Thursday, August 26, 2010

The cost of a security breach...

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=13514

Ca: Corrections to pay victims of breach of privacy

August 26, 2010 by admin

Robb Tripp reports:

More than 360 people who worked at a federal prison in Kingston will get at least $1,000 each after a precedent-setting, six-year legal fight over a breach of their privacy.

“This has been a long odyssey,” Christopher Edwards, the Kings -ton lawyer who represented staff in a lawsuit said Wednesday.

Correctional Service Canada has agreed to the payments to 366 people whose names appeared on a staff list at Joyceville Institution. The list, which included home addresses, home phone numbers, and the names of spouses, fell into the hands of convicts at the prison in 2003.

This week, a Superior Court judge in Kingston endorsed the deal that puts an end to the class-action lawsuit launched in 2004 by staff. It originally sought $15 million in damages in a novel area where there have been only a handful of cases in Canada.

Read more in the Whig-Standard.

Okay, this was a settlement. Had it gone to court here in the U.S., would they have gotten anything or would the courts have held that risk of future harm is not something that one can put a monetary value on and if there were no unreimbursed expenses due to the breach, well, tough luck?



Not sure I'm surprised here...

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=13510

Blagojevich auction boxes contain client files

August 26, 2010 by admin

Serena Dai of the Associated Press reports:

Amidst photos and handwritten letters in auction boxes connected to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich are confidential client-attorney papers from his lawyer days and opposition research on his 2006 gubernatorial race rival Judy Baar Topinka, a Northwestern University librarian said Wednesday.

Librarian Jeffrey Garrett bought 18 boxes of files, photos, and videotapes at the Boyer-Rosene Moving and Storage auction last Thursday on behalf of Northwestern’s special libraries, which documents the careers of significant alum, he said.

Read more in the Chicago Tribune.

Well, we’ve seen cases where lawyers improperly disposed of confidential client records so this wouldn’t exactly be a first. What’s a bit different about this case is how the confidential files wound up where they did. While people can point fingers at who packed up documents, who stored them, who was responsible for paying storage fees etc., I would think that ultimately, it’s the attorney’s responsibility to ensure that the confidentiality of client records is protected. Yes, even in the middle of a public scandal and trial.

Now will anyone actually get notified that their client records have been exposed or are now in the possession of others? I mean, it’s just paper records, right?



How would you monitor compliance with a contract and what record of your responses would be required?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=13106

Privacy Policy Lessons from Handbook Cases

August 25, 2010 by Dissent

Lawrence Cunningham writes:

Just as the hottest practical topic in contract law during the 1990s was whether corporate employee handbooks could be enforced as contracts, among today’s hot practical contract law topics is whether corporate policy statements, especially on the internet, can be enforced as contracts. We’re in the beginning of a struggle on that point, whose dynamic echoes that of the handbook cases of two decades ago—and we might learn something from them.

Read more on Concurring Opinions.



In humor there is truth. “The Internet is one big resume...” A video for our times.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/25/control-self-delete/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Colbert Tackles Internet Privacy: ‘Become A Disfigured Nameless Loner’



What differs from assigning a police officer to follow a suspect? Technology makes it cheap enough to allow even small police forces to follow large numbers of people. What else changes?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/08/25/192208/GPS-Tracking-Without-a-Warrant-Declared-Legal?from=rss

GPS Tracking Without a Warrant Declared Legal

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 25, @04:51PM

"The Ninth Circuit court has declared that attaching a GPS tracker to your car, as it sits in your driveway, or by extension on a public street, and then using it to monitor every one of your movements, is totally legal, and can be performed by the police without needing a warrant. So, if you live in the Western United States, big brother has arrived."

[From the article:

This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.

… Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who dissented from this month's decision refusing to reconsider the case, pointed out whose homes are not open to strangers: rich people's. The court's ruling, he said, means that people who protect their homes with electric gates, fences and security booths have a large protected zone of privacy around their homes. People who cannot afford such barriers have to put up with the government sneaking around at night.



For my Ethical Hackers. Is it wrong to try thinking like an attacker?

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/08/26/0036233/Teacher-Asks-Students-To-Plan-a-Terrorist-Attack?from=rss

Teacher Asks Students To Plan a Terrorist Attack

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 26, @12:22AM

Tired of looking at an endless parade of dioramas, an Australian teacher had her class plan a terrorist attack that would "kill as many innocent Australians as possible." "The teacher, with every best intention, was attempting to have the students think through someone else's eyes about conflict. I think there are better ways to do that. ... This is not what we expect of professional educators," said Sharyn O'Neill, director-general of the state's Department of Education.



I wonder if this is how the Attorneys General that are “investigating” Craigslist find all those “Adult Services” ads they object to?

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/notifinder-craigslist-ad-alert/

notiFINDER: Get Craigslist Ad Alerts For Specific Items

Craigslist is a massive classifieds website that many people find useful. If you are looking for something in particular on Craigslist, then you have to check the site for new listings every day. But thanks to notiFINDER, that task has been greatly simplified. notiFINDER is a free and simple to craigslist ad alert tool that can notify you of new classifieds on Craigslist.

You fill out all the information on the site’s homepage. First you enter in your location. Next you type in what you are looking for; you can specify which category your item belongs to: for sale, jobs, housing, services, gigs, community, personals, or resumes. With the item’s name and type entered, a small red text appears which states the frequency of new listings regarding your item. You can enter your price range and the frequency with which you want to be alerted on the email address you provide.

Finally you click on the “Add” button and if any Craigslist post matches your options you are sent an email notification.

www.notifinder.com

Similar tools: Search All Craig’s, Crazedlist, Craiglook, PadMapper, CLHack, Craigsly and HeyCraig.

Also read related articles:



Sometimes you need to know what's going on in the world.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/watch-live-tv-news-online-livestation/

Watch Streaming Live TV News Online with Livestation

Head over to Livestation’s web site and you can start watching streaming news immediately.

… There’s a very nice desktop client available. It works for Windows, Mac and Linux computers … For example, the service now offers picture-in-picture:

Another cool feature is the “carousal,” a slick interface that makes for quick browsing of your channels:

The desktop also gives you access to the many user-generated stations Livestation offers. These streams are similar to services such as UStream (check out this article for more information on starting your own broadcast with UStream.)



Intended for teachers, but useful for others as well... LOTS of examples!

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddnzwcn8_15g3jrbpdf

Blogs, Wikis, Docs: Which is right for your lesson?

A Comparison Table



For my website students. You can also copy and paste directly into Word. (Lots of Math symbols: ±, ÷, √, ≈, ≠, etc. )

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/niceentity-unicode-for-symbols/

NiceEntity: Get HTML And Unicode For Symbols & Characters

NiceEntity is a web resource that indexes hundreds of special characters along with their HTML and Unicode details.

You can browse through categories like Punctuations, Accents, Shapes & Symbols, Math and even filter them further using sub-categories. If browsing is not your thing simply search for the character you are looking for, or click on “all’ to display the complete list.

www.nice-entity.com

Similar tools: JoyLy, CopyPasteCharacter and EntityCode.

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