter EmailNovember 08, 2007 | 2:20:19 PMCategories: E-Voting, Election '08, Glitches and Bugs

Votes cast yesterday on e-voting machines made by Election Systems & Software went to the wrong candidates, according to officials in Lawrence County, Ohio.

Although a tally printed from the machines at the end of the day and posted on the door of a county precinct got the numbers correct -- 374 votes for Bill Robinson in the Hamilton Township trustee position and 170 votes for Allan Blankenship -- a tabulation machine at the county's headquarters flipped the numbers and gave 374 to Blankenship and 170 to Robinson. Officials noticed the problem when they compared the two tallies.

... Overbeck said this was the only race affected [Sure it was... Bob] in this way on a ballot that included more than 100 races.



Always assume the pros are at least as good as the amateurs.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/11/131255&from=rss

Tracking People Using Bluetooth

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday November 11, @08:59AM from the turn-your-bluetooth-off dept. Privacy Wireless Networking

damdam writes "A Dutch guy seems to have set up a small network of bluetooth scanners. He has all the information logged to a central database and you can search it over the web. On his website it says "Some of these matches were only minutes apart. Therefore I could even calculate the approximate speed of someone moving from one location to another.". There are also some interesting statistics on his site showing traffic volume in his hometown (based on bluetooth signals) and he even lists popularity of certain Nokia phones. It's interesting to see how much information an individual can gather using old equipment."



Isn't this “cloneism?” “They're not like us, so we should eliminate them”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2007111207185922

World should ban human cloning, except medical: U.N.

Monday, November 12 2007 @ 07:18 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Other Privacy News

The world should quickly ban cloning of humans and only allow exceptions for strictly controlled research to help treat diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer's, a U.N. study said on Sunday.

Without a ban, experts at the U.N. University's Institute of Advanced Studies said that governments would have to prepare legal measures to protect clones from "potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination".

Source - Reuters



I'm sure it is fun to analyze this type of email, but wouldn't it be much faster to ask?

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9814781-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Is that email message legit? How a computer nerd analyzes it

Posted by Michael Horowitz November 11, 2007 1:41 PM PST

My clients often ask my opinion on whether an email message is legitimate or not. The message below, asking for credit card information and claiming to come from Register.com, was a doozy, a lot can be learned from analyzing it.



Cyberwar? Is China getting more aggressive or are we just detecting more?

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/11/2246246&from=rss

Trojan Found In New HDs Sold In Taiwan

Posted by kdawson on Sunday November 11, @09:36PM from the bourne-again dept. Security Data Storage IT

GSGKT writes "About 1,800 brand new 300-GB or 500-GB external hard drives made for Maxtor in Thailand were found to have trojan horse malwares pre-installed (autorun.inf and ghost.pif). When the HD is in use, these forward information on the disk to two websites in Beijing, China: www.nice8.org or www.we168.org. The article implies that authorities believe the Chinese government is behind the trojans. A later article pins down the point of infection to a subcontractor company in China. A couple of months back the Register was reporting on pre-installed malware detected on Maxtor disks sold in the Netherlands. This earlier report was downplayed by a Seagate spokesman."

The more recent Taipei Times article says that Seagate admits the problem on its Web site, but a search there turns up nothing.



Resource: Would this be useful in identifying and tracking legal trends?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/016483.html

November 11, 2007

NCSL 50-State Legislative Tracking Web Resources

  • "Updated August 2007: At the request of NCSL's Legislative Research Librarians (LRL) staff section, NCSL has developed this resource of 50-state compilations covering various issues that concern state legislators and legislative staff. Here you will find a topical, alphabetical listing of legislative and statutory databases, compilations and state charts/maps."

  • "2006 State Legislation Related to Immigration: Enacted and Vetoed, October 31, 2006: In 2006, 570 pieces of legislation concerning immigrants have been introduced in state legislatures around the country. At least 90 bills and resolutions passes the legislatures in 2006. 84 bills were signed into law, more than double the amount of 2005. 6 bills were vetoed. While legislation covered a wide variety of topics, many states focused on education, employment, identification and driver’s licenses, law enforcement, legal services, public benefits, trafficking, and voting procedures."



Newspapers aren't too concerned when non-journalists (like me) post online. Perhaps they will re-think that when the people they lay off try to return the favor...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNET_NEWSPAPER?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Online MinnPost Offers Local Coverage

By PATRICK CONDON Associated Press Writer Nov 11, 5:32 PM EST

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The first lead story on MinnPost.com, a new daily news site, is a 1,400-word report on the Minnesota Democratic Party's finances.

It's not the kind of flashy tidbit guaranteed to goose online traffic. But flash isn't the idea at MinnPost, a venture staffed mostly by recent casualties of newspaper downsizing.

MinnPost, led by a former Minneapolis Star Tribune publisher and editor, Joel Kramer, is aiming at the small audience they believe is thirsting for substantive local journalism. The site's staffers say that kind of work is on the decline, and they blame it on cost-cutting as the industry faces dwindling circulation and ad revenue.



Almost the model I expect to win. Short, clear tutorials (probably in video format) that you can query as needed. Downside is, you often must look at dozens of truly bad tutorials to find a gem...

http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/11/11/edumax-provides-the-basics-on-several-computer-topics/

Edumax Provides The Basics on Several Computer Topics

11th November 2007

... Edumax, at http://www.edumax.com/ offers online tutorials of several different topics AND forums for those topics.

There are about two dozen tutorials at this site, covering several aspects of Microsoft Office as well as eBay, several programming languages, and non-programming topics like Success and Debt Management.



The government explain everything. Do they get anything right?

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RebeccaHagelin/2007/11/08/college_students__privacy_do_your_homework

College Students & Privacy: Do Your Homework

By Rebecca Hagelin Thursday, November 8, 2007

... The Department of Education has prepared a brochure to let parents know the facts.



Dilbert explains tech support

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2666680071112.gif

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