Gosh, we never thought of that...

http://breachblog.com/2008/10/29/medmutual.aspx?ref=rss

Eleven missing disks containing sensitive pensioner information

Posted by Evan Francen at 10/29/2008 2:41 PM

"Cleveland - Eleven computer disks containing personal information on thousands of Ohio retirees are missing and are believed to be somewhere in the US Postal Service, Medical Mutual of Ohio announced today."

... Medical Mutual said it was notified by the retiree systems when the disks failed to arrive at their Columbus offices.

The disks were contained in packages routinely mailed monthly by Medical Mutual for claims reconciliation purposes to the affected parties’ central offices in Columbus

... "We are confident that we will locate them. We ask Ohio Retirement System (ORS) members not be alarmed. Our investigation, so far, indicates that insufficient postage was placed on the envelopes, [“Other than being able to calculate the proper postage, we're very competent people!” Bob] therefore we believe they are likely to still be safe within the postal system," he added.

... Going forward, SERS is requiring a change in the way this information is delivered by its medical vendors. SERS expects all information to be delivered electronically in a secure, encrypted fashion. [“An exhaustive two minutes of research shows this has been the recommended “Best Practice” for years, so our Lawyers suggest we think about perhaps, kinda, considering it.” Bob]

Security Theater: Sounds to me like DC is jealous that NY got Federal (i.e. taxpayer)l money to conduct random searches and they didn't. Have they EVER detected anything remotely connected to terrorists?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081030062544260

Metro to Randomly Search Riders' Bags

Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 06:25 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Metro officials yesterday announced plans to immediately begin random searches of backpacks, purses and other bags in a move they say will protect riders and also guard their privacy and minimize delays.

The program is modeled after one begun three years ago in New York that has withstood legal challenges.

Source - Washington Post

[From the araticle:

"We realize that all Americans everywhere are at some risk from terrorism, and that those of us who live and work in the region of the nation's capital face increased risks," ['cause we're more important than everyone else... Bob] Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said at a news conference yesterday.

U.S. intelligence agencies have long warned that the weeks just before an election and immediately after are considered a "zone of vulnerability" [I'll bet they said “time of increased vulnerability” not “zone” but that would suggest that the serches (and increased budget) should end at some point... Bob] for the country. The teams tasked with helping the winner of next week's presidential election transition into office also have been warned about the heightened chances of attack.

... No advance notice will be given, but just before inspections begin, Metro police will post signs alerting riders. [Oxymoronic? Bob]

I'll use the same argument the anti-gun registration lobby uses. If it is too much hassle to buy phones, crooks will just steal them – it is, after all, what they do for a living...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081030063631248

NZ: Call to register prepaid cellphones 'an intrusion'

Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 06:36 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A call for prepaid cellphone customers to be registered to stop criminals using them has been labelled an unnecessary intrusion into people's lives.

Police yesterday called for the register because criminals often used prepaid phones, which can be bought without identification, because they believe they cannot be traced and can be disposed of easily.

But Auckland Council for Civil Liberties president Barry Wilson said the plan was over the top and could result in innocent people getting caught up unnecessarily in police inquiries.

Source - New Zealand Herald Thanks to Brian Honan for this link.

With the number of data breaches the UK government has had revently, I suspect they see the cost of a notification law as exceeding their defense budget!

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081030063443362

UK: Watchdog: 'No to US-style data laws'

Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 06:34 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

US-style personal data breach notification is not a workable model for the UK, the UK's information watchdog told RSA delegates.

In a keynote address, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said: “I am not convinced by legislation that requires companies to individually warn the public if their details have been compromised. The severity and circumstances of each breach merit a different response, and mandatory notification doesn't take this into account. It would be a significant additional burden for businesses, and could cause public 'breach fatigue'". [A letter a day would tend to make you cranky... Bob]

Source - SC Magazine Thanks to Brian Honan for this link.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081030064011822

Schneier sticks it to surveillance

Thursday, October 30 2008 @ 06:40 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Security guru Bruce Schneier has challenged the view that privacy and security are at loggerheads, suggesting the real debate is between liberty and control.

Schneier, security technologist and CTO of BT Counterpane, made the comments during a keynote address at the RSA Conference in London on Tuesday. He sees ubiquitous surveillance and measures such as identity cards tipping the balance towards the state, describing them as stepping stones towards a future where checks become less obtrusive while simultaneously more all-encompassing.

Source - The Register Thanks to Brian Honan for this link.

[From the article:

"Identity checks will fade into the background," Schneier said. "At the moment there are CCTV cameras everywhere and you can see them. There are identity checks everywhere and you know it is happening. Five years ago these technologies weren't everywhere and in five years' time they won't be visible."

Tools & Techniques Hack like a terrorist. (TOR has been available for a while, but this is a good “optimizing” article)

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ultimate_Security_Proxy_With_Tor

Ultimate Security Proxy With Tor

howtoforge.com — Nowadays,within the growing web 2.0 environment you may want to have some anonymity,and use other IP addresses than your own IP. Or, for some special purposes - a few IPs or more, frequently changed. So no one will be able to track you. A solution exists, and it is called Tor Project, or simply tor. Here's how to pull maximum out of it.

http://howtoforge.com/ultimate-security-proxy-with-tor

Tools & Techniques This could be useful for those “not very aggressive” websites you want to monitor...

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/feedbeater-com-turn-any-url-into-a-rss-feed

FeedBeater.com - Turn Any URL Into A RSS Feed

http://www.feedbeater.com

The FeedBeater website serves one concise aim, namely enabling its users to turn any given URL into a RSS feed. This service is not only rendered in an entirely hassle-free manner, but it is also available at no cost.

Upon setting your browser to FeedBeater.com, you will be greeted with a box where you can type in or paste the URL of the site in question. Once this has been done, you simply click on the “Beat It!” button and then a RSS feed is generated instantly.

The site claims to produce clean and intelligent RSS feeds by identifying new content and applying a filter that leaves out any unimportant elements of the concerned site.

