Centennial Man

2012-01-30T08:03:00.002-07:00

Not so sophisticated... Our Scoutsdidn't think enough to send our Recruiters out to offer EthicalHacking scholarships (Which are NEVER based on grades..)

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=23027

CA:Students busted for hacking computers, changing grades

January 29, 2012 by admin

Iain Thomson reports:

Three high schooljuniors have been arrested after they devised a sophisticated hackingscheme to up their grades and make money selling quiz answers totheir classmates.

The students areaccused of breaking into the janitor’s office of California’sPalos Verdes High School and making a copy of the master key, givingthem access to all the classrooms. They then attached keylogginghardware to the computers of four teachers, and harvested thepasswords needed to access the central files of the school network.

They then usedthat access to change their grades slightly, nudging them up byincrements so that all three got As. At the time they were caught,keyloggers were found on three other teachers’ systems, indicatingthe group was expanding its efforts.

Read more on EFF.

Long press release – just grab thereport...

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=22973

StudyExamines the Aftermath of Data Breaches

To access the full “Aftermath of aData Breach” Report, visit www.Experian.com/PonemonAftermathStudy.

“When we said there had been anattack what we meant was there had not been an attack.” Isn't thisthe very definition of Double-Speak? OR If you have no idea how toprevent/detect/resolve/mitigate a security breach, deny it everhappened (AKA North Korea Speak?)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-57366341-245/dhs-disputes-memo-on-purported-railway-computer-breach/

DHSdisputes memo on purported railway computer breach

The Department of Homeland Security isdisputing a government memo obtained by Nextgov.com that said atargeted attack on the computer network of a railway company in theNorthwest disrupted train service in early December.

"Following more in-depth analysis,it appears that the potential cyber incident did not in fact target atransportation entity," a senior DHS official told CNET today. "DHS worked with the affected entity, [which ofcourse was not affected Bob] the FBI, and theTransportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) toresolve the issue [which needed no resolution Bob] andsend alerts to notify the community of the anomalousactivity as it was occurring." [Assuring them that it neverhappened Bob]

… Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for theAssociation of American Railroads (AAR), which also was representedat the meeting, said the memo was inaccurate. " Therewas no targetedcomputer-based attack on a railroad," [So it was a randomattack? Was it on an airline rather than a railroad? Can't you justsay “There was no attack?” Bob] AAR spokeswoman HollyArthur told Nextgov.com.

The problem with acting like BigBrother is that people notice...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=26872

Departmentof Justice Misdirection on Cloud Computing and Privacy

January 25, 2012 by Dissent

Cindy Cohn and Katitza Rodriguez of EFFwrite:

Does using cloudcomputing services based in the United States create a risk of US lawenforcement access to people’s data? The US Department of Justice(DOJ) seems to be trying to placate international concern by sayingone thing in international fora; but it says something quitedifferent in the US courts.

On January 18, asenior Justice Department official tried to reassurecompanies and people around the world that hosting their data in theUnited States creates no increased privacy risk for them from the USgovernment. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz noted:“Cloud computing has important advantages to consumers (but)doesn’t present any issues that have not always been present. Certainly not regarding Internet service issues, but even beforethat.”

Apparently, theDOJ is reacting to decisions by foreign entities to drop US-basedservices due to concerns about US government access, includingBritish company BAEdropping Microsoft Office 365 and the Dutch government ‘shesitation about allowing its contractors to use US-based cloudservices. In the past, Denmarkand Canadahave also voiced their concerns about the level of protection theUnited States can provide to their citizens’ data. EU publictenders of cloud services are also avoidingUS cloud services for the same reasons. European -basedcompanies, which have to comply with EU data protection law, see thisopportunity as a competitive advantage, as do Australian cloud services.

Yet the DOJ’sreassurances ring hollow. While the DOJ may spin its position oneway to try to appease foreign audiences, its actual position is quiteclear where it really matters: in US courts when it is trying toaccess subscriber information held by US-based cloud computingservices. Indeed, the DOJ’s position in its court filings is thatvery little, if any, privacy protection is available against USgovernment access to the records of users of US-based cloud computingservices.

Read more on EFF.

(Related) We are the world'spolicemen...

ForeignData Unsafe From US Patriot Act, Says American Law Firm

"A prestigious law firm warnsnon-U.S.businesses their data is unsafe from costly and invasive raids byAmerican law enforcement even if they host their data in theirown countries. The wide interpretation of the USA Patriot Actensures U.S. cops can legally demand data from almost anyone,anywhere for any reason and countries and their citizens are largelypowerless to resist. The advice has resonance with the arrest thisweek of Kim 'Dotcom' on alleged copyright violations in the U.S."

Was this survey taken online?

