http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008102515112513
UK: Data fears after Lancashire Police laptop stolen
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:11 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
A LAPTOP containing “restricted” data was stolen from Lancashire Police, it has been revealed.
The computer, which contained witness statements and officer reports, was taken from a constable’s car while he was off-duty in Manchester in March 2007.
Bosses say it has never been recovered and are still trying to trace the thief.
The laptop was unencrypted, meaning anyone could access the data it stored.
Source - Lancashire Telegraph
[From the article:
The theft, which took place while the officer was in the car, was revealed yesterday after a Freedom of Information Act request.
... The police constable is not believed to have faced disciplinary proceedings following the theft. [Probably got psychological counseling to deal with the trauma/shock of realizing there are lawbreakers in England! Bob]
More on the TJX investigation... and terms of art everyone should be familiar with.
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025153329103
Turkish police may have beaten encryption key out of TJ Maxx suspect (follow-up)
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:33 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
When criminals turn to disk encryption to hide the evidence of their crimes, law enforcement investigations can hit a brick wall. Where digital forensics software has failed to recover encryption passwords, one tried and true technique remains: violence. It is is this more aggressive form of good cop bad cop behavior which the Turkish government is alleged to have turned to, in order to learn the cryptographic keys of one of primary ringleaders in the TJ Maxx credit card theft investigation.
Source - Surveillance State on Cnet
[From the article:
While password discovery via torture is something that has been discussed in the academic literature for a number of years (it is commonly known as rubber-hose cryptanalysis), it has for the most part remained a theoretical threat. A few tools, such as TrueCrypt, are designed to resist such attacks, and thus use deniable encryption -- that is, making it impossible for someone to examine a computer and be able to determine if there is anything encrypted on the disk. Some tools even allow for multiple deniable encrypted folders, each with a different password.
Related
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6092441&page=1
Hackers' mind-set: They've done nothing wrong
Psychiatrists: Hackers Are "Rattlesnakes Without the Rattles"
By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY
... What they shared, based on indictments in their separate cases, are key roles in the massive cyberheist at TJX, parent of retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, and the credit card scams that resulted. First disclosed by TJX in January 2007, it is believed to be the largest such theft.
It is unclear whether Gonzalez and Escobar know each other. But each was involved in different scams tied to TJX, according to their respective indictments.
... The TJX cell's loose confederation of individuals – each contributed a unique felonious skill from different parts of the world – is a blueprint for organized crime in the digital age, says Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department cybercrime prosecutor.
... The Justice Department alleges that in 2003, [Not 2006!!! Bob] Gonzalez began hacking the computer networks of TJX, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW and Dave & Buster's.
I'm sure there is some logic here somewhere...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081026063955677
Hotel guest lists may go public
Sunday, October 26 2008 @ 06:39 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
As Roseville Police Chief Michael Blair sees it, parolees and probationers can sometimes be found in motel rooms. [Is that a parole violation? Bob]
So as an extra tool for police, Blair is asking for a local ordinance that requires motel and hotel operators to hand over their guest registries to his officers.
If innkeepers fail to do so, at any hour of the day, they could be fined or jailed.
This prospect doesn't sit well with Michael Belote, who represents about 1,000 California motel and hotel operators, including some in Roseville.
Source - Sacramento Bee
Arthur C. Clarke noted that countries did not need to replicate our infrastructure if they used the technology that would eventually replace it. (e.g. Sri Lanka used microwave relays rather than copper wire for their telephone system.) Again, I posit that handheld devices will replace desktop and laptop devices. (Also, some privacy implications mentioned n the video...)
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/25/1555256&from=rss
Cellphone Banking Helping To Fight Poverty In India
Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 25, @12:40PM from the will-it-work-here-too? Dept. Cellphones Communications The Almighty Buck News
An anonymous reader writes
"Technology Review is running an in-depth story about the way cellphone banking is transforming the lives of many poor people in India. By enabling users to manage a legitimate bank account and finance micro-loans, cellphones are a major force of social and economic change. It's perhaps not surprising, given that despite widespread poverty, India has the world's fastest-growing cellphone market and the second largest number of cellphone users (after China). The article mentions one Indian start-up, mChek, that is thriving as a result. There's also an excellent video report."
[From the article:
Indians are signing up for 16 million new accounts monthly (the net increase is smaller because some accounts expire), "that's a half-million accounts per day, or about six accounts per second
Resolutions should be worth reading...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025145832223
International Privacy Conference Draws Attendees from 68 Countries
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 01:58 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
More than 600 participants attended the 30th annual International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Strasbourg, France. The conference explored "Protecting privacy in a borderless world" through high-level panels with government officials, business leaders, technical experts, and privacy advocates. Delegates called for increased international co-operation and emphasized that data protection must play a more prominent role in public and private institutions. The conference said, "in light of recent scandals all over the world, a strong independent supervision with tangible sanction powers is more necessary than ever." Privacy commissioners issued resolutions on several topics, including Children's Online Privacy, International Privacy Standards, and Privacy in Social Network Services.
Source - EPIC.org
Gosh, there's a surprise...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025152219603
Administration to Bypass Reporting Law
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:22 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security.
The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress “without any prior comment or amendment” by superiors at the department or the White House.
Source - NY Times
Start putting kids into the database early and eventually we'll have everyone indexed and summarized.
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025145229581
Can Data Mining Save America's Schools?
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 01:52 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
... grading schools is kid's stuff compared with what a growing number of school districts around the United States think they can do with data mining and data analysis. Combining standardized test scores, attendance, grades, and other data sources, districts are trying to spot weaknesses and strengths of not just schools, but groups of kids and even individual students. For example, the Plano, Texas, district scanned data across eight schools and zeroed in on 60 kids who looked at risk of failing a standardized test, and created plans to help them.
This is just the start. While there's much criticism of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation--mainly, that it's left teachers teaching to test requirements, not student needs--it has undeniably created a mountain of data, all of which can be analyzed.
Source - Information Week
“We're the government. We don't listen to warnings from the government!”
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025150346299
UK: Privacy watchdog calls Home Office plans threat to British way of life
Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:03 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that a single database of phone and internet usage records would undermine the "British way of life". The privacy watchdog has said that it will scrutinise Government plans for storing that information.
Source - Out-Law.com
For my Quantum Phisics students. Oh wait, I don't teach Quantum Physics...
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/1149229&from=rss
Perimeter Institute Launches Modern Physics Resource
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 26, @08:07AM from the how-things-work dept. Education Science
An anonymous reader writes
"You can find six new online sources of info about hot topics in modern physics at the 'What We Research' outreach page of Perimeter Institute. The info includes text, graphics and online presentations dealing with Cosmology, Superstring Theory, Quantum Gravity, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Information and Particle Physics. The resource section at the bottom of each page recommends a wealth of interesting online lectures by some famous scientists. PI is an independent, nonprofit scientific research and outreach organization."
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