Further features include a FeedBeater bookmarklet that can be used to syndicate any page that you visit. This can be found under the “Widgets” heading, along with a script that will enable your site visitors to syndicate any page on your website.

Boy, dem Haavard guys is smart! But is dey right?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/29/2144235&from=rss

RIAA Litigation May Be Unconstitutional

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 29, @06:05PM from the what-about-ritchie-chaz-and-margot? Dept. The Courts The Almighty Buck United States

dtjohnson writes

"A Harvard law school professor has submitted arguments on behalf of Joel Tenenbaum in RIAA v. Tenenbaum in which Professor Charles Neeson claims that the underlying law that the RIAA uses is actually a criminal, rather than civil, statute and is therefore unconstitutional. According to this article, 'Neeson charges that the federal law is essentially a criminal statute in that it seeks to punish violators with minimum statutory penalties far in excess of actual damages. The market value of a song is 99 cents on iTunes; of seven songs, $6.93. Y et the statutory damages are a minimum of $750 per song, escalating to as much as $150,000 per song for infringement "committed willfully."' If the law is a criminal statute, Neeson then claims that it violates the 5th and 8th amendments and is therefore unconstitutional. Litigation will take a while but this may be the end for RIAA litigation, at least until they can persuade Congress to pass a new law."

It is always cheaper to do it right in the first place...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019672.html

October 29, 2008

New on LLRX - E-Discovery Update: Pushing Back Against Hardcopy ESI Productions

E-Discovery Update: Pushing Back Against Hardcopy ESI Productions - Conrad J. Jacoby addresses how critical technology issues related to document authenticity and document-associated metadata have left fewer lawyers willing to accept e-mail messages and other electronic documents in print format. He argues that litigants choosing to produce electronically stored information in hardcopy format should be prepared to provide more complete electronic copies of their production, even when it isn’t initially requested by opposing counsel.

[From the article:

Sometimes, however, a second production of electronically stored information is both necessary and appropriate. A recent Kansas case, White v. Graceland College Center For Professional Development & Lifelong Learning, 2008 WL 3271924 (D. Kan. Aug. 7, 2008) provides step by step instruction in the steps that a dissatisfied requesting party can take to seek re-production of materials previously produced in a different format. While this opinion is far from the only authority on how a distressed party can seek this relief, the Court distilled guidance from a number of e-discovery opinions into an easily understood, plain-English discussion. Even without its citations, the opinion nicely demonstrates the preparation required to seek this relief.

Attention peasants! The King's proclamations will no longer be nailed to the village bulletin board!

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019681.html

October 29, 2008

Online News Readership Grows as Print News Shrinks or Disappears

As print media decline, so does the amount of available information, by David Carr, IHT: "It has been an especially rotten few days for people who type on deadline. [Because deadlines always occur after the news hits the Internet. Bob] Just Tuesday, The Christian Science Monitor announced that, after a century, it would cease publishing a weekday paper. Time Inc., the Olympian home of Time magazine, Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated, announced that it was cutting 600 jobs and reorganizing its staff. And Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, compounded the grimness by announcing it was laying off 10 percent of its work force - as many as 3,000 people...The paradox of all these announcements is that newspapers and magazines do not have an audience problem - newspaper Web sites are a vital source of news and growing - but they do have a consumer problem."

Related. This is very “niche market” journalism. Only a few geeks will be interested, so it is unlikely to every make the New York Times Book Review... Isn't having it availble a good thing?

Tools & Techniques for Reverse Engineering and Hacking

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/29/1335225&from=rss

The IDA Pro Book

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 29, @12:49PM from the read-all-about-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes

"After attending DEFCON in August and seeing the overwhelming interest in this book, I was eager to dive into The IDA Pro Book by Chris Eagle. Chris Eagle's team, School of Root, won the 'Capture the Flag' event at DEFCON this year and Chris gave a presentation on CollabREate, a tool that integrates with IDA Pro to allow collaboration in reverse engineering (RE). All of that — together with the fact that the book sold out — screamed that this book should quickly make it to the top of my list."

Read below for the rest of Ryan's review.

Is that so? (Best I can do with only two cups of coffee...)

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019673.html

October 29, 2008

New on LLRX - Leadership & The Role Of Information: Making The Creatively Informed Questioner

Leadership & The Role Of Information: Making The Creatively Informed Questioner - Stuart Basefsky supports the concept that the quintessential leader is an informed leader. However, effectively communicating and leveraging the power of information, in leadership roles, is subject to a range of interpretations that he discusses in this forward thinking series.

[From the article:

Common to the best leaders, however, is one distinguishing factor - the ability to use information creatively in raising questions. It is this ability to raise relevant, provocative, insightful, and often path-finding questions that separates true leaders from those who may be occupying a leadership position

Oh boy! Legal PowerPoints!

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019675.html

October 29, 2008

United Nations Office of Legal Affairs Launches Audiovisual Library of International Law

The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs launched the Audiovisual Library of International Law. [Lorraine Pellicano Waitman]

• "The Audiovisual Library is a unique, multimedia resource which provides the United Nations with the unprecedented capacity to provide high quality international law training and research materials to an unlimited number of recipients on a global level. The Audiovisual Library consists of three pillars: (1) the Historic Archives containing documents and audiovisual materials relating to the negotiation and adoption of significant legal instruments under the auspices of the United Nations and related agencies since 1945; (2) the Lecture Series featuring a permanent collection of lectures on virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners from different countries and legal systems; and (3) the Research Library providing an on-line international law library with links to treaties, jurisprudence, publications and documents, scholarly writings and research guides. The Audiovisual Library is available to all individuals and institutions around the world for free via the Internet."

For my Security students...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081029055841317

Finjan unveils how cybercriminals steal corporate data and store it on remote crimeservers

Wednesday, October 29 2008 @ 05:58 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Finjan Inc., has announced that its Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC) has documented step-by-step how corporate data is being stolen and stored on remote servers owned by criminals. In its October 2008 Malicious Page of the Month report, Finjan describes how a corporate user, while browsing the web for his regular business needs, got infected with a Trojan.

