This came out quite a while ago. I wonder if jury consultants who base their analysis on public information would also be considered illegal (or at least unethical?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=4354

Privacy commissioner to take Ont. government to task for jury background checks

October 4, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Breaches, Non-U.S.

Keith Leslie reports:

Crown prosecutors and police in several Ontario communities conducted secret background checks on prospective jurors, Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian will report Monday following an investigation by her office into the illegal practice.

The commissioner began the investigation after reports Crown attorneys in Barrie, Windsor and Thunder Bay convinced police to do background checks on jury candidates in violation of provincial law.

The background checks – which saw investigators reporting back on such things as whether or not the potential jurors like police – have resulted in two mistrials so far as defence lawyers claim abuse of process.

Read more from the Canadian Press.

Are we going to see a “push” in this area, or is this merely posturing? How would you tell the difference?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/022483.html

October 04, 2009

Cyber In-Security: Strengthening the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce

"The U.S. is facing a cyber war. Foreign powers, criminal groups, hackers, and terrorist organizations have launched cyber attacks on the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and New York Stock Exchange; stolen data from the Pentagon’s fighter aircraft; and hacked into the nation’s electrical grid. There were millions of attempts to penetrate defense digital networks in 2008. In 2009, the General Accountability Office reported weaknesses in the capabilities of 23 of 24 federal agencies to detect or prevent cyber attacks. President Obama declared cybersecurity to be one of the nation’s most serious economic and security challenges. The federal government needs a coordinated, sustained effort to build the capability and caliber of the government’s cybersecurity workforce to combat these threats and ensure the nation’s safety. Booz Allen Hamilton and the Partnership for Public Service examined the state of the federal cybersecurity workforce by interviewing federal experts, examining public testimony and reports, holding focus groups, and surveying chief information officers (CIOs), chief information security officers (CISOs), and human resource professionals at 18 federal agencies. Results of this research were published in the study, Cyber In-Security: Strengthening the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce."

• Information Security: Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities Place Federal Systems at Risk, GAO-09-661T, May 5, 2009

• "Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano...kicked off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by announcing the Department’s new authority to recruit and hire [up to 1,000] cybersecurity professionals across DHS over the next three years—established to help fulfill the Department’s broad mission to protect the nation’s cyber infrastructure, systems and networks."

• US-CET: Cyber Security Tips describe and offer advice about common security issues for non-technical computer users

...as any hacker knows:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/05/internet-anonymizer-web-surf-vpn-hulu-pandora-spotify/

On The Internet, Nobody Knows You’re Not In The USA

by Nik Cubrilovic on October 5, 2009

A large number of web services are geographically restricted, such as Hulu, Pandora and Spotify. The reasons are usually to do with content licensing restrictions, or because US visitors (or visitors from other advanced economies) are of a higher value from a monetization perspective. A web application can only guess at the location of a visitor based on an IP address and other information, such as browser language and regional settings.

IP addresses are mapped to countries (and in some instances, further to states and cities) using large commercial datasets such as GeoIP from Maxmind, which is a ‘best guess’ database based on data it has collected (how, I would rather not know). The system is accurate enough to enable services to block on a country level, but often fail at a more local level.

… If you find yourself outside of the USA and wanting to watch Hulu, outside of the UK and wanting to checkout the BBC, or wanting to rig a web poll, here are some tips:

For my Business Continuity class... (Think about it)

http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/10/04/1344259/Seasonal-Flu-Shots-Double-Risk-of-Getting-Swine-Flu-Says-New-Study?from=rss

Seasonal Flu Shots Double Risk of Getting Swine Flu, Says New Study

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 04, @10:10AM from the twice-as-nice dept.

krou writes

"A Canadian study currently under peer review apparently suggests that individuals given seasonal flu shots are twice as likely to get swine flu. The 'perplexing' study has thrown influenza health plans into disarray, with Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia all suspending seasonal flu shots for anyone under 65 years of age. The study appears to be confined to Canada; the US, Britain, and Australia have not reported the same problem, so some are suggesting that the research has 'study bias.' However, the research appears to be 'solid' according to Dr. Ethan Rubinstein, head of adult infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. 'There are a large number of authors, all of them excellent and credible researchers. And the sample size is very large — 12 or 13 million people taken from the central reporting systems in three provinces.''

So, is Yahoo trying to convert newspaper readers or are they just supporting the old school by purchasing a big ad every now and then?

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/04/yahoo-buys-full-page-front-page-ad-in-times-of-india/

Yahoo Buys Full Page Front Page Ad In Times Of India

by Michael Arrington on October 4, 2009

India’s largest English-language newspaper, the Times of India, has an interesting print edition front page today – a huge yellow advertisement for Yahoo’s It’s You campaign first announced last month. You can view the print version here.

The newspaper’s circulation as of 2008 was 3.14 million, making it the largest selling English-language daily newspaper (here’s the whole list). [Take the “old school” quiz: Before you look at the list, ask yourself which newspaper has the largest paid circulation, what US paper is first on the list and whose circulation is larger, the LA Times or the Washington Post. Bob]

For the Swiss Army folder

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-print-folder-and-directory-contents-in-windows/

5 Ways to Print Folder and Directory Contents in Windows

Oct. 4th, 2009 By Saikat Basu