http://www.databreaches.net/?p=1172
Online Credit Card Processor: ‘No Security Breach’
Posted January 31st, 2009 by admin
The FBI continues to investigate an international fraud scheme that has affected hundreds of small business accounts.
Sellers of products such as Mary Kay cosmetics say thieves wrote checks on their accounts, ranging from $24.95 to $39.99.
“I was informed that the $39.95 charge was for a subscription to an adult Web site,” said Julia Goldsmith, a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant from Greenville. “I had not subscribed to any adult Web site.”
[...]
But Utah-based credit-card processor ProPay said it is aware of the fraud scheme and has posted a disclaimer on its Web site. The company insists there has been no security breach on its part.
“We have checked out the accounts of affected individuals to see if there were any account takeover attempts. We have also assessed our system,” said ProPay General Counsel Greg Pesci. “There is no indication that ProPay has experienced any data breach or compromise.”
Pesci said less than one percent of ProPay customers were victims of the fraud scheme which, he said had to have originated with their individual banks. [Because many banks is easier to believe than one credit card processor? Bob]
Read more on WYFF Related - ProPay’s Fraud Alert
[From ProPay's Fraud Alert:
The scheme has affected millions of people including, unfortunately, a small number of individuals who may be or have been ProPay account holders.
How terrorists disappear in the UK?
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=1175
UK: 17,000 asylum seekers’ files lost
Posted January 31st, 2009 by admin
Rajeev Sayal reports:
More than 17,000 files containing the personal details of refugees and their families have been lost by the government, plunging the asylum system into chaos.
The names, dates of birth, passport numbers and addresses of people applying to stay in Britain as well as details of their children are believed to be among the documents. In many cases, applicants have had to begin the process again, while still unable to work or claim benefits.
[...]
According to immigration caseworkers, the number of lost files has escalated because more casework is being done by regional offices, instead of offices in central London. As a result, more paper files are being transported across the country and being lost in transit. [Has no one heard of BACKUPS? Bob]
“Principal” files can include a number of claimants from the same family. Some files include passport details, driving licence numbers and bank details, leaving the claimants open to fraud.
[...]
A UK Border Agency spokesman said that the files were lost while being moved between different offices and storage facilities. He added that the files only represent 0.2 per cent of the total number of files that are held by the Home Office.
Read more in The Guardian
It's sort of an unwritten rule. If a bill only addressed the topic indicated in its title, people would know what to look for... (Have I missed the definition of “discovered” and the requirement to notify the media in earlier laws?)
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020456.html
January 31, 2009
EPIC: House Economic Recovery Bill Includes Privacy Safeguards for Medical Information
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, adopted by the House this week, includes strong privacy provisions ("Subtitle D - Privacy") for the proposed medical health network. Among the key provisions: a ban on the sale of health information, audit trails, encryption, rights of access, improved enforcement mechanisms, and support for advocacy groups to participate in the regulatory process. Patient Privacy Rights has expressed support for the legislation. A similar bill, S. 336, is pending in the Senate. Senator Leahy has called for strong safeguards to protect America's health privacy. For more information, see EPIC's page on Medical Privacy."
If this shows what non-journalist write about, shouldn't the professionals learn and follow?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020454.html
January 31, 2009
Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Launches New Media Index
"The New Media Index is a weekly report that captures the leading commentary of blogs and social media sites focused on news and compares those subjects to that of the mainstream press. PEJ is launching the New Media Index as a companion to its weekly News Coverage Index. Blogs and other new media are an important part of creating today's news information narrative and in shaping the way Americans interact with the news. The expansion of online blogs and other social media sites has allowed news-consumers and others outside the mainstream press to have more of a role in agenda setting, dissemination and interpretation. PEJ wanted to find out what subjects in the national news the online sites focus on, and how that compared with the narrative in the traditional press... The Project also tracks the most popular news video on YouTube each week."
Is this the future of elections? There are several methods for ensuring your vote is counted. Strange that no one seems interested in implementing them.
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F31%2F2327246&from=rss
Finnish Court Accepts E-Voting Result With 2% Lost
Posted by kdawson on Sunday February 01, @03:01AM from the few-votes-among-friends dept. The Courts
Nailor writes
"The Helsinki Administrative court accepted the municipal voting result in an election in which 2% of votes cast were not counted at all. We discussed this situation at the time. The court noted that the e-voting machinery has a feature, that should be considered as an issue. However, it also noted that 'a little over two percent failure rate can not be considered as such as a proof that the voting official would have acted erroneously.' Does this mean 98% of votes is enough to figure out how the other 2% voted? Electronic Frontier Finland has a press release about the court decision (Google translation; Finnish original)."
Interesting to me that only two sites are mentioned. Judging from Saturday morning cartoons, there's big money advertising to little minds.
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F31%2F1918257&from=rss
Learning To Read With Click and Jane
Posted by kdawson on Saturday January 31, @04:55PM from the that's-no-book dept. Education Books
theodp writes
"While earlier generations learned to Read with Dick and Jane, the NYT Magazine reports that today's tykes are getting their reading chops at online sites like Starfall (free) and One More Story (subscription). Quoting the Times Magazine: 'In their book "Freakonomics," Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt write that kids who grow up in houses packed with books fare better on school tests than those who grow up with fewer books.' So how will kids who learn to read online fare when they grow up?"
Related? I always too this as an indication that a US education was superior to a (pick your country) education.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/020459.html
January 31, 2009
Foreign-Born Exceed the Native-Born in Advanced Degrees
News release: "A larger percentage of foreign-born than native-born residents had a master’s degree or higher in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally, 11 percent of foreign-born — people from another country now living in the United States — and 10 percent of U.S.-born residents had an advanced degree. These statistics come from Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007, a report that describes the degree or level of school completed by adults 25 and older."
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