Monday, May 10, 2010

Once again I redundantly repeat my reiteration.

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9991

No reasonable expectation of privacy in subscriber info with ISP – court

May 10, 2010 by Dissent

From FourthAmendment.com:

An FBI Agent trolling in a Yahoo! child pornography chat room was able to tell that “markie_zkidluv6″ had uploaded child porn. An administrative subpoena was served on Yahoo! for the subscriber information, and information was used to get a search warrant for Bynum’s a/k/a “markie_zkidluv6″’s house. There manifestly is no reasonable expectation of privacy in one’s subscriber information with an internet service provider.

From the opinion:

Bynum voluntarily conveyed all this information to his internet and phone companies. In so doing, Bynum “assumed the risk that th[os]e compan[ies] would reveal [that information] to police.” Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 744 (1979). Moreover, Bynum deliberately chose a screen name derived from his first name, compare “markie_zkidluv6″ with “Marques,” and voluntarily posted his photo, location, sex, and age on his Yahoo profile page.

Even if Bynum could show that he had a subjective expectation of privacy in his subscriber information, such an expectation would not be objectively reasonable. Indeed, “[e]very federal court to address this issue has held that subscriber information provided to an internet provider is not protected by the Fourth Amendment’s privacy expectation.”

The case is United States v. Bynum, 08-4207 (4th Cir. May 5, 2010). Read more about it on FourthAmendment.com.



Wasn't “double think” one of the tools of government in “1984?”

His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy.

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=9983

UK: Internet cafe surveillance ‘security theatre’

May 9, 2010 by Dissent

David Canton writes:

Internet cafes in the United Kingdom are the latest victims of privacy invasive counter$terrorism measures. Scotland Yard recently asked Internet cafe owners to monitor customers’ use of public computers. The authorities are encouraging owners to check activity on their computers and keep an eye on any suspicious activity.

Yet police say it’s not about asking Internet cafe owners to spy on their customers.

These measures seem unreasonable and privacy invasive, and are likely to be ineffective.

Read more on Canoe.


(Related) A tool in case I ever teach a class like “Stalking for fun and profit?” Another “Facebook Feature?”

http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/tubin-us-learn-who-watches-what-online

Tubin.us - Learn Who Watches What Online

http://tubin.us/

Has it ever happened to you that you shared a YouTube link full of enthusiasm with somebody only to discover later on that the person didn’t even bother to check it out at all? Well, this website is set to put an end to that. It will empower you to see exactly what it is that your friends on the Social Web are watching. This means that you can now share the latest meme with someone and demand he watches it. If the other person acquiesces you will be able to learn if he is indeed doing it by looking at the list of videos he is currently watching that is displayed on Tubin. Easy. And quite foolproof, too.

And it must be mentioned that the main page of Tubin lets you keep a close watch not only on YouTube but on other video hosting sites, too. These include Vimeo and DailyMotion, arguably YouTube’s closer rivals both in terms of traffic and popularity.

All in all, Tubin rides on the wave of services directly inspired by Facebook’s “Like” furor.



How will Facebook counter government concerns? With their own “government guy!”

http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/10/facebook-tim-muris/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Facebook Hires Former US FTC Chairman Tim Muris



One of my geek-buddies was thinking about using very local WiFi to connect his neighbors to his high speed Internet connection for a very nominal charge (say $5/month), becoming a “neighborhood ISP.” Here is a tool that might make it work. (But unless we have “Net Neutrality” it won't work.)

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/10/05/10/122253/7Gbps-Wi-Fi-Networking-Kit-Could-Launch-In-2010?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

7Gbps Wi-Fi Networking Kit Could Launch In 2010

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday May 10, @08:52AM

Mark.JUK writes

"Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN 802.11) adapters capable of speeds 'up to' 7Gigabits / per second (Gbps) could be in stores by the end of this year. The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig), which seeks to advance the worldwide adoption and use of 60GHz wireless networking technology, has published a unified specification for its approach and opened an Adopter Program. The move means that WiGig members can now begin developing Wi-Fi kit that uses the unlicensed 60GHz spectrum."



The world is changing. Is this a move toward a world government or 'anyone can play?”

