Too trivial to prosecute.

http://breachblog.com/2008/11/23/childhosp.aspx?ref=rss

Children's Hospital families affected by ex-employee fraud

Date Reported: 11/23/08

Breach Description:

"DENVER - The Children's Hospital and a third-party billing contractor will warn as many as 1,000 families that their credit card information may have been compromised by a former employee."

... The Oginskys are also frustrated, upset that the person who stole their information is not likely to face criminal charges.

[Evan] What?! Are you kidding me? How can this be?

The hotel where their credit card was used, the Excalibur, plans to write off the loss instead of filing a police report.

[Evan] In my opinion, this is a case where ethics should come before a "business case". This seems a little selfish.

According to the Oginskys, Denver Police sent them a letter saying they would not pursue to the case due to a backlog of similar reports unless the hotel would also press charges.

The Revenue Enterprises employee passed a background check before beginning work, the company said.

The Oginskys are troubled that she could still pass that same check in the future.

[Evan] This is huge concern. Due to the fact that there will be no charges filed, there is nothing to stop this crook from doing the same thing in the future. If there is no public record, there is little or no information available to warn future employers.

See what happens when you insist on that morning coffee? Drink beer!

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081123121910942

Starbucks notifies 97,000 of stolen laptop (updated)

Sunday, November 23 2008 @ 12:19 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Several web sites and blogs are reporting that Starbucks employees were notified on Nov. 22nd of a laptop theft in Seattle on October 29th. The laptop reportedly contained personal information including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers.

The text of what is reported to be an internal memo signed by Russell Walker, Vice-President, Enterprise Security has been reproduced on a number sites, including the Starbucks Gossip blog and Laptop Theft Resources.

The internal memo does not state how the laptop was stolen, and suggests that the data were not encrypted. The company is offering those affected free credit-monitoring services with Equifax.

No statement has appeared on Starbuck's web site, and no one was available to confirm or deny the story at the time of this publication.

Update: We have just received this confirmation and statement from Starbuck's:

We recently learned that a laptop containing partner files was stolen on October 29, 2008. The laptop contained a file with the private information of approximately 97,000 U.S. partners (employees). At present, we have no indication that any partner data has been misused.

Starbucks takes our commitment to safeguarding the personal information and security of our partners very seriously, and we regret the inconvenience that this incident may cause. Currently, we are making every reasonable effort to notify those partners whose information may have been on the missing laptop and are offering to them a year of credit monitoring services at no cost.

We encourage any partners with questions or concerns related to this incident and the steps we have taken to contact the Starbucks Partner Contact Center at (866) 504-7368.

It could be worse. They could ask you to explain all the stuff they already know...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081124061144208

Barack Obama wants you (to spill your secrets)

Monday, November 24 2008 @ 06:11 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

In his first press conference after the election, Barack Obama cracked a joke about Nancy Reagan holding séances in the White House. (It was factually inaccurate; the former first lady was into horoscopes, not "Hellraiser.") This provoked the administration’s first apology, but not the first bipartisan critique. That came a week later, with the release of the administration’s job application.

In 63 questions over seven pages, prospective White House employees are being asked — in addition to questions about finances, gun ownership and, possibly, flossing habits — to list “all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet,” [I don't think I could do that. And how can I explain that not all posts by “anonymous” are mine? Bob] everything they’ve written, “including, but not limited to, any posts or comments on blogs or other websites,” links to their Facebook or MySpace pages and any potentially embarrassing “electronic communication, including but not limited to an email, text message or instant message.”

Source - Salon.com hat-tip, InfoWarrior.org Mail List

Related? Another reason the state wants real-time surveillance of “citizens”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10106379-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Report: British juror axed for disclosures on Facebook

Posted by Caroline McCarthy November 24, 2008 5:43 AM PST

A British woman has reportedly been kicked off a jury for posting a "note" on Facebook asking her friends what they thought of the trial. She was given the boot after the court was tipped off.

...because...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008112405335253

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, November 24 2008 @ 05:33 AM EST 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

For those interested in both Identity Theft and Economics... I wonder how many “advertisers” are scam artists or police stings?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081124052349901

Market for stolen goods valued at £184m

Monday, November 24 2008 @ 05:23 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Credit card details sold on the black market could be worth over £57m, according to new research on the 'underground economy' released today by Symantec.

