Wednesday, March 23, 2011

At some point you have to ask if those who run the education system have ever taken advantage of it.

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=17183

SSNs of All Laredo ISD Students Missing In Data Breach; Trustee says not “a big deal”

March 22, 2011 by admin

Morgan Smith reports:

A disk holding the Social Security numbers of every student in the Laredo Independent School District — a total of 24,903 — has gone missing, according to the Texas Education Agency.

TEA spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman said the agency first became aware of the situation in January, [See below Bob] when officials with the University of Texas at Dallas’ Education Research Center contacted the TEA looking for sensitive data they had requested from Laredo ISD — data that was supposed to be sent to the TEA first.

At that point, the TEA contacted Laredo ISD for the package tracking number, only to learn that the CD had been signed for at the William B. Travis Building in Austin, which houses five state government agencies, including the TEA. But the CD was never delivered to James Van Overschelde, the TEA’s former director of educational research and policy who was working with UTD on the project — and the agency doesn’t know who signed for it.

Read more in the Texas Tribune.

Okay, insert the entity’s usual disclaimers and outrageous finger-pointing here, because what is really stunning about this report is a stunningly stupid statement reportedly made by George Beckelhymer, president of Laredo ISD’s Board of Trustees:

[Beckelhymer] said he was also unaware that the information had gone missing.

“I am trying to be sure we are looking in the right spot if we are looking for blame on this,” he said. “Is it really LISD’s blame? Did UTD use an inappropriate method to request the [information] and then tricked us? Does the TEA have fault that they didn’t have the proper personnel to sign legitimately?”

Beckelhymer also added that, while he doesn’t like “sharing” Social Security numbers, he doesn’t think the fact that they’re missing is “a big deal.”

Un—-believable.

[From the artiocle:

Van Overschelde said he left the TEA in June [Which means that the data should have arrived prior to that, right? So they didn't notice for AT LEAST seven months? Bob]



Mom thinks it's cool?

http://www.ispyce.com/2011/03/facebook-bans-20000-kids-day.html

Facebook Bans 20,000 Kids a Day

Although Facebook requires all users to be 13 or older, the social network bans 20,000 underage users a day, a spokeswoman said. "There are people who lie. There are people who are under 13 [accessing Facebook]," Mozelle Thompson, Facebook's chief privacy adviser, told the The Telegraph (Sydney, Australia). "Facebook removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage."

When asked by the Australian parliamentary online safety committee how Facebook can detect those lying on age forms, Thompson replied, "It's not perfect." In fact, it's relatively easy. A standard online form asks a user if he or she is 13 or over, and the user can tell the truth or not. ComScore estimates about 3.6 million of kids under 12 use Facebook in the United States. [So they should have them all kicked off in 180 days, assuming no new sign-ups. Bob] Last week, a story in the New York Times highlighted the number of those under 13 who skirt the age requirement often with parental consent. Many began using Facebook or other online community in elementary school and many parents see nothing wrong with it. “It’s not like there’s a legal age limit for being on the Internet," said a parent whose 11-year-old son uses Facebook. He told the social media site he was 15.

There are obvious reasons why there are federal age requirements for Internet use: [There are? Bob] sexual predators, cyberbullying, adult content and explicit language. Most very young children are not equipped to be dumped at the equivalent of an online adult cocktail party and fend for themselves. While many want most of the security to be created by tech companies, they are ignoring the reality that many parents don't see a problem with their underage children using a social network with 600 million users. The best online security is a connected parent who carefully monitors online usage -- including only allowing children to use computers in a central location, not a bedroom, easily accessed by a parent -- and one that doesn't allow their children to use Facebook if they are younger than 13.



I'll say it's disturbing. How could they fail to find the other 15%? Police mine every database they can access. Does that mean they don't appear in any government or commercial database? No birth certificate, school records, tax return, drivers license, credit card, phone, etc.?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=21877

85 percent of B.C. adults in police database ‘disturbing’

March 22, 2011 by Dissent

Neal Hall reports:

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says it is disturbing that up to 85 per cent of B.C. adults have their names in a police computer database designed to track criminals.

The association has written a letter to B.C. Solicitor General Shirley Bond, asking her to investigate why the majority of B.C.’s law-abiding citizens are in the PRIME-BC database.

Even more troubling, said Robert Holmes, president of BCCLA, is that no information is available as to how long the information is kept on file.

Read more in the Vancouver Sun



Think of it as a way for manufacturers to trace each device sold.

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=21862

UDID: The Next Privacy Frontier?

March 22, 2011 by Dissent

The Womble Carlyle Team writes:

Companies that make their money in the mobile computing space – application developers, device manufacturers, software adaptors – have a new worry. Many functions and applications used on iPhone devices currently rely on reporting that includes the UDID unique device identifier. Two new lawsuits against Apple for its use of UDID information may change the way that mobile functions and applications are built, managed and paid for.

The UDID for the iPhone is a 40 character identifier that is set by Apple and stays with the specific defined device forever. Its function is to uniquely identify any one iPhone, allowing the UDID to be connected with the name and behaviors of that iPhone’s user.