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/05/09/1939222/DNSSEC-and-the-Geopolitical-Future-of-the-Internet?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

DNSSEC and the Geopolitical Future of the Internet

Posted by timothy on Sunday May 09, @03:37PM

synsynackack writes

"The Register reports that the DNSSEC protocol could have some very interesting geo-political implications, including erosion of the scope of state sovereign powers. The chairman of ICANN, Peter Dengate-Thrush, explained, 'We will have to handle the geo-political element of DNSSEC very carefully.' Experts also explained that split DNS and the DNSSEC protocol don't match very well; technically, it is possible for someone at the interface of the global Internet and a country-wide Internet to strip electronic certificates attached to data and repackage the data with a new one." [Now you can pretend to be the (certified) government! Bob]



This would not only allow smaller organizations to use the code, but would ensure that the entire industry had an example of how the government wanted it done. Strangely, I got shot down rather firmly when I suggested this in a seminar on Privacy in the Health Care industry.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/60942

An open-source system for the VA is the next logical step

A committee helping the Department of Veterans Affairs figure out how to modernize its core system unanimously recommends open source. Makes sense.

By Amy Vernon on Fri, 05/07/10 - 2:52pm.

Arguably the gold standard of electric health records management, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs could be "re-engineered" as an open-source project.

That was the unanimous recommendation of the Industry Advisory Council, which was asked to study and suggest ways to modernize and simplify the VA's VistA (VA Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture), which serves about 8 million veterans through 153 medical centers and 768 outpatient clinics across the U.S.

… Fact is, right now the VistA system works great and is comprehensive, everyone agreed. But its roots make it too hard to innovate on the system and deliver new functions or integrate new technology in a timely manner. This issue was addressed, somewhat in the VA's open government plan released recently, which got "middle ground" ratings on the audit by OpenTheGovernment.org.



For my Computer Security students: You're all going to be rich!

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/05/09/1543244/The-Boom-Or-Bubble-In-Federal-Cybersecurity?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

The Boom (Or Bubble) In Federal Cybersecurity

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 09, @12:27PM

Hugh Pickens writes

"The Washington Post reports that the increasing number and intensity of cyberattacks has attracted the attention of the Obama administration and Congress, which have begun steering dollars to the problem. Much of that new spending, estimated at $6 to $7 billion annually just in unclassified work, is focused on the Washington region, as the federal government consolidates many of its cybersecurity-focused agencies in the area. 'I think it is a real growth opportunity in coming years,' says David Z. Bodenheimer, a partner at law firm Crowell & Moring in Washington, who leads the firm's homeland security practice and specializes in government contracts. 'The market is still rather fragmented and in flux, but is developing with a speed that it is attracting both the major defense and homeland security contractors who are establishing independent business units to pursue these opportunities, and it is also a real opportunity for the smaller players who have niche products.' One reason the field is attracting so many companies is that the barriers to entry are low — at least, relative to other defense industries. But as start-ups and others rush to stake claims, some wonder if a bubble of sorts is beginning to inflate and recall that many venture firms in the early 2000s chased similar prospects. 'A lot of the early people made significant money,' says Roger Novak, founder of Novak Biddle Venture Partners. 'But there were [also] a lot of "me too" companies.'"



Useful resources for research.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/024207.html

May 09, 2010

New on LLRX.com - Knowledge Discovery Resources 2010 - An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation

LLRX.com: Knowledge Discovery Resources 2010 - An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation: Marcus P. Zillman's latest guide is a touchstone from which all researchers seeking comprehensive, reliable and diverse resources for knowledge discovery via the Internet can benefit. The key is to be able to find the important knowledge discovery resources and sites both in the visible and invisible World Wide Web. This guide to selected knowledge discovery resources and sites offers excellent knowledge and information discovery sources to assist you attaining your research goals.



For my website students

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/hostingreviews-compare-hosting-plans/

HostingReviews: Compare Over 300 Hosting Plans



Caution. Could be limited time trial version or a “crippled” version or could even replace your current version and then “force” you to pay. We'll have to see which they choose.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/05/09/2047236/Microsofts-Free-Online-Version-of-Office-To-Premiere-This-Week?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

Microsoft's Free, Online Version of Office To Premiere This Week

Posted by timothy on Sunday May 09, @04:42PM

walterbyrd writes

"Microsoft will offer an online version of Office 2010 for free. I have to wonder, will this remain free indefinitely? Or is Microsoft just trying to firmly establish its OOXML standard, then go back to business as usual?"

Probably a harder sell after Google's acquisition of DocVerse.

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