Thursday, October 20, 2011


The flyer is up for the Privacy Foundation Seminar, at: http://privacyfoundation.org/


Something is still not adding up here, but I suspect we'll never get a straight story...
Military ‘Not Quite Sure’ How Drone Cockpits Got Infected
It’s been more than a month since a virus infected the remote “cockpits” of America’s drone fleet. And the U.S. military still doesn’t know exactly how the machines at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada got infected.
… the drone cockpit virus has already received so much publicity that the military decided to speak up, just a little. Last Wednesday, the Air Force issued a press release calling the infection “more of a nuisance than an operational threat.” [This type of malware tries to remain undetected so it can eavesdrop and steal information. Disrupting flight control systems would be immediately detected. Bob]
… The Air Force added that “credential stealer” code was transported from computer to computer through “portable hard drives.”
On Tuesday, Kehler appeared to walk that explanation back a bit. He said that the hard drives were one possible path of the infection — but not the only path.
“One of the things in the ground control system that we do is we transfer data using hard drives that we actually move from machine to machine and so, with that, there’s always a possibility to have something get in through the loops in the system,” he said. [But again, highly unlikely. All these computers should have anti-virus software running that immediately checks portable hardware as it is attached to the system. Bob]


Why did I say this was inevitable?
Stuxnet Jr. - Panic spreads as two vendors squabble over Duqu’s purpose
You can view the code here, just like millions of others have.


My French is inadequate, fortunately there are sub-titles.
Guy-Philippe Goldstein: How cyberattacks threaten real-world peace


Surveillance will become ubiquitous. Be the first kid on your block to have a full NSA-like spy tool!
Remote spying moves to phones with a vengeance
October 19, 2011 by Dissent
Earlier this week, I was disgusted to find a promotional e-mail from SMS Privato Spy in my inbox. The company sells a service by which it sends a spoofed SMS message to a target phone that then allows the subscriber to monitor the phone’s activity – all of it. The company attempts to cover their ass by a disclaimer on the home page,
“Disclaimer: SMS Privato Spy is an online software program designed to gather information about a phone. You should be the legal owner of the phone or have permission from the user of the phone in order to connect SMS Privato Spy on it.”
Uh huh. Sure. And the really disgusting part is that the disclaimer may actually cover their ass while those who purchase and use the service may face criminal charges if they are not the owner of the phone or don’t have consent to monitor.
Now some will say that’s just fine and it’s like guns – manufacturers can legally make them and sell them but responsibility for their use is with the purchaser or user. Personally, I have a problem with companies selling devices or services that they know damned well or can reasonably predict will be used for illegal purposes, but the government hasn’t seemed inclined to actually stop it. Maybe some really aggressive lawyers will file lawsuits charging these companies with conspiring to violate wiretapping laws or something. I don’t know, since I’m not a lawyer, but damn, I wish somebody would do something effective to stop all this sneaky remote spying.
Today, Kashmir Hill blogs on Forbes about a similar app, “Kare Log,” and the increasing use of phone-based spying tools. Read it and fume along with me.


Even Big Brother had to start somewhere. (and eventually, Bib Brother treats everyone as children)
"EU MEP Tiziano Motti (Italy), wants everything you do online to be logged and saved, for the sake of the children. Like a black box installed on every computer. He proposes an early warning system of criminal activity, specifically whenever an image of sexually abused children is detected, an alarm, goes to the authorities to be able to see who uploaded it. Tiziano Motti was a politician who just over a year ago managed to get a majority of European Members of Parliament to support the proposal to expand the data storage directive to Google searches. The purpose was to protect children from pedophiles — the same excuse he is using now. His proposal involves a technology called Logbox. And just as with an aircraft's black box, Logbox is installed on computers, laptops, smartphones, and e-readers because yes, all that can be connected to the internet."