Source - bjhcim.co.uk

[Finjan Page of the Mainth: http://www.finjan.com/Content.aspx?id=1367

Winning hearts and minds... (Does this only happen in China?)

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081028/ap_on_hi_te/china_microsoft_blacked_out

Microsoft goes black, making Chinese see red (AP)

Posted on Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:40PM EDT

SHANGHAI, China - An anti-piracy tactic by Microsoft Corp. that turns some computer users' screens black has set off a wave of indignation among Chinese consumers, posing renewed problems for the software maker in the huge China market.

... "It's a crime," said Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei, who filed a complaint against Microsoft with the Public Security Ministry. The ministry hasn't responded. "The black-screen plan implies that Microsoft can hack all its users, not just the pirates," Dong said. "That's not fair."

At issue is Windows Genuine Advantage, a tool Microsoft uses to assess, over the Internet, whether a PC has one of the pirated copies of Windows that flourish in developing countries. The tool was developed after Windows XP was released, but has since been added to updated copies of the operating system. The technology was built into Vista, the latest edition of Windows, from the start.

As the tool scans for pirated copies of Windows, it logs certain information about computers, notifies users if it detects illegal copies or counterfeits — and urges them to get a legitimate copy.

Windows Genuine Advantage has been in use worldwide for several years. The update that started to affect Chinese PC users last week did exactly what it was intended to do: get people's attention.

Now when the tool detects a fake copy of Windows, it turns the PC's desktop black, replacing the user's background image. Though the user can override the blackout, it reappears every 60 minutes.

In all other ways, the blacked-out computer still works, thanks in part to an outcry last year. In Microsoft's first attempt to step up notifications for pirated software, Windows Genuine Advantage crippled Vista's snappy user interface and disabled other features. Microsoft backed down and settled on the blacked-out desktop as a compromise.

If you comply, can you still say, “I didn't know?”

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019669.html

October 28, 2008

Information Technology Risks and Controls and Fair Credit Reporting Act

OTS 08-051 - OTS Issues New Examination Procedures on Identity Theft Red Flags and Address Discrepancies: "This Regulatory Bulletin transmits revised Examination Handbook Section 341, Information Technology Risks and Controls, and revised Examination Handbook Section 1300, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The revised Handbook Sections contain new guid-ance and examination procedures for the final rules on Identity Theft Red Flags and Address Discrepancies, which implement Sections 114 and 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Trans-actions Act (FACT Act) of 2003. This bulletin rescinds RB 37-15 dated April 20, 2006."

Google does evil? Isn't a compromise with the “old school” evil?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019664.html

October 28, 2008

Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement

News release: "The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google today announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search... Under the agreement, Google will make payments totaling $125 million. The money will be used to establish the Book Rights Registry, to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers and to cover legal fees. The settlement agreement resolves Authors Guild v. Google, a class-action suit filed on September 20, 2005 by the Authors Guild and certain authors, and a suit filed on October 19, 2005 by five major publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; Pearson Education, Inc. and Penguin Group (USA) Inc., both part of Pearson; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; and Simon & Schuster, Inc. part of CBS Corporation. These lawsuits challenged Google’s plan to digitize, search and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission of the copyright owner."

• The Future of Google Book Search - Our groundbreaking agreement with authors and publishers.

• Related postings on Google Book Search

Is the Judge asking the RIAA to have pity on their victims? I doubt they will change their strategy that easily! Costly litigation is a strategic tool.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/28/203218&from=rss

Judge Tells RIAA To Stop 'Bankrupting' Litigants

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday October 28, @04:50PM from the also-bake-them-cookies dept. The Courts

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes

"The Boston judge who has consolidated all of the RIAA's Massachusetts cases into a single case over which she has been presiding for the past 5 years delivered something of a rebuke to the RIAA's lawyers, we have learned. At a conference this past June, the transcript of which (PDF) has just been released, Judge Nancy Gertner said to them that they 'have an ethical obligation to fully understand that they are fighting people without lawyers... to understand that the formalities of this are basically bankrupting people, and it's terribly critical that you stop it ...' She also acknowledged that 'there is a huge imbalance in these cases. The record companies are represented by large law firms with substantial resources,' while it is futile for self-represented defendants to resist. The judge did not seem to acknowledge any responsibility on her part, however, for having created the 'imbalance,' and also stated that the law is 'overwhelmingly on the side of the record companies,' even though she seems to recognize that for the past 5 years she has been hearing only one side of the legal story."

Interesting, but if IBM is creating what is essentially a standalone computer on a thumbdrive, why not build it into a handheld device (PDA or cellphone) and ignore the laptop entirely?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10077655-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Banking security on a USB stick

Posted by Elinor Mills October 28, 2008 10:01 PM PDT

IBM was set to unveil on Wednesday a prototype USB device designed to protect people doing online banking from having their data stolen or compromised.

The device, which looks like a memory stick with an integrated display, creates a secure channel to a bank's online transaction server. The connection bypasses the user's PC, which could be infected with viruses and other malware that make sending financial information over the Internet unsafe.

The user can log on and validate transactions using the device's display and a smart card can be inserted into the device, providing an added layer of security to protect transmissions from man-in-the-middle interceptions, IBM said.

Might be useful, but it seems redundant. What would be useful is an interactive guide to Google Hacks, demonstrating how to use all the Google features. For instance, I use it frequently to identify acronyms (define: SAAS) and in my math classes as a calculator or table lookup (sine 28 degrees)

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/simply-google-com-roundup-of-google-services

Simply-Google.com - Roundup Of Google Services

http://www.simply-google.com

This web-service was created with the objective of encapsulating all the different products and services that Google offers into a single and self-contained page. The person behind this concept terms it “a roundup of every Google search and service out there on one convenient page”, and this is exactly what the site stands for.

