Sunday, August 12, 2012

Congress will ignore this, perhaps because no one in their offices speaks Australian?
"Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has been forced to back down on her government's unpopular plan to force ISPs to store the web history and social networking of all Australians for two years. The plan has been deeply unpopular with the public, with hackers attacking the government's spy agency. Public servants at the spy agency promoting the scheme been scathing of the government, saying: 'These reforms are urgently needed to deal with a rapidly evolving security environment, but there isn't much appetite within the government for anything that attracts controversy,' but a document on the scheme released under the Freedom of Information Act had 90% of it redacted to prevent "premature unnecessary debate." Roxon hasn't dropped the unpopular scheme entirely, but only delayed it until after the next election."


Much more on the Google “settlement” What's really going on here?
In the wake of FTC settlements, confusion and dissent remain
August 11, 2012 by Dissent
In a somewhat frustrating Twitter chat following the Google settlement, one of the first questions – tweeted by Berin Szoka of TechFreedom – was, “How can message sent by today’s ruling be “clear” when there’s no admission of liability?” It was a question that had also been raised by one commissioner who had dissented from the settlement, J. Thomas Rosch. In his dissent, Rosch wrote, in part:
First, the Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Civil Penalty Judgment provides that “Defendant denies any violation of the FTC Order, any and all liability for the claims set forth in the Complaint, and all material allegations of the Complaint save for those regarding jurisdiction and venue.” Yet, at the very same time, the Commission supports a civil penalty of $22.5 million against Google for that very same conduct. Condoning a denial of liability in circumstances such as these is unprecedented.
[More...]


Tech has been doing some interesting stuff...
"A new malware intelligence system developed at Georgia Tech Research Institute is helping organizations share threat intelligence and work together to understand malware and cyber attacks. Dubbed "Titan", the system lets members submit threat data and collaborate on malware analysis and classification. Unlike some other systems, members contribute data anonymously so no one would know which specific organizations had been affected by a specific attack. Titan users also get reports on malware samples they have submitted, such as the potential harm, the likely source, the best remedy, and the risks posed by the sample. The analysis is based on what GTRI researchers learn by reverse-engineering the malware. The project currently analyzes and classifies an average of 100,000 pieces of malicious code each day and growing. While other information sharing initiatives have been launched, many are by vendors, which sometimes sparks concern that the vendor may have some bias, and may be pushing a certain product. Not the case with Titan."


No longer a “fringe” event.
It seems to be the new trend in schools and companies all across the world – BYOD.
… The advantages to coming to class or to the office with your own laptop or tablet (for example) are obvious. It’s yours, you’ve customized the hell out of it, and you have the entire discography of Guns n’ Roses burned to MP3 on the hard drive. Plus you’re more likely to have Windows 7 while the poor secretary in the corner is struggling with Windows 98. But then there’s the cons – theft, damage, incompatibility with colleagues devices, hooking up to the inept company network and getting a virus, and worst of all, your colleagues seeing your Kylie Minogue desktop wallpaper.
Our infographic today is on the subject of BYOD. Do you bring your own device to school or work? If so, what are the pros and cons for you?

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