The Wall Street Journal may have started the snowball of lawsuits rolling in its ongoing series of articles about how the computer industry tracks people using the internet.

Read more on Womble Carlyle.



Okay, this would seem to throw a monkey into the wrench... Does it override “appropriate use” policies?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=21874

Ca: Personal files on work computers ruled private

March 22, 2011 by Dissent

Tracey Tyler reports:

The Ontario Court of Appeal has recognized a right to privacy in the personal information Canadians store on work-issued computers.

In a 3-0 ruling Tuesday, the court said a Sudbury high school teacher charged with having nude photos of a Grade 10 student on a laptop issued by the school board had a right to expect his personal files on the computer’s hard drive would remain private.

Read more in Toronto Star.



I wonder who tipped them off?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214928/Senators_to_Apple_Pull_iPhone_DUI_checkpoint_alert_apps

Senators to Apple: Pull iPhone DUI checkpoint alert apps

Four U.S. senators Tuesday called on Apple to yank iPhone and iPad apps that help drunken drivers evade police, saying the programs are "harmful to public safety."



Does this extend Copyright to Shakespeare’s descendants? Chaucer's Copyrighted Tales?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/026815.html

March 22, 2011

EPIC: Courts Rejects Google Books Settlement as Unfair

EPIC: "Judge Denny Chin struck down a proposed settlement between Google and copyright holders that would have imposed significant privacy risks on e-book consumers. Google's proposal would have entitled the company to collect each users' search queries as well as the titles and page numbers of the books they read. In a February 2010 hearing before the Court, EPIC President Marc Rotenberg explained EPIC Press Release: EPIC Urges Court To Reject Google Books Settlement; EPIC: Google Books Settlement and Privacy."



When you grown to the size of a medium country, people start asking why you haven't issued your own currency... And lot's of people think Google is printing money as it is.

What is the Dollar – Google exchange rate?

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/03/23/0210207/Google-Engineer-Releases-Open-Source-Bitcoin-Client?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

Google Engineer Releases Open Source Bitcoin Client

"A Google engineer has released an open source Java client for the Bitcoin peer-to-peer currency system, simply called BitcoinJ. Bitcoin is an Internet currency that uses a P2P architecture for processing transactions, avoiding the need for a central bank or payment system. Cio.com.au also has an interview with Gavin Andresen, the technical lead of the Bitcoin virtual currency system."



You don't have to understand technology to really screw up technology.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-court-resignation-20110323,0,7040071.story

Top California courts administrator to step down

The top administrator for California's courts announced Tuesday that he would step down, a month after two state lawmakers urged that he be fired for his handling of a computer modernization project that has skyrocketed in cost from $260 million to $1.9 billion.

… Philip Carrizosa, a spokesman for the chief justice, said the retirement had nothing to do with the lawmakers' recent criticism.

Lowenthal said the departure "gives the chief justice a chance to set a whole new level of responsiveness and accountability." [What, he had Tenure or something on the Chief Justice? Bob]



For my Risk Management students

http://jps.anl.gov/Volume4_iss2/Paper3-RGJohnston.pdf

Being Vulnerable to the Threat of Confusing Threats with Vulnerabilities



Looking for that perfect word or phrase? Try entering “Looking for that * word or phrase?” (They did not return “perfect.”)

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/phraseup-com-write-better-phrases?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+killerstartups%2FBkQV+%28KillerStartups.com%29

PhraseUp.com - Write Better Phrases

what Phrase Up does is to let you fill gaps in sentences. Using Phrase Up, you can write a half-baked sentence and have it automatically fleshed out.

And all the suggestions produced by Phrase Up can be translated. Handy for those who are using the site because English is not their first language, and they are looking for the words they have not yet learned.

http://www.phraseup.com/



http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-podcast-directories-visit-subscribe-download-free-podcasts/

5 Podcast Directories You Can Visit To Subscribe & Download Free Podcasts

Here are five where you can download podcasts for free:

Podcast Alley

Podcast Alley usually comes up tops in a Google podcast search. It is a large podcast directory with nearly 90,000 podcasts and 6,000,000 episodes. Access genres with a dropdown which cover everything from arts to TV & Film. You can subscribe to podcasts directly from here or go to the individual websites. You can click to even listen to the podcasts online if you don’t want to clutter your podcatcher.

Podcast

Looking at the domain name, these guys probably had first dibs at setting up a directory and they have done a nice job of it with nearly 85,000 podcasts

Podiobooks

This is a cool collection of serialized audiobooks which you can subscribe to using RSS. You can choose to subscribe, listen online, or download the episodes. The site is completely free

Podfeed

Podfeed is a podcast directory with a relatively small collection of 16000+ podcasts and 2783515 episodes. With a sign-up, you can also submit your own podcasts.

The Education category for instance, is helpful if you want to learn a language like Spanish or even English. Another category that’s worth a look is that of Storytelling with its collection of nearly 500 podcasts.

Tech Podcasts

Tech Podcasts is all about technology and geeky topics with the help of free podcasts.



Mitchell's Law of Committees: Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are held to discuss it.


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