Makes me wonder if politicians notice the breach or notice that other politicians noticed the breach...
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=22429
Pryor Urges FTC to Investigate Data Breach that Exposes Millions of Consumers
April 15, 2011 by Dissent
U.S. Senator Mark Pryor has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the Chairman to investigate the recent data breach of Epsilon, an online marketing firm that handles email lists for companies such as Target, Best Buy, Walgreens, and Citi Group.
Pryor said the information that was stolen is likely limited to e-mail addresses and possibly names. However, he is concerned this information alone will lead to a surge of phishing attacks – emails disguised to be from a legitimate business but are intended to steal more personal information, including account numbers, usernames, passwords or Social Security numbers.
Pryor’s letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz can be found here.
Source: Senator Mark Pryor
Okay, perhaps not everything is bigger in Texas. Many Breached companies now provide two years of credit monitoring...
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=17794
Comptroller offers discount on credit monitoring after data breach
April 15, 2011 by admin
I read the following news story by Dan Wallach and thought, “Are you kidding me?!”
The Texas Comptroller’s office has arranged for individuals affected by an inadvertent exposure of personal data to receive a 70 percent discount on one year of credit monitoring to alert them if their information is misused.
On Monday, the comptroller’s office revealed that as many as 3.5 million Texans – state employees and unemployment insurance applicants from 2007 through 2009 – could have had their private information posted on a publicly accessible server for more than a year.
Read more on Beaumont Enterprise.
The state should foot the bill totally, not the victims. This is just wrong. Doesn’t the state carry insurance that it can use to fund the services?
Is this a response to the theft of information reported earlier or is this new? I doubt they would be too clear, either way.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/027015.html
April 14, 2011
OnGuardOnline.gov Urges Taxpayers to Contact the IRS If They Suspect Tax-Related Identity Theft
News release: "OnGuardOnline.gov, a partnership of fourteen federal agencies managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is informing consumers that an unexpected message from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could be a warning sign that their Social Security number is being misused by an identity thief. OnGuardOnline.gov suggests that people contact the IRS if they receive a notice that: more than one tax return was filed in the consumer’s name, or IRS records show the consumer was paid by an employer that he or she does not know. People who think they have tax issues related to identity theft should let the IRS know as soon as possible, even if the taxpayer doesn’t have any evidence that the identity theft affected a tax return. Specialists in the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit will help identity theft victims file their tax returns, get any refund they are due, and protect their IRS accounts from identity thieves in the future. The IRS website has more information here, or consumers can call 1-800-908-4490. The unit’s hours are 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (local time)."
Now this is interesting.
DOJ Seizes Online Poker Site Domains
"Federal authorities have seized Internet domain names used by three major poker companies. The indictment charges eleven defendants (PDF), including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses, according to Federal authorities in New York. The United States also filed a civil money laundering and in rem forfeiture complaint against the poker companies, their assets, and the assets of several payment processors for the poker companies."
TSA has the right! Us “second Class” citizens don't.
TSA Investigates... People Who Complain About TSA
"CNN has obtained a list of roughly 70 'behavioral indicators' that TSA behavior detection officers use to identify potentially 'high risk' passengers at the nation's airports, and report that arrogant complaining about airport security is one indicator TSA officers consider when looking for possible criminals and terrorists. When combined with other behavioral indicators, it could result in a traveler facing additional scrutiny. 'Expressing your contempt about airport procedures — that's a First Amendment-protected right,' says Michael German, a former FBI agent who now works as legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. 'It's circular reasoning where, you know, I'm going to ask someone to surrender their rights; if they refuse, that's evidence that I need to take their rights away from them. And it's simply inappropriate.' Interestingly enough, some experts say terrorists are much more likely to avoid confrontations with authorities, saying an al-Qaeda training manual instructs members to blend in."
Words, just words. But it looks like a plan for an electronic National ID. “e-Papers, Citizen.”
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=22418
White House Releases Trusted Internet ID Plan
April 15, 2011 by Dissent
Grant Gross reports:
The U.S. government will coordinate private-sector efforts to create trusted identification systems for the Internet, with the goal of giving consumers and businesses multiple options for authenticating identity online, according to a plan released by President Barack Obama’s administration.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will work with private companies to drive development and adoption of trusted ID technologies, White House officials said. The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), released by the Department of Commerce on Friday, aims to protect the privacy and security of Internet users by encouraging a broad online authentication market in the U.S.
Read more on PCWorld.
[From the PCWorld article:
"The fact is that the old password and username combination we often use to verify people is no longer good enough," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said at an NSTIC release event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It leaves too many consumers, government agencies and businesses vulnerable to ID and data theft."
… The trusted ID technologies described in NSTIC would allow online users to dump passwords in favor of credentials that can be used on multiple websites. The Obama administration hopes that multiple trusted ID technologies will emerge, officials said.
Interesting summary of Web 2,0
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/027018.html
April 15, 2011
Presentation: Web 2.0, New Media Ecology, Mobile Information 2.0 and Beyond: Where are we, where are we going?
Information 2.0 and Beyond: Where are we, where are we going? by Kristen Purcell, Mar 29, 2011 at APLIC's 44th Annual Conference in Washington, DC
Now here's an interesting idea. If you run across a pothole in the road, fill it in! Might be amusing to see how they would reimburse the talent – which I am sure they would do.
Why Google Should Buy the Music Industry
"According to one story about Google's attempts to launch its own music service, 'the search giant is "disgusted" with the labels, so much so that they are seriously considering following Amazon's lead and launching their music cloud service without label licenses.' So here's a simple solution: Google should just buy the major record labels — all of them. It could afford them — people tend to forget that the music industry is actually relatively small in economic terms, but wields a disproportionate influence with policy makers. Buying them would solve that problem too." [Fire the management, keep the lobbyists. Bob]
Another pet peeve. Google is demonstrating a 1 gigabyte network and everyone else is trying to squeeze the last possible nickle out of their crummy service. “You can have really fast service, but only for a short time each month?
Comcast's 105MBit Service Comes With Data Cap
"Comcast just announced the ultrafast, ultra-broadband "Extreme 105" 105 Mbit/sec Internet service for an introductory price of $105, when bundled with other services. That's the good news. The bad news: Comcast 'put a data cap on the service of 250 Gbit per month — about five hours worth of full-bandwidth use,' writes blogger Kevin Fogarty."
For my students who must do research, i.e. ALL of them. Try this as an RSS reader.
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/webreader-desktop-client-for-google-reader/
Webreader: Wonderful AIR-based desktop client for Google reader
You can easily add your RSS feeds to Google Reader and stay updated with your favorite websites. But for many people, the interface of Google Reader is too basic. For them, a better alternative to Google Reader’s native web interface would be the visually appealing desktop Reader client, WebReader.
Similar tools: FeedSquares, MobileRSS and Google Reader Play.
Also read related articles:
19 Tools and Tips to improve Google Reader
3 Ways To Use Google Reader As An Online Archive
3 Great Ways To Read Your Google Reader Feeds
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