FederalJudges Wary of Facebook, Twitter Impact On Juries

"The impact of social mediasuch as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and others on federal juries isa concern that judges are frequently taking steps to curb. Accordingto a study 94% of the 508 federal judges who responded said they havespecifically barredjurors from any case-connected use of social media."

[From the article:

Approximately one quarter of theresponding judges reported confiscating cell phones and otherelectronic devices, with 22% (113 judges) doing so at the start ofeach day of trial and 29% (147 judges) doing so during deliberations.

It is clear that I will neverunderstand the legal mind...

Non-CopiedPhoto Is Ruled Copyright Infringement

"A UK judge ruled that aphotograph inspired by another photograph, but clearly different fromit, infringesthe original photo's copyright. The two photographs were shot inthe same location, have the same subject, and use the samedistinctive post-processing treatment. However, the angle andcomposition are different. From the article: '[The judge] said adifficult decision hinged on a "qualitative assessment of thereproduced elements." He defined Fielder's image a"photographic work," as distinct from a simply aphotograph, in that "its appearance is the product of deliberatechoices and also deliberate manipulations by the author," andconcluded that those aspects had been copied.'"

A new field for Computer Law students?

AutonomousVehicles and the Law

"Google's autonomous cars havedemonstrated that self-drivingvehicles are now largely workable and could greatly limit humanerror, but questions of legal liability, privacy and insuranceregulation have yet to be addressed. Simple questions, like whetherthe police should have the right to pull over autonomous vehicles,have yet to be answered and legal scholars and government officialswarn that societyhas only begun wrestling with laws required for autonomous vehicles. The big question remains legal liability for the designers andmanufacturers as some point out that liabilityexemptions have been mandated for vaccines, which are believed tooffer great value for the general health of the population, despitesome risks. 'Why would you even put money into developing it?' saysGary E. Marchant, director of the Center for Law, Science andInnovation at the Arizona State University law school. 'I see thisas a huge barrier to this technology unless there are some policyways around it.' Congress could consider creating a comprehensiveregulatory regime to govern the use of these technologies sayresearchers at the Rand Corporation adding that while federalpreemption has important disadvantages, it might speedthe development and utilization of these technologies (PDF) andshould be considered, if accompanied by a comprehensive federalregulatory regime. 'This may minimize the number of inconsistentlegal regimes that manufacturers face and simplify and speed theintroduction of these technologies.'"

Something for the Criminal Justicestudents...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=26877

DOJWants to Know Who’s Rejecting Your Friend Requests

January 25, 2012 by Dissent

Jennifer Lynch of EFF writes:

In the latest turnin our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuitfor records related to the government’s use of social networkingwebsites, the Department of Justice finally agreed to releasealmost 100 pages of new records. These include draftsearch warrants and affidavits for Facebook and MySpaceand several PowerPoint presentations and articles on how to usesocial networking sites for investigations. (For more onwhat we’ve learned from the documents so far, see our earlier blogposts here,here,here,here,here,and here.)

The draft searchwarrants are particularly interesting because they show the fullextent of data the government regularly requests on a person it’sinvestigating. This includes not just your full profile informationbut also who you “poke” (and presumably who “pokes” you), whorejects your friend requests, which apps you use, what music youlisten to, your privacy settings, all photos you upload as well asany photos you’re tagged in (whether or not you upload them), who’sin each of your Facebook groups, and IP logs that can show if andwhen you viewed a specific profile and from what IP address you didso.

Read more on EFF.

For those of us who like to read...

http://news.yahoo.com/library-e-catalogs-offer-expanded-selection-121853076.html;_ylt=Artq2gZpNhq2jih3O0x0yC5xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTQyMWl2b3ZpBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBFbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50U0YEcGtnA2JlMGI3NDAyLWM5YTktM2Y2NS04NDNkLTg4MGQ5OGVlZTM2YgRwb3MDNgRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgNiZTYyMzVlMC00NzYyLTExZTEtYWJkZS1mMzYxOTdiMjE1YmE-;_ylg=X3oDMTIxZWtlZm9vBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANlbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50BHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

New library e-catalogs offerexpanded selection

Library users searching for e-books will soon get to look through amuch bigger catalog and help decide what their local branch mightcarry.

OverDrive Inc., a major e-distributor for libraries, announcedWednesday the launch of a vastly expanded list for patrons, featuringnot just e-books available for lending, but hundreds of thousands ofthose which include a collected of Edgar Allan Poe stories edited byMichael Connelly to foreign-language titles. Viewers can look atexcerpts, purchase books from a retailer or request that theirlibrary add an e-book that wasn't being offered.

http://search.overdrive.com/

Interesting. Congress wants to useFacebook and I'm sure Facebook wants to use Congress... (Saintspreserve us from Congressmen who pretend to be hackers)

http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/66383

CongressionalFacebook Hackathon

January 25, 2012 15:20 Source: U.S.Congress

From the pressrelease:

Today, HouseDemocratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Majority Leader EricCantor (R-VA) issued the following report, outlining the discussionsheld at the first-ever Congressional Facebook Hackathon. The eventbrought together a bipartisan group of Members of Congress,Congressional staffers, Facebook developers and digital innovators toexplore the connections between legislative data, constituentcorrespondence, and social media.