Could be useful. I can spot the books/authors I want and get on the waiting list at my local library (maybe even earlier than #629!)

http://www.killerstartups.com/eCommerce/windowshop-com-amazon-window-shop

WindowShop.com - Amazon Window Shop

http://www.windowshop.com

Those who have a soft spot for online shopping and are hooked up on Amazon have arrived at the right place. The Amazon Window Shop is a new way of browsing through products which have been recently released, and have a taster of what each full product has to offer.

Basically, the site is updated every Tuesday. That day, samples from a new batch of products are uploaded to the site for you to delve upon. This approach dispenses with text-based advertising and lets you see trailers from the new movies that have added to the catalog, as well as listening to the most notable tracks from albums which have just hit the streets. There are also audio reviews of recommended books.

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/29/0516228&from=rss

MTV Launches Music Video Site

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday October 29, @08:15AM from the guess-what's-top-rated-right-now dept. Music The Internet

An anonymous reader writes

"MTV Music has just launched a website where they offer over 16,000 music videos — like YouTube, but with fewer notices and DMCA takedowns. They've also set up development tools for third parties to incorporate the content into their own creations. Users creating accounts at the site face other challenges, however, such as the six separate agreements and privacy statements that must be accepted via a single checkbox. Thankfully, at the time of writing the MTV Music website was making this process easier on its Firefox 3 visitors by automatically checking the accept box whenever any agreement is viewed."

Think of this as hiring an “ID Theft trainer” for the state pen...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081027085101523

Identity theft ringleader gets 4 years in prison

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 08:51 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A French national has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for heading an identity theft ring that enlisted restaurant servers to swipe information from customers' credit cards in Southern California.

A federal judge in Santa Ana on Friday also ordered Kresimir Matuzovic to pay $1.3 million in restitution to banks he defrauded as part of his scheme.

Source - San Francisco Chronicle

Related Lawyers: Advise your rich, ID Theft clients to hire limos rather than drive themselves!

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081028050852384

NE: Stolen ID Sentencing

Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 05:08 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

... Eric J. Jordan was arrested in May 2008 after a traffic stop. At the time, Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz said Jordan attempted to steal a cruiser after being pulled over.

In Jordan’s possession were false ID’s and thousands of stolen personal documents. There was so much mail in his car, deputies could not see through it.

Source - WOWT

More than meets the eye?

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/28/0436243&from=rss

Student Charged With Three Felonies for Finding Security Flaw — and Reporting it

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 28, @05:35AM from the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished dept.

Well, yet another teenage hacker who "did the right thing" by reporting a security flaw is being punished for his actions. Although it definitely sounds like the whole story may not be in the clear yet, a 15-year-old New York high school student has been charged with three felonies claiming that he accessed a file containing social security numbers, driver's license numbers, and home addresses of past and present employees ... and then sent an anonymous email to the principal alerting him to the security flaw.

"All that was needed to access the information was a district password. School officials have admitted that thousands of students, faculty and employees could have accessed the same file for up to two weeks."

Related? Wise folks, those Canadians

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/27/2134214&from=rss

Canadian Court Rules "Hyperlink" Is Not Defamation

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday October 27, @06:54PM from the don't-tread-on-my-links dept. The Courts The Internet

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes

"In a landmark ruling, a Canadian court has ruled that a web site's publication of hyperlinks to an allegedly defamatory web site is not in and of itself a 'publication,' and therefore cannot in and of itself constitute defamation. In a 10-page decision [PDF], Crookes v. Wikimedia, Sup. Ct., British Columbia, Judge Keller dismissed the libel case against Jon Newton, the publisher of p2pnet.net, which was based on the fact that his article contained links to the allegedly defamatory site, since hyperlinks, the Court reasoned, are analogous to footnotes, rather than constituting a 'republication.' Mr. Newton was represented in the case by famous libel, slander, and civil liberties lawyer Dan Burnett of Vancouver, British Columbia."

Why should we assume this happens only to outsourced (off-shored actually) call centers?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081027120510393

How Outsourced Call Centers Are Costing Millions In Identity Theft

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 12:05 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A former Chase call center rep tells the story about this one thief who was able to rip off one customer for over $40,000, thanks to his constant outwitting out the internationally out-sourced security department. It wasn't that hard. Over and over again, he was able to commit credit card fraud just knowing the guy's name, social, and mother's maiden name.

Source - The Consumerist

Related – an interesting idea but probably will come about through “Don't export jobs” laws, which of course are impossible to implement...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081028050710229

AU: Do-not-export register wanted for data transfer

Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 05:07 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

PRIVACY advocates have proposed a register for Australians concerned about proposed changes that would allow businesses to send customer information to "dangerous" countries such as Russia.

Professor Graham Greenleaf, director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre at the University of NSW, says a Do Not Send Export my Data list will prove just as popular as the Do Not Call register, which now has more than 2.5 million subscribers who do not want to be called by direct marketers.

"If your bank manager said the bank had an amazing outsourcing deal, and it was going to send all your details to Russia, you'd be justifiably worried about your privacy," Greenleaf says.

Source - Australian IT

The value of a stolen ID has been falling for years as they devolve from the “luxury goods” category (available only on the criminal equivalent of Rodeo Drive) to “commodity goods” available at any 7-11.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008102715213057

Hackonomics

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 03:21 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Your personal identity isn't worth quite as much as it used to be—at least to thieves willing to swipe it.

According to experts who monitor such markets, the value of stolen credit card data may range from $3 to as little as 40 cents. That's down tenfold from a decade ago—even though the cost to an individual who has a credit card stolen can soar into the hundreds of dollars.

Source - Newsweek

Sometimes articles make me giggle...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081027081010394

UK: Lawyers Found Guilty of Failing to Defend Their Clients

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 08:10 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Your honour, I put it to you that members of the legal sector are guilty of gross negligence! 24% of UK legal firms have confessed to misplacing at least one mobile device containing confidential documents. These losses leave the data saved to the device vulnerable to exposure with case-notes, contracts and client details typically at risk. That’s the shocking discovery by Credant Technologies, a company specialising in IT security, in its survey amongst 100 legal firms across the UK to ascertain how this well-informed sector view “security, mobile devices and end-point protection”.