The security vendor monitored the internet chat rooms and forums where personal information stolen by hackers via Trojans, phishing attacks and other methods are bought and sold. Symantec found nearly 70,000 active advertisers selling compromised bank account and credit and debit card details, email accounts and pirated desktop games.

Source - vnunet.com

Ain't technology wonderful!?!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10106213-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Two years later, McDonalds' sandwich patent can't hold back Dominos

Posted by Matt Asay November 22, 2008 8:03 PM PST

For centuries people have enjoyed sandwiches, and many businesses have made them without the "critical" protection of patents to ensure a short-term monopoly. Indeed, here in the United States, Dominos Pizza is making a furious push to up-end Subway's sandwich dominance.

!%!%!%!% pirates!

Have they forgotten that McDonalds filed for a patent on sandwich-making two years ago? The UK's Guardian covered this momentous patent two years ago, but it apparently hasn't struck fear into these would-be sandwich maestros.

Of course, McDonalds was not simply trying to patent the sandwich. It was trying to put a lock on automating sandwich making, so that 16-year olds everywhere would find themselves unemployed, and so that its plastic-tasting burgers would have even less variation in plasticity:

Perhaps we could learn from this? (probably not...)

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/23/1952248&from=rss

EU Strikes Down French "3 Strikes" Copyright Infringement Law

Posted by timothy on Sunday November 23, @03:24PM from the mon-dieu dept. The Internet

Erris writes

"Opendotdotdot has good news about laws in the EU: 'EU culture ministers yesterday (20 November) rejected French proposals to curb online piracy through compulsory measures against free downloading ... [and instead pushed] for "a fair balance between the various fundamental rights" while fighting online piracy, first listing "the right to personal data protection," then "the freedom of information" and only lastly "the protection of intellectual property." [This] indicates that the culture ministers and their advisers are beginning to understand the dynamics of the Net, that throttling its use through crude instruments like the "three strikes and you're out" is exactly the wrong thing to do.'"

Some textbooks and course descriptions. I'd say they were in favor of teaching this in law schools...

http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/teach-your-children-well-a-case-for-teaching-e-discovery-in-law-schools/

“Teach Your Children Well” - A Case for Teaching E-Discovery in Law Schools

Guest Blog by Shannon Capone Kirk and Kristin G. Ali

Related? Why Geeks should have lawyers!

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/24/0041238&from=rss

Psystar Case Reveals Poor Email Archiving At Apple

Posted by timothy on Sunday November 23, @09:03PM from the let-me-check-the-round-file dept. The Courts Communications Data Storage Apple

Ian Lamont writes

"Buried in the court filings of the recently concluded Psytar antitrust suit against Apple is a document that discussed Apple's corporate policy regarding employee email. Apparently, Apple has no company-wide policy for archiving, saving, or deleting email. This could potentially run afoul of e-discovery requirements, which have tripped up other companies that have been unable to produce emails and other electronic files in court. A lawyer quoted in the article (but not involved in the case) called Apple's retention policy 'negligent.' However, the issue did not help Psystar's lawsuit against Apple — a judge dismissed the case earlier this week."

How to impress a geek...

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/23/1637219&from=rss

Google Sorts 1 Petabyte In 6 Hours

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday November 23, @11:53AM from the sort-of-fast dept. Google Databases Technology

krewemaynard writes

"Google has announced that they were able to sort one petabyte of data in 6 hours and 2 minutes across 4,000 computers. According to the Google Blog, '... to put this amount in perspective, it is 12 times the amount of archived web data in the US Library of Congress as of May 2008. In comparison, consider that the aggregate size of data processed by all instances of MapReduce at Google was on average 20PB per day in January 2008.' The technology making this possible is MapReduce 'a programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating large data sets.' We discussed it a few months ago. Google has also posted a video from their Technology RoundTable discussing MapReduce."

For the Computer Forensics team. A cheap (free) first guesstimate?

http://digg.com/software/Is_That_Photo_Shopped

Is That Photo 'Shopped'...?

tinyappz.com — Error Level Analyser allows you to quickly check any image to determine if it might be photoshopped or altered. Simple, Quick, Free, and Effective.

http://www.tinyappz.com/wiki/Error_Level_Analyser

[Paper discussing modified images: http://www.hackerfactor.com/papers/bh-usa-07-krawetz-wp.pdf

I could improve my memory by smoking... er... that green stuff that caused my memory loss in the first place?