Here we go...
An anonymous reader writes with this news on the ACTA treaty, straight from the EFF's release on the news:
"On Saturday October 1st, eight countries (the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea) signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Tokyo, Japan. Three of the participating countries (the European Union, Mexico, and Switzerland) have not yet signed the treaty, but have issued a joint statement affirming their intentions to sign it 'as soon as practicable.' ACTA will remain open for signature until May 2013. While the treaty's title might suggest that it deals only with counterfeit physical goods such as medicines, it is in fact far broader in scope. ACTA contains new potential obligations for Internet intermediaries, requiring them to police the Internet and their users, which in turn pose significant concerns for citizens' privacy, freedom of expression, and fair use rights."


I'm a “Hard” Science Fiction fan myself – never understood the fantasy side I guess. This turns out to be a good list and there are a few I still haven't read!
"T. N. Tobias writes that over the summer, over 60,000 people voted at NPR to select the top 100 science fiction and fantasy books of all time. The result? A list of 100 books with a wide range of styles, little context, and absolutely no pithy commentary to help readers actually choose something to read from it. Now SF Signal has come to the rescue with a 3800 x 2300 flowchart with over 325 decision points to help you find the perfect SF or Fantasy book to meet your tastes. Don't like to scroll? There's an interactive version that let's you answer a series of questions to find the perfect SF book."


Useful even for someone as artistically challenged as moi...
… online whiteboards are great collaborative tools to help you visualize your thoughts and brainstorm ideas. These Web apps not only throw out the smelly dry-erase markers, but also add a few tricks to make sharing your works faster and easier than ever.
A Web Whiteboard (AWW), developed by Senko Rasic, was designed to be minimalistic and simple to use like a real whiteboard. Coded in HTML5, AWW not only performs smoothly, but leaves little doubt to its functionality: users are given seven basic colors, three brush sizes, and a menu with sharing options.
… Users can collaborate with others in real time by enabling sharing in the menu and passing the URL to their friends or team members.
AWW can publish drawings to three major outlets : Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Users can also save their images in PNG format.
Twiddla flexes its muscles by offering a beefy selection of tools and extra methods of communication.
… In addition to standard drawing options such as brush size and color customization, Twiddla allows you to import documents, pictures, and even Web pages directly into the canvas.
… Each stroke is treated as a separate object layer, making corrections and edits a breeze when compared with erasing by hand.
In addition to sharing workspaces like AWW, Twiddla also adds a textbox and VoIP capabilities so multiple users can hold audio conferences in real time.


For my students. NOTE: This business model could be improved if I could schedule email/sms/tweet/whatever reminders to a list (class roster) for future delivery. Many reminder services send you an email “the day of” your scheduled event. I'd like a week's head start on my wife's birthday/anniversary gift buying...
Remind 2 Me is a free service for having reminders sent to your inbox. Using the service is very simple. To have reminders sent to you, just write out your reminder to yourself, enter your email address, and enter the date on which you need the reminder sent. You do not need to register for an account to use Remind 2 Me.
Remind 2 Me could be a helpful service for students who need help keeping track of important assignment dates.


Perspective: My students like it – that's good enough for me.
Khan Academy Triples Unique Users To 3.5 Million
Today at The Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Founder of Khan Academy, Salman Khan, took the stage to share a few quick stats on the growth of his online video education platform. For those unfamiliar, Khan Academy is, as John Batelle noted this afternoon, one of Bill Gates’ favorite educators.
… The educational startup now counts over 2,600 videos in its library, with sessions or classes on everything from arithmetic to physics, including 211 practice exercises, to let students watch videos and learn at their own pace.
While Khan is a not-for-profit organization, the Academy has received donations from The Gates Foundation and also won Google’s “Project 10^100″. With the $2 million+ from Google and Gates in pocket, Khan told the crowd at Web 2.0 today that the academy is seeing 39 million pageviews and 3.5 million unique users per month. That 3.5 million unique users is up 309 percent year-over-year.

(Related) TED talk.

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