+ Directlink to full report (PDF; 1.4 MB)

Should make my free WikiSpaceseducation account even easier to use.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

NewDrag and Drop File Uploads in Wikispaces

The popular wiki-building serviceWikispacesrecently made an handy enhancement to their user interface. The newfeature is the option to upload files by simply dragging them fromyour desktop to the wiki you're working on. I've included twoscreenshots of the process below.

Another Infographic...

http://pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2012/The-Millennials-Infographic.aspx

TheMillennials: Infographic

(Related) Build your own...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

SevenTools for Creating Data Visualizations

Here are seven tools that students canuse to build data visualizations.

2012-01-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

“I vant to suck your DNA” CountDracula Jr.

The advantage of DNA beyondidentification is we can predict future crimes these so-calledcitizens might commit...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=26858

ACLUCalls on State Legislators to Reject Bill Expanding DNA Testing ofArrestees

January 24, 2012 by Dissent

The American Civil Liberties Union ofOhio will testify today before the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committeeopposing Senate Bill 268. The legislation will expand thegovernment’s ability to take DNA samples from felony arrestees byallowing the state retroactively to seize genetic information frompast arrestees and those charged with a felony but not arrested. In2009, the Ohio General Assembly passed S. B. 77, which allowed thestate to obtain DNA samples from those arrested on felony charges.

“DNA is perhaps the most personalinformation our bodies contain, and the government must not simplytake it without considering the privacy of Ohioans,” said ACLU ofOhio Associate Director Gary Daniels. “Those who have beenarrested for a crime have not been found guilty in a court of law,nor have they had any opportunity to defend themselves. This systemallows innocent people’s genetic information to become property ofthe state without any due process.”

“Neither this legislation nor currentlaw provides meaningful opportunity for innocent Ohioans to removetheir DNA from state databases if they were wrongfully accused of acrime,” added Daniels. “By expanding the power to collect DNAeven further, state legislators will open a Pandora’s box where lawenforcement may abuse their ability to arrest to perform an end-runaround due process protections.”

S. B. 268 would direct the DNAinformation to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to check againstpast records and keep on file. News reports have indicated that BCIand local law enforcement often have long backlogs on testing DNAevidence such as rape kits. On December 5, 2011, Ohio AttorneyGeneral Mike DeWine recommended that local law enforcement send rapekits to BCI for testing, and pledged to add staff to accommodate theincrease. Recently, the Department of Justice and state officials inMichigan and Illinois have warned legislators against addingadditional DNA collection categories in order to avoid creatingadditional logjams.

“Unnecessarily collecting DNA willclog law enforcement systems, violate Ohioans’ privacy, andincrease costs,” concluded Daniels. “State legislators shouldfocus on testing rape kits and other evidence that has sat on shelvesrather than adding more DNA to test that may lead to nothing.”

Source: ACLU

By Dissent,January 24, 2012

Dionne Cordell-Whitney reports:

Minnesota collectsDNA samples from newborn children, then illegally keeps the geneticinformation and shares it with third parties without informed consentof the parents, parents say in a class action.

Lead plaintiffsNathan and Katrina Anderson sued the state, the Minnesota Departmentof Health, and its commissioner, in Hennepin County Court.

They claim thatstate violated its own Genetic Privacy Act by collecting, storing anddisseminating their children’s genetic information without informedconsent.

Read more about the lawsuit onCourthouseNews.

Another example of a school adoptingtechnology without explanation. (We're in charge and we know best?) I suspect that if they had tried to get parents aboard this wouldhave been viewed as beneficial.

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=26854

MO:Parkway School District shelves fitness monitors

January 24, 2012 by Dissent

Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian reports:

The Parkway SchoolDistrict is taking away activity monitors given to elementary pupilsfor physical education classes due to a nationalcontroversy over privacy issues.

The 75 PolarActive devices, which are worn on the wrist and cost $90 each, weredistributed last year to third-, fourth- and fifth-grade pupils atHenry, Ross and Shenandoah Valley elementary schools. The pupilswere using them to measure the quality and duration of their exertionduring PE classes then comparing those measurements to the U.S.Surgeon General’s recommendations for activity.

Read more on EFF.

Is it conceivable that they could win? Would that be “proof” that the US needs even more “copyrightowner's control of congress?”