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1601665/marijuana_could_reduce_memory_impairment/index.html?source=r_health

Marijuana Could Reduce Memory Impairment

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 15:40 CST

The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

Toward computerized musicians? (“I'm sorry, Dave. I can't let you play that in B-flat...”)

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/23/227214&from=rss

A Computer Composing and Playing Jazz

Posted by timothy on Sunday November 23, @05:40PM from the jazz?-you-really-are-polite dept. Music Technology

Roland Piquepaille writes

"The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has some unusual teaching programs. One PhD student, Øyvind Brandtsegg, is a graduate of the jazz program and this article describes how has developed a computer program and a musical instrument for improvisation. The PhD student is 36 years old and is at the same time a composer, a musician and computer programmer. His 'computer instrument' can take any recorded sound as input and split it into a number of very short sound particles that can last for between 1 and 10 milliseconds. 'These fragments may be infinitely reshuffled, making it possible to vary the music with no change in the fundamental theme.'"

Brandtsegg improvisational software is called ImproSculpt; his site contains several selections from his musical output, including "some pieces made with the predecessor of ImproSculpt," called FollowMe.

My take on this: Our culture is evolving as technology allows teenagers to emulate celebrities (Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears, etc.) who demonstrate that this behavior does not impact their popularity (or income) – so it must be acceptable. Probably a question for a cultural anthropologist.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388940_bothell22.html?source=mypi

Cheerleaders' parents sue in nude photos incident

Two were the only ones suspended

By JESSICA BLANCHARD P-I REPORTER Last updated November 21, 2008 9:47 p.m. PT

Parents of two Bothell High School cheerleaders have sued the Northshore School District, alleging school officials erred when they suspended the girls from the team this year after nude photos of them circulated throughout the student body via text message.

... Both lawsuits, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, accuse school administrators of violating the girls' due process rights, needlessly sharing the photos with other school staff members and failing to promptly report the matter to police as possible child pornography.

Attorney Matthew King, who represents both families, said it also was troubling that the teens were punished, but football players and other students at the school who sent or received the texts were not.

... One of the photos was taken three years ago, according to court documents. Showing the girl topless, it was sent to her then-boyfriend's phone in the summer of 2005. [The modern equivalent of a lock of hair or a 'school photograph'? Bob]

... Football players were told to delete the pictures from their cell phones if they received them, according to the lawsuits. [Riiight... Bob]

Related?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081121/od_afp/entertainmentusmusicjusticejackson_081121180732

Janet Jackson's 'Nipplegate' case could reach US high court

Fri Nov 21, 1:07 pm ET

Interesting both as a Privacy concern (can the officers turn of the cameras that are in effect surveilling them) and as an alternative to a monopoly Internet provider. (I've long argued that Internet should be handled like other city-owned utilities – water and sewer, rather than as a “natural monopoly.”)

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/22/1514250&from=rss

Police Cars To Transmit Real-Time Video

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 22, @11:18AM from the aka-donut-shop-webcam dept. Communications Security United States News Technology

Hugh Pickens writes

"In the first such system deployed in the country, police vehicles in Ponca City, Oklahoma will have wireless video cameras installed so precinct dispatchers and supervisors can monitor activities during traffic stops in real time, and quickly deploy additional officers and resources if necessary. The system to provide an added level of monitoring and protection for its force is part of a broadband mesh network comprised of more than 490 wireless nodes and gateways connected to 120 miles of fiber backbone that will provide coverage for approximately 30 square miles of the city. The network will provide field communications for city services including police, fire and emergency, parks and recreation, public works and energy, but will also be used to provide free wireless internet access for all residents of the city. 'The testing of this network showed that it was robust enough to handle not only municipal traffic, but also citizens' traffic.' said Mayor Homer Nicholson. 'So the Ponca City Board of Commissioners voted to allow the extra internet access to be given to the citizens of Ponca City for free.' The second phase of the project will expand the network and wireless coverage to more than 430 square miles surrounding the city with an estimated annual cost savings of over $1 million for city residents, who can discontinue their existing internet service. 'Our goal is to be one of the most mobile communities in America, and this is a significant step in that direction,' said Nicholson."

