Fewer “big hacks” but lots more by your friends and neighbors...
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=16703
Identity Fraud Fell 28 Percent in 2010 According to New Javelin Strategy & Research Report
February 8, 2011 by admin
The 2011 Identity Survey Report, released today by Javelin Strategy & Research (www.javelinstrategy.com), reports that in 2010 the number of identity fraud victims decreased by 28 percent to 8.1 million adults in the United States, three million fewer victims than the prior year. Total annual fraud decreased from $56 billion to $37 billion, the smallest amount in the eight years of the study. While overall fraud declined, consumer out-of-pocket costs rose significantly, mainly due to the types of fraud that were successfully perpetrated and an increase in “friendly fraud.”
Read more of the press release on MarketWatch.
[Download the “Consumer Version” here: https://www.javelinstrategy.com/Brochure-208
Why isn't there a project at some law school to define technology for judges so everyone is on the same page? No doubt a lawyer once suggested to Shakespeare that “A rose is a rose, except in certain jurisdictions and under specific yet varying circumstances...” leading Bill to reply, “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.”
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=20562
If it’s Tuesday, your cell phone is a computer
February 9, 2011 by Dissent
FourthAmendment.com points us to a case in the Eighth Circuit holding that a cell phone is a “computer” for purposes of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines: United States v. Kramer, 10-1983 (8th Cir. February 8, 2011).
Reading the excerpt from the opinion explaining their legal reasoning, I was left wondering, “Well wait…. if a cell phone is a computer in this context, why isn’t a cell phone always a computer for purposes of “search incident to arrest?” Thankfully, my confusion was reinforced by John Wesley Hall’s comment under the excerpt:
[Note: So, how can the government now argue that a cell phone seized in a search incident is not a computer, too? When is a cell phone a mere storage device and not a computer? Only when the government wants it to be not a computer, apparently.]
Over on Simple Justice, criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield also comments on the decision, while Orin Kerr approves of the decision over on The Volokh Conspiracy.
So if I understand this (and I clearly don’t!), your cell phone will be treated as a “computer” if using a “computer” makes your crime somehow worse, but that same device may be essentially just a pack of cigarettes if it’s near you when you are arrested because a pack of cigarettes can be searched without a warrant as “incident to an arrest.”
I wish Congress would enact legislation that gives Fourth Amendment protections to personal electronic devices. As long as law enforcement can seize the device incident to an arrest, evidence would be protected from destruction and they could then apply for a warrant to search it. I realize it would not be as convenient for law enforcement, but I think the abuses involving border searches of laptops and other cases indicate that law enforcement and government have got to be checked by statutes that protect the privacy of the citizenry.
This is sure to become a fun debate. Why don't we have a clear definition of “emergency response” and which laws it allows the police to violate? Treating police as “unlike mere citizens” is, of course, not appropriate. (It might be fun to FOIA local jurisdictions that have 'red light' cameras to see how often this happens...)
Crime Scenes: No break for cops caught on camera
Police officers are getting caught, and are crying foul. The camera doesn't care whether a cop is off-duty and going shopping in his personal pickup truck or is on duty and speeding to a bank robbery in a marked police cruiser, lights flashing and siren blaring.
… Even on-duty officers in marked patrol cars aren't getting out of paying the fines. Many Maryland jurisdictions are holding officers and other emergency workers personally liable for the tickets, unless they can prove they were responding to legitimate emergencies at the time.
… Just how many police officers get caught by the many red light and speed cameras popping up at intersections in Baltimore and elsewhere could not be ascertained. Police officials said statistics were not available. [Yet they have statistics that “Prove” the cameras are a “good idea.” Bob]
The policy for Baltimore police is the same for most other jurisdictions when a marked emergency vehicle is captured on camera speeding or running a red light. Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officials review dispatch records and if the driver wasn't responding to an emergency, "they are issued tickets and are responsible for paying them."
Police union leaders say that rules requiring lights and sirens when responding to emergencies aren't always practical, or prudent. For example, cops don't speed to bank robberies or burglary calls with lights flashing and siren wailing, to avoid alerting the criminals they're coming, but they still need to get there fast. [What are they saying? “No lights, no dispatch records?” Bob]
… He said most officers simply pay the fines rather than risk an internal investigation and questions about driving techniques that if not illegal, don't always conform to the letter of departmental rules.
Cherry said that an officer might blow a light or speed without using lights and sirens for a variety of reasons, such as to investigate a tip that a guy on the next block had a gun or was selling drugs. In cases like these, the "emergencies" aren't always on dispatchers' official records.
