Sunday, December 30, 2007

No doubt they track the preferences of their listeners...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071229152113130

Montgomery Man's Personal Information on Missing Military Computer

Saturday, December 29 2007 @ 03:21 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

J.J. Evans spent 24 years in the Air Force protecting our country. Now he's angry because he says the military didn't protect his personal information. He says, "When you trust someone with that, you expect better."

Air Force officials sent Evans a letter detailing how a military laptop computer is missing and it contains personal information including social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and telephone numbers of active and retired Air Force members. "When someone gets a hold of a computer, they can wreck things," Evans says.

The laptop belonged to an Air Force band member at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. He reported it missing from his home. Evans questions why a band member would have a computer that contained personal information. He says, "I can't think of anything job related reason."

Source - WSFA

Note: In earlier coverage, Air Force officials indicated that the data for 10,501 people were on the computer.



Who signs off on these decisions?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=200712291144542

Update: Adobe Replies To Privacy Spy Concerns

Saturday, December 29 2007 @ 11:44 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Businesses & Privacy

Yesterday we wrote about Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) and their potential spying on CS3 customers. The questions were based on screenshots showing a domain "2o7.net" which is owned by tracking firm Omniture. The screenshot (posted below again) shows what appears to be an internal IP address which it's not. Why would Adobe try to hide the tracking with a fake IP address?

John Nack, Adobe Photoshop product manager has provided a reply to the privacy concerns. He mentions that Adobe is closed this week and so his reply is the best he could find out while everyone else is away.

.... So John, let me throw it back over to - you note that I can opt-out of the tracking. Where in the installation process is the opt-out screen? Can you post a screenshot of the opt-out screen on installation? And why does Adobe try to hide the tracking by using a fake IP address? Don't say because that's how Omniture said to set it up. Thanks!

Source - CenterNetworks



http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20071229183008952

The 2007 International Privacy Ranking

Saturday, December 29 2007 @ 06:30 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Other Privacy News

Each year since 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International have undertaken what has now become the most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The Privacy & Human Rights Report surveys developments in 70 countries, assessing the state of surveillance and privacy protection.

The most recent report published in 2007, available at http://www.privacyinternational.org/phr, is probably the most comprehensive single volume report published in the human rights field. The report runs over 1,100 pages and includes 6,000 footnotes. More than 200 experts from around the world have provided materials and commentary. The participants range from eminent privacy scholars to high-level officials charged with safeguarding constitutional freedoms in their countries. Academics, human rights advocates, journalists and researchers provided reports, insight, documents and advice. In 2006 Privacy International took the decision to use this annual report as the basis for a ranking assessment of the state of privacy in all EU countries together with eleven non-EU benchmark countries. Funding for the project was provided by the Open Society Institute (OSI) and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. Follow this link for more details of last year's results.

The new 2007 global rankings extend the survey to 47 countries (from the original 37) and, for the first time, provide an opportunity to assess trends.

The intention behind this project is two-fold. First, we hope to recognize countries in which privacy protection and respect for privacy is nurtured. This is done in the hope that others can learn from their example. Second we intend to identify countries in which governments and privacy regulators have failed to create a healthy privacy environment. The aim is not to humiliate the worst ranking nations, but to demonstrate that it is possible to maintain a healthy respect for privacy within a secure and fully functional democracy.

Source - Privacy International: Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World 2007

Related - Globe and Mail: Canada leads world in privacy: report



These are either the basis for security policy guidelines or a list of Class Action triggers...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=200712291140306

IT and the Changing Privacy Landscape: Eight Areas to Watch in '08

Saturday, December 29 2007 @ 11:40 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Other Privacy News

In the waning days of the 20th century, privacy was more a marketing hook than an obligation, focused on customer preference and features to help companies earn a competitive edge. Privacy today is a concept more closely associated with the potential for abuse and the very real threat of inappropriate access or exposure, identity theft and fraud—with the responsibility resting squarely on the shoulders of any organization handling personal information for consumers, customers, employees or business partners.