Your complete dossier is spread around the Internet and today we've got the technology to collect it, organize it, analyse it and bug you with it.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/22/2252210&from=rss

Google to Track TV Viewers More Closely

Posted by timothy on Saturday November 22, @06:13PM from the from-each-according-to-his-quintile dept. Television Google News

GalacticNoob writes

"According to this post, Google is about to launch a TV advertising program that will let advertisers target audiences based on demographics including their household income. A satellite TV company called Echostar is working with credit-reporting company Equifax to cross-reference shows watched with income and buying habits (based on using Equifax's data)."

Interesting, but I'd rather read the ones China, India and Russia aren't publishing.

http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html

GLOBAL TRENDS 2025: THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COUNCIL'S 2025 PROJECT

From the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council

"Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World" is the fourth unclassified report prepared by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in recent years that takes a long-term view of the future. It offers a fresh look at how key global trends might develop over the next 15 years to influence world events.

Sounds like an overreaction. Is the correct “test:” What would they have done if this was reported in the Chicago Tribune? (Why no amicus brief from them?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081122085121132

Law firm argues that links to its website abuse its trade marks

Saturday, November 22 2008 @ 08:51 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

One of the world's biggest law firms is suing a small Chicago-based website for naming the firm and linking to two of its associates' biographies. A judge rejected an attempt to have the case thrown out last week.

Jones Day, a firm with more than 2,200 lawyers, argues that BlockShopper.com is giving a false impression that the firm is affiliated with or endorses its business.

Source - Out-Law.com

Related - EFF, who according to this story was not permitted to submit an amicus brief, has some of the court documents on this case on this case on their site.

[From the article:

Civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said the case contains "some of the most preposterous trademark claims we've ever seen". [Lawyer-speak for: That's debatable...” Bob] The EFF had tried to include a 'friend of the court' brief in the court proceedings, to support BlockShopper. Judge Darrah said that introducing such a brief was not appropriate and he refused to consider it.

Interesting question! I'll Google it and let you know what I find. Alternative question: Are our schools (and busineses) satisfied with the results of a Google search? In other words, do we care enough to search for the “best” answer, or merely one that is “good enough?”

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019881.html

November 22, 2008

Has Research Largely Become, Search Only?

The Fast-Food Information Age: We Are What We Read, Michael Ross - November 10, 2008

• "...teachers and students—whose jobs and degrees depend on trust and accuracy—in addition to ordinary Internet users, turn to search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo) as their first, and perhaps only, destination for information. This behavior, the automatic reliance on Internet search engines as the primary (if not only) way to get the information we need, apparently has been thoroughly ingrained in us, in spite of the likelihood that the best or most reliable information may not be freely available on the Internet, but rather behind firewalls on premium sites that have been written, researched, vetted, and compiled by scholars, researchers, and other knowledge professionals. In addition, many, if not all, of these sites are available to anyone with a library card; but clearly they are underused, either because people don’t know about them or because the temptation to use Google and the ease of doing so trump other benefits."

Related For those interesten in the sport of “politician watching,” a number of non-Google sources. (Although if Google does its job, they will be Google-able soon.)

http://www.llrx.com/columns/govdomain39.htm

The Government Domain: Tracking the Transition

By Peggy Garvin, Published on November 22, 2008

Everyone wants to know who’s who, or who will be who, in the Barack Obama administration. Luckily, there is no shortage of free online presidential transition trackers.

Press releases from the Office of the President-Elect’s Change.gov website are the closest thing to an official source until Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, 2009 and takes control of the official Whitehouse.gov site.

... One of the best ways to follow Obama administration news is to subscribe to the feed for Politico 44: A Living Diary of the Obama Presidency.

... The Presidential Transition from the IBM Center for the Business of Government was one of the earliest blogs to stake out the transition territory.

... Traditional news sources offer some of the best coverage of the people involved in the transition or in the running for a presidential nomination. The Washington Post website has a section called 44: The Obama Presidency: A Transition to Power.