Attention Ethical Hackers: At what point does “failure to fix a known bug” make a vendor liable for the damages it causes?
Java Floating Point Bug Can Lock Up Servers
"Here we go again: Just like the recently-reported PHP Floating Point Bug causes servers to go into infinite loops when parsing certain double-precision floating-point numbers, Sun/Oracle's JVM does it, too. It gets better: you can lock up a thread on most servers just by sending a particular header value. Sun/Oracle has known about the bug for something like 10 years, but it's still not fixed. Java Servlet containers are patching to avoid the problem, but application code will still be vulnerable to user input."
Has the Porn Industry gone beyond “Early Adopter” to “Innovator?”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20031122-261.html
Porn studio could teach Apple, Google about cloud
Home-video innovations always seem to go back to porn.
The fingerprints of the adult-film industry can be found on the development of VHS and Blu-ray discs. Soon, the sector may teach us about the cloud.
Pink Visual, a porn studio with a history of embracing new technologies, appears to be the first film studio in the United States to offer the kind of streaming-video features that Apple and Google were said to be considering last year.
Instead of storing digital movies they own on computer hard drives, Pink Visual customers will be able to store clips they buy from the studio on the company's servers, said Quentin Boyer, a company spokesman. For a one-time fee, buyers can access their films from PVLocker.com any time and as many times as they choose. [I think this is the wrong model. I've speculated that a very small, per-viewing price is the way things will go in the future. Bob]
… In video, Pink Visual could help determine whether these cloud services are a slice of heaven or just vapor. The company will be among the first to tackle issues of pricing, copyright protection, and most importantly, gauge consumer demand.
Liability
Already, managers at Pink Visual are asking important questions.
There was a debate at the porn studio about whether it should store and stream content created by other filmmakers, according to Boyer. At least at the start, Pink Visual will handle only its own content but could open up its cloud later, he said.
Why the hesitation?
"We don't want to accidentally have a lot of liability," Boyer said. "We don't want to become fertile ground for copyright infringement [should users upload pirated content to the company's cloud]."
So it's not just your imagination...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/026472.html
February 08, 2011
NOAA: U.S. Cooler and Much Drier than Normal in January
News release: "Last month was the coolest January since 1994, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. Across the contiguous United States, the average January temperature was 30.0 F, which is 0.8 F below the 1901-2000 average. And despite several large winter storms across the country, last month was the ninth driest January on record, much drier than normal. Average precipitation across the contiguous United States was 1.48 inches, 0.74 inch below the 1901-2000 average. This monthly analysis, based on records dating back to 1895, is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides."
(Related) I blame this all on Al Gore – but then, I blame liberals for all kinds of things.
http://www.helium.com/items/2083868-magnetic-polar-shifts-causing-massive-global-superstorms
Magnetic polar shifts causing massive global superstorms
Forget about global warming—man-made or natural—what drives planetary weather patterns is the climate and what drives the climate is the sun's magnetosphere and its electromagnetic interaction with a planet's own magnetic field.
… Magnetic polar shifts have occurred many times in Earth's history. It's happening again now to every planet in the solar system including Earth.
The magnetic field drives weather to a significant degree and when that field starts migrating superstorms start erupting.
… "There is, however, a growing body of evidence that the Earth's magnetic field is about to disappear, at least for a while.
… Possible magnetic pole reversal may also be initiating new Ice Age
According to some geologists and scientists, we have left the last interglacial period behind us.
… So, the start of a new Ice Age is marked by a magnetic pole reversal, increased volcanic activity, larger and more frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, colder winters, superstorms and the halting of the Chandler wobble.
Unfortunately, all of those conditions are being met.
e-Caligraphy? Want to bet that my Ethical Hackers can't “download” the font?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Pilot Handwriting - Write by Hand on Your Keyboard
Pilot Pen has created a neat website through which you can capture your handwriting on paper then use it to type and send emails. Pilot Handwriting provides you with a simple grid to print and complete by hand. After you've filled in the grid just hold it up to your webcam and Pilot captures your handwriting to use as a font. You can then type on your keyboard using your very personalized font. Unfortunately, that font can only be used to send emails to your friends from the Pilot Handwriting. If they make downloading the font an option then they'll really be on to something good. Learn more in the video below.
For staying current...
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-great-ways-read-google-reader-feeds/
3 Great Ways To Read Your Google Reader Feeds
[Also see:
Desktop Google Reader – An Awesome RSS Reader Which Syncs With Google
How To Get Google Reader Shared Items From Anyone (a neat way to find out who’s sharing items, however these days you can just click “Follow shared items” when you find them).
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