Source - CIO



Clearly this is a trend. Is there a market for a more elaborate method of searching than Google provides?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/016968.html

December 29, 2007

Massachusetts Cases From 1986-1996 Now Online

Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries Blog: "We are pleased to announce the availability of all Supreme Judicial Court and Mass. Appeals Court cases from 1986-1996 at http://masscases.com. Cases are accessible by citation, case name, or through a Google custom search on the site. The collection also includes hundreds of the most-cited older Mass. cases."

[Even this Google tool: http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/12/become-a-knowle.html ]



You could start from scratch, but why re-invent?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/016967.html

December 29, 2007

Draft Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems

SP 800-53 A - DRAFT Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems: "NIST announces the release of Draft Special Publication 800-53A, Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems. This final public draft provides comprehensive assessment procedures for all security controls in NIST Special Publication 800-53 (as amended) and important guidance for federal agencies in building effective security assessment plans. Comments will be accepted until January 31, 2008... Final publication of NIST Special Publication 800-53A is expected in March 2008."



Tools & Techniques

http://digg.com/tech_news/5_Disposable_Web_Accounts_to_Keep_Your_Identity_Safe

5 “Disposable” Web Accounts to Keep Your Identity Safe

makeuseof.com — Fed up with spam? Tired of telemarketing calls? Feelin’ paranoid about identity theft? … Here you’ll find a bunch “throwaway” web tools that can help you out.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-disposable-web-accounts-to-keep-your-identity-safe/



Interesting, but I'm not certain the studios will recognize this as a threat. Consider a parallel. High school kids produce the plays of Shakespeare (Greek tragedy, Aesop's Fables, etc.) and distribute them free...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/29/1638236&from=rss

Writers Guild Members Look to Internet Distribution

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 29, @12:24PM from the playing-nice-with-others dept. Media The Internet

stevedcc writes "The Guardian is running an article about members of the Writer's Guild, still on strike, creating their own ventures to deliver content over the internet. The intention is to get their work to consumers while bypassing the movie studios. Their effort will include actors and directors, and it is not the first step they have taken to expand their interests during the strike. One particular project is said to include A-list talent, and will be released in roughly 50 daily segments before going to DVD. This is also relevant to the strike because, as the article states, 'at the core of the current dispute is the question of how to reimburse writers for work that is distributed on the internet.'"



Have they lost it entirely?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/30/059223&from=rss

RIAA Now Filing Suits Against Consumers Who Rip CDs

Posted by Zonk on Sunday December 30, @08:31AM from the because-we-needed-another-reason-to-be-cranky-at-them dept. Music Businesses

mrneutron2003 writes "With this past week's announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The RIAA, would begin changing its tune. Instead, they are pressing on in their campaign against consumers by suing individuals who merely rip CDs they've purchased legally. 'The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.'"



Because you can never have enough...

http://www.killerstartups.com/User-Gen-Content/Comicwondercom---User-submitted-Audio-Jokes/

Comicwonder.com - User-submitted Audio Jokes

Here’s a site that will come in handy for the ever present uncle that has been telling the same jokes over the past 20 years. Comicwonder.com is a community of jokers that submit audio jokes which can be later heard or shared by other community members by pasting html codes in their respective sites, social networking profiles or blogs. Each joke is presented in an individual site and is played with a fast-loading flash player, and as each joke can be tagged, users can browse the site by joke category (wife, kids, cowboy, cannibal, priests, bar, dog, woman, blonde, etc). Additionally, jokes can be commented on and rated, which is a rather vital issue, as there is an ongoing contest to find “the best joke teller on the planet”, with a $2,500 cash prize. In order to record a joke on ComicWonder, users have to indicate their phone number, and will later receive a call from the system which will guide through recording, in order to ensure adequate payback quality.

http://comicwonder.com/

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