... The New York Times website covers Obama’s selections in a section called The New Team. The New Team page features profiles of potential members of the new administration and a database of news stories about “names in the mix.”

... The National Journal and Government Executive have teamed up for a ‘Appointments’ or ‘Short List’ categories.

... Yahoo! News has set up ‘Presidential Transition’ special topic page.

... Newsweek has added a transition blog, Powering Up, to its website. Powering Up does not attempt to cover every bit of transitions news, but the Newsweek staff writing the blog provide in-depth background information on selected topics.

... Finally, Carroll Publishing has a Transition Tracker 2008 that helpfully compiles several lists: Obama Transition Team members and staff; Newly-Elected Officials, with federal and summary-level state winners; and Newly-Appointed Officials covering White House staff appointments.

Another side of the Privacy coin. “Protect your customers data like your own?” No links to the nude photos – ask your local McDonalds for an Adult Happy Meal w/links.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008112205011075

AR: Private Photos Posted Online, Lawsuit Claims

Saturday, November 22 2008 @ 05:01 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A Bella Vista couple has sued McDonald's for at least $3 million after nude photographs of the woman were allegedly taken off her husband's misplaced cell phone and posted on the Internet.

Phillip and Tina Sherman say Phillip left his cell phone at McDonald's on Sixth Street in Fayetteville on July 5. Tina Sherman then began receiving offensive calls and text messages about the pictures, then learned her pictures, which she had sent her husband, had been posted on-line along with her name, address and phone number.

The Web site allegedly described how McDonald's employees retrieved the pictures from a phone left at the restaurant.

Source - NWAonline.com

Helping to define a “reasonable expectation of Privacy” and what it is worth?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008112205091987

Sienna Miller gets £53k for press intrusion

Saturday, November 22 2008 @ 05:09 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Sienna Miller has reached a settlement with an agency of paparazzi photographers over claims of harassment and invasion of privacy.

The actor had sued Big Pictures and its founder Darryn Lyons over what she described as intolerable intrusions by pursuing photographers.

Yesterday the agency agreed to pay £53,000 in damages and costs as part of a settlement. It includes an undertaking that the agency will not pursue Miller - by car, motorcycle or on foot - or "doorstep" her at her home or that of her family. The agency will be allowed to take pictures when she goes to bars, nightclubs or restaurants, is out in public, or at a "red carpet" event.

Source - Guardian

It's not war! It's ABC “Aggressive Browsing from China” Think of the old fable of an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of typewrites eventually producing “War & Peace” Now think of a billion Chinese teenagers trying random URLs (www.random.random.MIL) and random passwords and reporting all successes to a central database.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/2319241&from=rss

Chinese Hacking of American Military Networks On the Rise

Posted by Soulskill on Friday November 21, @06:23PM from the secure-the-international-tubes dept. Government Security The Military United States

Anti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from the Guardian:

"China is stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional panel. Beijing's investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the militarization of outer space and lifting it into the 'commanding heights' of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. ... A summary of the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used by the US government and American defense contractors are regularly targeted by Chinese hackers. 'China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks,' says Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China issues."

The full study addresses these issues and others relating to the US-China relationship (PDF).

Might be worth a listen if you can't read...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-12640_3-10105508-91.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Security Bites 122: IBM sees security challenges ahead

Posted by Robert Vamosi November 21, 2008 1:20 PM PST

Last month, IBM released a report (PDF) identifying the security challenges facing enterprises in the next two to five years.

... Kris Lovejoy, director of Governance and Risk Management and Corporate Security Strategy at IBM, spoke with CNET's Robert Vamosi about the report. She cites nine trends companies should be watching:

1. Securing virtualized environments
2. Alternative ways to delivery security

3. Securing mobile devices
4. Managing risk and compliance
5. Identity governance
6. Information security
7. Predictable security of applications
8. Protecting the evolving network
9. Sense and respond physical security

Listen now: Download today's podcast

So... Does this suggest that the Bush administration was 50 times more verbose than Clinton or that Clinton was 50 times more efficient? (or that politicians only learned how to use e-mail in the last 8 years? or...)