Source - International Business Times (press release)

[From the article:

37% of lawyers believed that if they did lose their mobile device it would be insecure as a hacker, or identity thief, is “cleverer than the average lawyer” and could access the data it contains. A paltry 13% of those that had lost a mobile device were confident it couldn’t be breached, or used against them, as only this small percentage of law firms were security savvy enough to encrypt the data residing on them.

... Over 90% of lawyers believe their data is protected because they are securing it with a password.

... The survey further revealed that one in five lawyers use their own mobile devices to store corporate and sensitive information – (a disclosure which will throw every respecting IT department into total apoplexy), as these devices slip under the companies IT security radar and out of the IT departments control so they can neither secure them, back-them-up or claim ownership of the information they contain if a lawyer were to leave the organisation.

What would prevent anyone from using a database for “purposes other than those for which it was created?” (Hint: Nothing, zip, nada)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008102708134438

MI: Bloomfield Hills schools' release of info prompts privacy fears

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 08:13 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Millions of parents in Michigan and nationwide are signed up to receive e-mail alerts from their schools. Most of the delivery systems were created in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks and were originally intended to quickly get word to parents about emergencies like lockdowns or evacuations.

.... But a controversy has erupted after about 12,000 parents in Bloomfield Hills schools received an e-mail earlier this month that was a campaign message for two school board candidates.

How did the candidates get the parents' e-mail addresses?

Bloomfield Hills school officials contend they were forced to release electronic copies of the e-mail address lists when two women made separate requests for the information last year under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Source - Detroit Free Press

Points to laws and other interesting stuff... (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm too lazy to go back through my September blogs to be sure.)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008102805022472

AU: 2007-08 Annual Report of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Tuesday, October 28 2008 @ 05:02 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The Operation of the Privacy Act Annual Report 2007-08 from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Australia

The Operation of the Privacy Act Annual Report 2007-08 -PDF (5 MB)

“Big Brother-ness” seems to be a trend...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081027075833484

International Telecommunication Union criticised for its role in internet snooping

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 07:58 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

At EuroDIG, the first European Dialogue on Internet Governance, the scientists and experts of the Council of Europe have sharply criticised the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for acting behind closed doors in its initiatives towards cybersecurity standardization.

... Just recently, the ITU's work on standards for back-tracing IP addresses caused something of a furore. Yet, said Bill Drake, a scientist at the Center for International Governance at the Graduate School in Geneva, this work was only a tiny part of the work being done in the sensitive area of IT security. He warned that China, Russia and the USA could become the new axis of evil, pushing forward the integration of new ways of snooping on the internet. There was in his view an ambitious agenda extending beyond technical questions all the way up to legal regulations to counter cybercrime.

Source - Heise Online

e-Discovery

http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/sedona-provides-new-much-needed-guidance-on-esi-preservation/

Sedona Provides New Much Needed Guidance on ESI Preservation

The Sedona Conference has once again written a helpful guide, this time on preservation and inaccessible data, entitled: Commentary on Preservation, Management and Identification of Sources of Information that are Not Reasonably Accessible. As usual, you can download a copy for individual use for free at The Sedona Conference’s website.

Related Perhaps a business that converts old/orphaned data to newer formats?

http://www.physorg.com/news144343006.html

'Digital dark age' may doom some data

The framed photograph will inevitably fade and yellow over time, but the digital photo file may be unreadable to future computers – an unintended consequence of our rapidly digitizing world that may ultimately lead to a "digital dark age," says Jerome P. McDonough, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

According to McDonough, the issue of a looming digital dark age originates from the mass of data spawned by our ever-growing information economy – at last count, 369 exabytes worth of data, including electronic records, tax files, e-mail, music and photos, for starters. (An exabyte is 1 quintillion bytes; a quintillion is the number 1 followed by 18 zeroes.)

Geek stuff. A “home computer” that you carry on your keychain.

http://lifehacker.com/5069054/battle-of-the-thumb-drive-linux-systems

Battle of the Thumb Drive Linux Systems

These days, it only takes an increasingly-cheap USB thumb drive and a program like UNetbootin to create a portable Linux desktop you can run on any computer that can boot from a USB port. But check out the list of distributions UNetbootin can download and install—it's huge, and the names don't tell you much about which distro is best for on-the-go computing. Today we're detailing four no-install distributions—Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, Xubuntu, and Fedora—and helping you decide which might work for that spare thumb drive you've got lying around, or as just a part of your multi-gig monster stick. Read on for a four-way faceoff of bootable Linux systems.

Interesting on many levels. Is this a marketing ploy, a political statement or a denial of service attack (servers are currently unreachable)

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/28/0354203&from=rss

Lame Duck Challenge Ends With Free Codeweavers Software For All

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 28, @07:30AM from the well-that-didn't-end-as-planned dept.

gzipped_tar writes to tell us that The Codeweavers "Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge" has ended in surprise and free software all day Tuesday (October 28, 2008) at the Codeweavers site. A while back Codeweavers gave President Bush a challenge to meet one of several goals before he left office. One of these goals was to lower gas prices in the Twin Cities below $2.79 a gallon, which has since transpired.

"How was I to know that President Bush would take my challenge so seriously? And, give the man credit, I didn't think there was *any* way he could pull it off. But engineering a total market meltdown - wow - that was pure genius. I clearly underestimated the man. I'm ashamed that I goaded him into this and take full responsibility for the collapse of any savings you might have. Please accept our free software as my way of apologizing for the global calamity we now find ourselves embroiled in."

...because...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081027052803744

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, October 27 2008 @ 05:28 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A recap of incidents or privacy breaches reported last week for those who enjoy shaking their head and muttering to themselves with their morning coffee.