MusicIndustry Sues Irish Government For Piracy

"The music industry hasinitiated a lawsuitagainst the Irish government for nothaving blocking laws on the books; on the theorythat if blocking laws were in place then filesharing would go away. On Tuesday the music industry issued a plenary summons against theIrish government which is the first step towards making thislitigation possible. This all began in October 2010 (EMIv. UPC), when an Irish judge ruled that Irish law did not permitan order to be made against an ISP requiring blocking of websites. Recently several ISPs across the European Union have been ordered bycourts toblock thepiratebay.org through legal maneuvers."

Did Facebook contribute as much to theObama campaign as Google? (Just asking...)

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/12/more-more-more/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

GoogleAnd The Monopoly Paradox

With the deep inclusion of Google+ intoSearch, Google is tempting fate. We’vebeen over this. A lot. Andthis story is going to continue for some time to come. Itsure looks like Google is almost asking for an inquiry intopotentially anti-competitive practices (andit’s coming). Which is insane. So the next logical questionis why? Why is Google risking so much to do this?

My colleague Erichad a very interesting theory earlier. Maybe Google’s realmotive is to get the government to also look into Facebook’soften-unfair practices with regard to their network ahead of theirIPO. If social and not search is indeed thefuture, call this pre-subversion. And if there’s any shred oftruth to this theory, more power to Google — it’s rather genius(though still extremely risky).

What names will be taken, what nameswill not. $185,000 for “.truth” but nothing for “.logical?”

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/01/top-level-domain-land-grab/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

CompaniesPrepare for Land Grab of New ‘Generic’ Top-Level Domains

From this Thursday (midnightUTC) companies can apply to the Internet Corporation for AssignedNames and Numbers (ICANN) for the domain name suffix of theirchoosing — from dot brand (.brand) or dot product (.camera, forexample) through to generic terms like .food, .hotel or .pugs. Theyhave until April 12 to get their applications, along with the$185,000 fee, to ICANN. After that date it is expected that furtherapplications won’t be accepted for at least two or three years.

Perhaps a “Free Movie Night” at theU?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Full-lengthMovies - Animal Farm and 1984

Here is some more evidence of why OpenCulture is one of my favorite blogs to read. This morning theyposted two great YouTube discoveries; full-length productions ofGeorge Orwell's 1984and AnimalFarm. I've embedded AnimalFarm below.

OpenCulture has included both works as freeebooks and audiobooksin their collections.

Applicationsfor Education

If you use either 1984 or AnimalFarm in your classroom (I had to read both in high school), youmight want to show parts or all of these videos to your studentsafter they have read the books. If you want to use just a part ofone of the videos you might want to try using one of thesetools to clip the section that you need.

I'm thinking of translating my Master'sThesis into “Super Bob Saves the World!”

CreateCBR/CBZ Files To Distribute Your Comic Strip Or Graphic Novel

… If you’re interested increating and publishing your own comic or graphic novel anddistributing it online, you will probably want to use these formats;they’re the most common, they’re easy to create and arerecognized by most comic book readers.

[and when I'm done:

Comic Book Readers

For Windows, youmight use ComicRack

Mac OS comicreaders include Comical

On the iPhone youmight try CloudReaders

Android users havethe benefit of DroidComic Viewer

Windows Phoneusers can run the LindyComics app

Ultimately it is easier to use a comicreader than use a standard PDF reader (although many comic readerswill support PDFs); indeed, it is possible to convertPDFs directly to CBZ format files.

(Related) But then, maybe I'll have mystudents do it for me!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57357591-264/amazon-time-to-start-programming-your-e-books/

Amazon:Time to start programming your e-books

The dividing line between writing booksand writing programs just got a big step blurrier.

That's because Amazon has now releasedtools for creating books using Web technologies. Those toolsinclude Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), used to describe Web pages,and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), used for formatting.

2012-01-11T08:02:00.002-07:00

The first rule when making statementslike this is: Don't be wrong. A banking relationship is built ontrust. Lie to your customers, even unintentionally and you facedoom. (If your systems are secure how about your vendors andconsultants?)

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=22791

Saudidenies bank info breach by Israeli hackers (updated)

January 10, 2012 by admin

Tarek El-Tablawy reports:

A top Saudibanking official on Tuesday denied an Israeli media report thathackers from Israel obtained credit card and bank account details ofthousands of Saudi citizens, retaliating for an attack on Israeliaccounts.

Talaat Hafez,secretary-general of the media office in the kingdom’s bankingauthority, denied a report by the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot thatIsraeli hackers were threatening to release the financial informationthey obtained if hackers continue to publish Israeli credit detailson line.

Hafez was quotedby the Saudi online newspaper Sabq.org as saying that Saudi bankcustomers’ financial information was safe and there was “no needfor customers to be concerned” because Saudi banks’ informationnetworks were very secure.