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/22/1312245&from=rss

Bush Administration's E-Mail Deluge May Overload Archive System

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 22, @09:16AM from the hello-sir-madam dept. Government Communications United States Technology

Lucas123 writes

"The Clinton administration generated 32 million e-mails. Bush's administration has generated 50 times as much data — 140TB, 20TB of which is email — which soon will have to be archived through a new government-built records management system. The new system may not be up to the task because the technology behind it may not be able to handle the sheer volume of data along with the fact that the Bush administration has been slow in providing the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) with needed information about the records, according to a Computerworld story. Questions have also been raised about millions of missing e-mails from between March 2003 and October 2006. 'It wasn't until this summer that an intensive effort began to share information,' said Ken Thibodeau, director of NARA's Electronic Records Archives."

I was discussing (debating) this with Professor Soma just the other day. This sounds more like his idea than my idea... Damn, but I hate losing arguements!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10105776-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

The key to innovation: Privately owned fiber?

Posted by Stephanie Condon November 21, 2008 4:20 PM PST

... While Congress has taken steps to promote universal broadband, a new working paper from the New America Foundation suggests a peculiar route to fostering the nation's next great innovators: allowing consumers to purchase and own their own fiber-optic connection.

In their paper Homes with Tails (PDF), Columbia Law School professor and NAF Fellow Tim Wu and Google Policy Analyst Derek Slater lay out a proposal in which a community would establish a collectively-owned fiber trunk cable that would lead to individually-owned lines into people's homes.

Such an architecture would be "akin to a condominium complex--also a radical form of property not too long ago," Slater said.

No doubt the IRS will want to follow suit. “This is common practice in other countries, we should have the right to do it too!”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081122045258536

UK: Revenue in storm over disclosure of taxpayer data to researchers

Saturday, November 22 2008 @ 04:52 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

A year after HM Revenue & Customs lost 25m people's personal data it is writing to some taxpayers telling them it will pass on their names and details to a market research company – unless told not to do so before next Tuesday.

Source - Telegraph

[From the article:

"This may well be a criminal offence as it does not seem to fall within any of the disclosure gateways allowed by the Commissioners For Revenue & Customs Act 2005."

But a spokesman for HMRC said: "The research company receives the data on the same strictly confidential basis that we do. They are subject to rigorous security checks before their appointment. [Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Bob]

“We do this to kill off the ones with weak hearts. It makes our job easier...”

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121091205714

UK: Department of Health tops lost laptop rankings

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 09:12 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The Government loses a computer a week, according to figures unearthed by the Conservative Party.

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps wrote to ministers in six departments asking them "What (a) equipment and (b) data was lost by [their] Department in the last 12 months?"

Cumulatively, he discovered the Government has lost 53 computers and laptops over the course of 2008. He also found that 36 BlackBerries had gone missing, together with 30 mobile phones and four memory sticks. However the losses could be greater, as the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office declined to provide figures.

The Department for Health was the biggest culprit losing 14 laptops, though quite what happened to these machines we may never know as the "Department does not differentiate between stolen, missing or lost equipment." [Translation: Management doesn't give a damn. Bob]

Source - IT PRO

“Sure we were wrong, but you have to admit we were right before we drop the charges.” A cautionary tale for my Computer Forensics students. (Law Students: Who would you sue to right this wrong?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121175501481

Connecticut drops felony charges against Julie Amero, four years after her arrest

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 05:55 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The unbelievable story of Julie Amero concluded quietly Friday afternoon at Superior Court in Norwich, with the state of Connecticut dropping four felony pornography charges.

Amero agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Amero, who has been hospitalized and suffers from declining health, also surrendered her teaching license.

Source - Hartford Courant

[From the article:

In June of 2007, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein tossed out Amero's conviction on charges that she intentionally caused a stream of "pop-up" pornography on the computer in her classroom and allowed students to view it. Confronted with evidence compiled by forensic computer experts, Strackbein ordered a new trial, saying the conviction was based on "erroneous" and "false information."

But since that dramatic reversal, local officials, police and state prosecutors were unwilling to admit that a mistake may have been made -- even after computer experts from around the country demonstrated that Amero's computer had been infected by "spyware."

... The case also caught the attention of computer security experts [enough to have a wikipedia entry! Bob] from California to Florida, who read about Amero's conviction on Internet news sites. Recognizing the classic signs of a computer infected by malicious adware, volunteers examined computer records and the hard drive and determined that Amero was not responsible for the pornographic stream on her computer.