Source - Chronicles of Dissent

This is the report the White House fiddled with...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019645.html

October 26, 2008

DHS Privacy Office Annual Report Annual Privacy Report to Congress, July 2007 to July 2008

DHS Privacy Office Annual Report Annual Privacy Report to Congress, July 2007 to July 2008 (100 pages, PDF)

Of course it's unplanned. That's the whole point!

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019641.html

October 26, 2008

Gartner and Nielsen Reports - Impact of Social Networking in Government and

• Gartner Says Citizen Social Networks Will Complement, and May Replace, Some Government Functions, Egham, UK, October 23, 2008 — "By 2011, 70 per cent of social computing deployments in government that achieve business benefits will do so in unplanned or unexpected ways, according to Gartner, Inc. Government organisations around the world are showing great interest in social computing, yet deployment so far is relatively limited... Today, the primary role of social networks for governments is to facilitate the exchange of information and to establish novel collaboration patterns, often across organisational boundaries."

• Nielsen Online Media Alert - Fastest Growing Social Networks for September 2008: Twitter.com, Tagged.com and Ning Lead in Year-Over Year Audience Growth

  • U.S. Department of State: Major Programs of the Office of eDiplomacy: "Diplopedia wiki - Launched in September 2006, Diplopedia is the State Department's internal unclassified online encyclopedia. Just as people create and edit articles on public wikis on the Internet, Department personnel are using Diplopedia to create a broad, informative and expanding reference tool for knowledge-sharing about the Department, its programs and offices, and other international affairs subjects."

Related. If we didn't plan for it, it must not exist? (Don't confuse me with facts?)

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/1213226&from=rss

Australian Government Ignoring Problems With Proposed Filters

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 26, @09:20AM from the la-la-la-i-can't-hear-you dept.

halll7 writes with an update to the proposed Australian national firewall we discussed recently. According to the BBC, "The official watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), has been conducting laboratory tests of six filtering products, and the government plans a live trial soon. ... After its recent trials, ACMA reported significant improvements on earlier studies. The network degradation on one product was less than 2%, although two products were in excess of 75%." Now, Ars Technica reports that "an Australian newspaper has uncovered documents showing that the government minister responsible for the program has ignored performance and accuracy problems with the filters, then tried to suppress criticism of the plan by private citizens." The EFA has a great deal to say in opposition of these plans.

Perhaps this is the replacement for Professional journals?

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/1358226&from=rss

Modern Methods For Sharing Innovation

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 26, @10:34AM from the let's-see-what-you've-got dept.

The New York Times is running a story about Johnny Chung Lee, a hardware hacker made famous for his projects which modified the Nintendo Wiimote to do things like positional head tracking and multi-touch display control. The article focuses on the suggestion that Lee's use of YouTube to demonstrate his innovations has done a better job of communicating his ideas than more traditional methods could. Quoting:

"He might have published a paper that only a few dozen specialists would have read. A talk at a conference would have brought a slightly larger audience. In either case, it would have taken months for his ideas to reach others. Small wonder, then, that he maintains that posting to YouTube has been an essential part of his success as an inventor. 'Sharing an idea the right way is just as important as doing the work itself,' he says. 'If you create something but nobody knows, it's as if it never happened.'"

Not yet on the scale of “Hanging Chad” -- but give it time...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/112912/81/554/642200

WIDESPREAD TOUCH SCREEN VOTE FLIPPING!!

by FreeSociety Sun Oct 26, 2008 at 08:29:12 AM PDT

... ES&S iVotronics touch screens have already been observed now in four completely separate States, flipping the votes, in the early voting that has taken place to date. Eye-witness reports of repeated, consistent flipping of votes (from Obama to McCain naturally) has already occurred in the States of: West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas that have had early voting.

Related? True of any hot topic, isn't it?

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/2236245&from=rss

Game-Related Education On the Rise At Colleges

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 26, @08:22PM from the best-kind-of-homework dept.

The LA Times has a story about the increased interest in learning how to make video games amongst college students, and the subsequent rise in game-related education as the schools respond to that demand. Some programs are gaining legitimacy, while others do perhaps more harm than good. Quoting:

"The surge in interest has led schools to add games to their menu — but not always to the benefit of its students. Recruiters say they often see 'mills' that run around-the-clock sessions to quickly churn out as many students as possible. Other programs teach specific skills but not how games are pulled together. 'It's a very hot academic growth area,' said Colleen McCreary, who runs EA's university relations program. 'I'm very worried about the number of community colleges and for-profit institutions, as well as four-year programs, that are using game design as a lure for students who are not going to be prepared for the real entry-level positions that the game industry wants.'"

Not unexpected, but how do the rest justify spending an “extra” $400?

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/1856226&from=rss

OpenOffice.org V3.0 Sets Download Record, 80% Windows

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 26, @03:31PM from the constant-companion dept. Software Sun Microsystems IT

thefickler writes

"The newest version of OpenOffice, version 3.0, has set a download record in its first week of availability. Most surprising is the fact that over 80% of downloads were from Windows users. As one commentator noted, when it comes to a choice between almost identical software (e.g. Microsoft Office and OpenOffice), price is the determining factor."

Dude! It's a medicinal taco!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081026/ap_on_fe_st/odd_marijuana_tacos

Colo. couple get marijuana with order of tacos

Sun Oct 26, 12:44 am ET

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – A Colorado couple found an unusual topping on their order of tacos: a small bag of marijuana.

They discovered the drugs with their order from a Del Taco restaurant and called police, said Lakewood police spokesman Steve Davis.

Twenty-six-year-old Dennis Klermund, who police say waited on the husband when he picked up food Oct. 16, faces charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

This is why I'm FROM New Jersey.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081026/ap_on_re_us/green_garbage

One man's garbage becomes another's power plant

By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer – Sun Oct 26, 4:47 pm ET

... According to the plan, New Jerseyans produce 6.7 pounds of trash per day, 50 percent more than the national average.

This story suggests that protecting sensitive data is harder than most people think

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008102515112513

UK: Data fears after Lancashire Police laptop stolen

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:11 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A LAPTOP containing “restricted” data was stolen from Lancashire Police, it has been revealed.