The state never conducted a forensic examination of the hard drive and instead relied on the expertise of a Norwich detective, with limited computer experience. Experts working for Amero ridiculed the state's evidence, saying it was a classic case of spyware seizing control of the computer.

... Among other things, the security experts found that the Norwich school system had failed to properly update software that would have blocked the pornography in the first place.

Oceania is not at war with Eastasia. We have never been at war with Eastasia. Eastasia is our old and trusted ally. (Does BT stands for “Brother Too” or “Brother Two”? I forget.)

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/22/0221226&from=rss

BT Silences Customers Over Phorm

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday November 22, @12:06AM from the lalala-i-can't-hear-you dept. Privacy Communications Networking

An anonymous reader writes

"The Register reports that BT, the UK's dominant telecom and internet service provider, has 'banned all future discussion of Phorm and its "WebWise" targeted advertising product on its customer forums, and deleted all past threads about the controversy dating back to February.' Phorm is a controversial opt-out system for delivering targeted advertising that intercepts traffic passing through an ISP in order to profile subscribers via an assigned unique ID based on their online activities. Subscribers can opt-out at the Webwise website but are opted-in again if the Phorm cookie is cleared. Firefox users can install Melvin Sage's Firephorm add-on to manage their interaction with Phorm and Webwise."

Almost a PowerPoint article...

http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/21/data-breaches-cybertheft-identity08-tech-cx_ag_1121breaches.html

Banking's Data Security Crisis

Andy Greenberg, 11.21.08, 10:00 AM EST

During the past year, banks have lost more of their customers' personal data than ever before.

Countrywide Financial may have become a poster child for U.S. financial institutions ruined by poisonous subprime loans--but junk assets, it turns out, weren't the only element of Countrywide's inner workings that were rotten.

So, allegedly, was one senior financial analyst in the company's subprime mortgage division. According to the reports of FBI officials who arrested him in August, 36-year-old Rene Rebollo spent his Sunday nights last summer copying a total of more than 2 million of Countrywide's customer records to a flash drive and selling the data to identity thieves. [Beware of employees who work voluntary overtime! Bob]

... According to numbers released Nov. 18 by the data breach tracking organization Identity Theft Resource Center, financial institutions were responsible for more than half the 33 million personal records known to be lost in all reported data breaches so far this year, compared with just 7% of known lost records in 2007.

DHS uses WinZip to encrypt their files. Simple step by step guide in Appendix A. Remember this next time a laptop computer goes missing...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121092336690

Handbook for Safeguarding Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information at DHS

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 09:23 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The DHS Privacy Office "Handbook for Safeguarding Sensitive PII at DHS" applies to every DHS employee, contractor, detailee and consultant. The document sets minimum standards for how personnel should handle Sensitive PII in paper and electronic form during their everyday work activities at DHS.

Source - Handbook for Safeguarding Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information At The Department of Homeland Security [pdf, 19 pages]

Related

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121143755272

New guidelines push agencies to build in IT security controls upfront

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 02:37 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Guidelines on evaluating information security at agencies soon will be revised to better address concerns about protecting personal information and to incorporate risk assessments into processes for building computer systems, said a panel of government officials on Thursday.

In December, the National Institute of Standards and Technology will release for comment an updated version of Special Publication 800-53, "Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems," which will include a new appendix of controls agencies can put in place to ensure privacy. The appendix lays out guidelines for considering identifiable personal information when developing security plans for IT systems. Applications that contain Social Security numbers, for example, would incorporate stricter access controls to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing or downloading the data.

Source - NextGov

Special Publication 800-53 "Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems"

SP 800-39, "Managing Risk From Information Systems"

Completely unrelated, but it seems to be a day for handbooks and guides

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019875.html

November 21, 2008

Rule of Law Handbook 2008

Library of Congress, Federal Research Division: Rule of Law Handbook 2008, The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, U.S. Army Center for Law and Military Operations

Oh gee, it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys!