The computer, which contained witness statements and officer reports, was taken from a constable’s car while he was off-duty in Manchester in March 2007.

Bosses say it has never been recovered and are still trying to trace the thief.

The laptop was unencrypted, meaning anyone could access the data it stored.

Source - Lancashire Telegraph

[From the article:

The theft, which took place while the officer was in the car, was revealed yesterday after a Freedom of Information Act request.

... The police constable is not believed to have faced disciplinary proceedings following the theft. [Probably got psychological counseling to deal with the trauma/shock of realizing there are lawbreakers in England! Bob]

More on the TJX investigation... and terms of art everyone should be familiar with.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025153329103

Turkish police may have beaten encryption key out of TJ Maxx suspect (follow-up)

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:33 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

When criminals turn to disk encryption to hide the evidence of their crimes, law enforcement investigations can hit a brick wall. Where digital forensics software has failed to recover encryption passwords, one tried and true technique remains: violence. It is is this more aggressive form of good cop bad cop behavior which the Turkish government is alleged to have turned to, in order to learn the cryptographic keys of one of primary ringleaders in the TJ Maxx credit card theft investigation.

Source - Surveillance State on Cnet

[From the article:

While password discovery via torture is something that has been discussed in the academic literature for a number of years (it is commonly known as rubber-hose cryptanalysis), it has for the most part remained a theoretical threat. A few tools, such as TrueCrypt, are designed to resist such attacks, and thus use deniable encryption -- that is, making it impossible for someone to examine a computer and be able to determine if there is anything encrypted on the disk. Some tools even allow for multiple deniable encrypted folders, each with a different password.

Related

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6092441&page=1

Hackers' mind-set: They've done nothing wrong

Psychiatrists: Hackers Are "Rattlesnakes Without the Rattles"

By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

... What they shared, based on indictments in their separate cases, are key roles in the massive cyberheist at TJX, parent of retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, and the credit card scams that resulted. First disclosed by TJX in January 2007, it is believed to be the largest such theft.

It is unclear whether Gonzalez and Escobar know each other. But each was involved in different scams tied to TJX, according to their respective indictments.

... The TJX cell's loose confederation of individuals – each contributed a unique felonious skill from different parts of the world – is a blueprint for organized crime in the digital age, says Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department cybercrime prosecutor.

... The Justice Department alleges that in 2003, [Not 2006!!! Bob] Gonzalez began hacking the computer networks of TJX, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, DSW and Dave & Buster's.

I'm sure there is some logic here somewhere...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081026063955677

Hotel guest lists may go public

Sunday, October 26 2008 @ 06:39 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

As Roseville Police Chief Michael Blair sees it, parolees and probationers can sometimes be found in motel rooms. [Is that a parole violation? Bob]

So as an extra tool for police, Blair is asking for a local ordinance that requires motel and hotel operators to hand over their guest registries to his officers.

If innkeepers fail to do so, at any hour of the day, they could be fined or jailed.

This prospect doesn't sit well with Michael Belote, who represents about 1,000 California motel and hotel operators, including some in Roseville.

Source - Sacramento Bee

Arthur C. Clarke noted that countries did not need to replicate our infrastructure if they used the technology that would eventually replace it. (e.g. Sri Lanka used microwave relays rather than copper wire for their telephone system.) Again, I posit that handheld devices will replace desktop and laptop devices. (Also, some privacy implications mentioned n the video...)

http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/25/1555256&from=rss

Cellphone Banking Helping To Fight Poverty In India

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 25, @12:40PM from the will-it-work-here-too? Dept. Cellphones Communications The Almighty Buck News

An anonymous reader writes

"Technology Review is running an in-depth story about the way cellphone banking is transforming the lives of many poor people in India. By enabling users to manage a legitimate bank account and finance micro-loans, cellphones are a major force of social and economic change. It's perhaps not surprising, given that despite widespread poverty, India has the world's fastest-growing cellphone market and the second largest number of cellphone users (after China). The article mentions one Indian start-up, mChek, that is thriving as a result. There's also an excellent video report."

[From the article:

Indians are signing up for 16 million new accounts monthly (the net increase is smaller because some accounts expire), "that's a half-million accounts per day, or about six accounts per second

Resolutions should be worth reading...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025145832223

International Privacy Conference Draws Attendees from 68 Countries

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 01:58 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

More than 600 participants attended the 30th annual International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Strasbourg, France. The conference explored "Protecting privacy in a borderless world" through high-level panels with government officials, business leaders, technical experts, and privacy advocates. Delegates called for increased international co-operation and emphasized that data protection must play a more prominent role in public and private institutions. The conference said, "in light of recent scandals all over the world, a strong independent supervision with tangible sanction powers is more necessary than ever." Privacy commissioners issued resolutions on several topics, including Children's Online Privacy, International Privacy Standards, and Privacy in Social Network Services.

Source - EPIC.org

Gosh, there's a surprise...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025152219603

Administration to Bypass Reporting Law

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:22 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security.

The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress “without any prior comment or amendment” by superiors at the department or the White House.

Source - NY Times

Start putting kids into the database early and eventually we'll have everyone indexed and summarized.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025145229581

Can Data Mining Save America's Schools?

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 01:52 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

... grading schools is kid's stuff compared with what a growing number of school districts around the United States think they can do with data mining and data analysis. Combining standardized test scores, attendance, grades, and other data sources, districts are trying to spot weaknesses and strengths of not just schools, but groups of kids and even individual students. For example, the Plano, Texas, district scanned data across eight schools and zeroed in on 60 kids who looked at risk of failing a standardized test, and created plans to help them.

This is just the start. While there's much criticism of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation--mainly, that it's left teachers teaching to test requirements, not student needs--it has undeniably created a mountain of data, all of which can be analyzed.

Source - Information Week

“We're the government. We don't listen to warnings from the government!”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081025150346299

UK: Privacy watchdog calls Home Office plans threat to British way of life

Saturday, October 25 2008 @ 02:03 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that a single database of phone and internet usage records would undermine the "British way of life". The privacy watchdog has said that it will scrutinise Government plans for storing that information.

Source - Out-Law.com

For my Quantum Phisics students. Oh wait, I don't teach Quantum Physics...

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/26/1149229&from=rss

Perimeter Institute Launches Modern Physics Resource

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday October 26, @08:07AM from the how-things-work dept. Education Science

An anonymous reader writes

"You can find six new online sources of info about hot topics in modern physics at the 'What We Research' outreach page of Perimeter Institute. The info includes text, graphics and online presentations dealing with Cosmology, Superstring Theory, Quantum Gravity, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Information and Particle Physics. The resource section at the bottom of each page recommends a wealth of interesting online lectures by some famous scientists. PI is an independent, nonprofit scientific research and outreach organization."

It's coming I tell you! It's coming and it's hungry!

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/2335216&from=rss

The Effects of the Cloud On Business, Education

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @10:01PM from the more-indoor-classes? dept.

g8orade points out two recent articles in The Economist about the rise of cloud computing. The first discusses how software-as-a-service has come to pervade online interactions. "Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a technology visionary at IBM, compares cloud computing to the Cambrian explosion some 500m years ago when the rate of evolution sped up, in part because the cell had been perfected and standardised, allowing evolution to build more complex organisms." The next article examines how the cloud will force a "trade-off between sovereignty and efficiency." Reader pjones contributes news that the Virtual Computer Lab will be supplementing more traditional computer labs at North Carolina State University, and adds, "NCSU's Virtual Computing Lab and IBM are offering the VCL code as a software 'appliance' for use in schools to link to the program. Downloads are available at ibiblio at UNC-Chapel Hill. The VCL also is partnering with Apache.org to make the software available and to allow further community participation in future development."

“Okay Centennial man, put down the beer and stop writing that subversive blog or we'll send in the robots!”

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/2245238&from=rss

Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 24, @07:58PM from the you've-been-warned dept. Robotics Technology

Ostracus writes

"The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to 'develop a software/hardware suite that would enable a multi-robot team, together with a human operator, to search for and detect a non-cooperative human subject. The main research task will involve determining the movements of the robot team through the environment to maximize the opportunity to find the subject ... Typical robots for this type of activity are expected to weigh less than 100 Kg and the team would have three to five robots.'"

To be fair, they plan to use the Multi-Robot Pursuit System for less nefarious-sounding purposes as well. They note that the robots would "have potential commercialization within search and rescue, fire fighting, reconnaissance, and automated biological, chemical and radiation sensing with mobile platforms."

I'm sure the Kindle is a fine tool (I know people who love it.) but THIS is what will make it “The next big thing!”

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/24/2127208&from=rss

Amazon Kindle Endorsed By Oprah

Posted by kdawson on Friday October 24, @06:08PM from the you-could-pay-to-read-slashdot dept.

Oprah Winfrey enthused about the Amazon Kindle on her show today — it's her "new favorite thing" — and had Jeff Bezos on to announce a $50-off offer good till Nov. 1. [to anyone who purchases a Kindle before November 1 and uses the code “OPRAHWINFREY.” Bob] A plug on Oprah is ordinarily a sign that a product has crossed over into the mainstream. But her show's audience has been slipping lately, and it's unclear how many cash-strapped citizens will be willing to part with $309 (after the special offer) for a new techno-gadget, for which they then have to shell out more money for DRM-encrusted content.

The greatest risk of Global Warming is that politicians will force companies to take actions based on bad science. (X is clearly a risk related to Global Warming, but X won't actually occur for several hundred years..)

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019631.html

October 24, 2008

NY AG Cuomo and Former VP Gore Announce Major Ageement with Energy Company on Climate Change

News release: "Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, joined by Vice President Al Gore, today announced an agreement that requires a national energy company, Dynegy Inc. (“Dynegy”), to disclose timely and relevant information to investors about climate change risks... Under the agreement, Dynegy has agreed to provide disclosure of material risks associated with climate change in its “Form 10-K” filings, the annual summary report on a company’s performance required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to inform investors. These required disclosures include an analysis of material financial risks from climate change related to: present and probable future climate change regulation and legislation; climate-change related litigation; and physical impacts of climate change."

For true political junkies...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019626.html

October 24, 2008

Google Launches Five Year Quotes Index

Official Google Blog: "Today we are pleased to announce the launch of a 5-year quotes index. This expanded coverage lets you explore what Governor Palin said before she was a VP nominee, or Senator Obama before he was a presidential candidate. The InQuotes lab page is also much improved and now provides comparisons over time on issues like the economy or the war in Iraq."

Business Model Anyone want to start a business to replace the big record companies? (Well, it might work.)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10075032-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Third Eye Blind singer: A Web site can be your album

Posted by Greg Sandoval October 24, 2008 1:48 PM PDT

... On Monday, Jenkins gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit. He said he was in favor of releasing singles and suggested that this would help avoid "album filler," the term used to describe the placing of so-so tracks on albums in order to meet the required number of songs.

... This all seems so much more democratic to me. Fewer people will become billionaires this way, but more people will make a living making music.

For the “Swiss Army Knife” folder (and my website students)

http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/drpic-com-free-web-picture-editor

DrPic.com - Free Web Picture Editor

http://www.drpic.com

There is no shortage of online pic editors, and Dr. Pic is the latest addition to this widening group. This one has the advantage of being free and very easy to employ and put into practice.

Broadly speaking, this editor enables you to upload a picture from your computer or camera and then apply a host of effects to it. These include guassian blurs and oil paints along with grayscales and related effects. Of course, the picture itself can be resized and cropped at will, and text can be added as you see fit.

Once you have finished editing your picture you can save it either to your computer or the Internet. When saving the picture you can also specify the file format, and have your pick from standard options such as JPG, GIF and PNG.

At the end of the day, it is always useful to have a site like this as part of your bookmark collection. Who knows, you might need it when least expected…