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/1644213&from=rss

RICO Class Action Against RIAA In Missouri

Posted by kdawson on Friday November 21, @12:49PM from the take-'em-down-dano dept. The Courts Music

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes

"In Atlantic Recording v. Raleigh, an RIAA case pending in St. Louis, Missouri, the defendant has asserted detailed counterclaims against the RIAA for federal RICO violations, fraud, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, prima facie tort, trespass, and conspiracy. The claims focus on the RIAA's 'driftnet' tactic of suing innocent people, and of demanding extortionate settlements. The RICO 'predicate acts' alleged in the 42-page pleading (PDF) are extortion, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The proposed class includes all people residing in the US 'who were falsely accused ... of downloading copyrighted sound recordings owned by the counterclaim Defendants and making them available for distribution or mass distribution over a P2P network and who incurred costs and damages including legal fees in defense of such false claims' or 'whose computers used in interstate commerce and/or communication were accessed ... without permission or authority.' [I particularly like that one! Bob] This is the second class action of which we are aware against the RIAA and the Big 4 recording companies, the first being the Oregon class action brought by Tanya Andersen, which is presently in the discovery phase."

It has been a long time coming, but come it did.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/1849215&from=rss

Final Judgment — SCO Loses, Owes $3,506,526

Posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @02:15PM from the seems-charitable-to-sco dept. The Courts Caldera Unix Linux

Xenographic writes

"SCO has finally lost to Novell, now that Judge Kimball has entered final judgment against SCO. Of course, this is SCO we're talking about. There's still the litigation in bankruptcy court, which allowed this case to resume so that they could figure out just how much SCO owes, which is $3,506,526, if I calculated the interest properly, $625,486.90 of which will go into a constructive trust. And then there's the possibility that SCO could seek to have the judgment overturned in the appeals courts, or even the Supreme Court when that fails. Of course, they need money to do that and they don't really have much of that any more. Remember how Enderle, O'Gara and company told us that SCO was sure to win? I wonder how many people have emailed them to say, 'I told you so.'"

MineInternet data yourself! (There is a free version.)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121172237797

When Everyone Can Mine Your Data

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 05:22 PM EST Contributed by:PrivacyNews

Roelof Temmingh has a knack for stirring up trouble. The 35-year-old South African electronic engineer has fought legal battles with financial institutions, developed theoretical models for cyberterrorism and served as a technical adviser for a book about how hackers could take over the continent of Africa.

But Temmingh's latest exploit could make the most last impact. He has created a tool he calls Maltego that lets just about anybody do the kind of data mining that in the past only fraud investors, government specialists and hackers typically could do.

Source - Forbes

[From the article:

The commercial product isn't cheap--$430 a year--but the Pretoria-based Paterva, the company that Temmingh founded as he developed Maltego, offers a watered-down version free. Law enforcement, government and intelligence agencies can apply for a 10% discount.

... Worried about information leaks your company? Input lists of employees from your rival companies, and Maltego can graphically depict how they might be related to your employees. It can also provide likely e-mail address, phone numbers and personal Web sites--and then use this information to add a new layers to the investigation.

http://www.paterva.com/maltego/

Is this news?

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/1458214&from=rss

US Officials Flunk Test On Civic Knowledge

Posted by samzenpus on Friday November 21, @03:06PM from the you-are-what-you-elect dept.

A test on civic knowledge given to elected officials proved that they are slightly less knowledgeable than the uninformed people who voted them into office. Elected officials scored a 44 percent while ordinary citizens managed an amazing 49 percent on the 33 questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. "It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI. The three branches of government aren't the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria?

[Take the test: http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

[I did: You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 % [It was a typo, honest! Bob]

A bad news, good news story: With celebrity comes stalkers. With the Presidency come the Secret Service!

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121054252762

Obama's cell phone records breached

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 05:42 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Records from a cell phone used by President-elect Obama were improperly breached, apparently by employees of the cell phone company, his transition team said Thursday.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the team was notified Wednesday by Verizon Wireless that it appears an employee improperly went through billing records for the phone, which Gibbs said Obama no longer uses.

In an internal company e-mail obtained by CNN, Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam disclosed Wednesday that "the personal wireless account of President-elect Barack Obama had been accessed by employees not authorized to do so" in recent months.

Source - CNN

[From the article:

Gibbs said that anyone viewing the records likely would have been able to see phone numbers and the frequency of calls Obama made, but that "nobody was monitoring voicemail or anything like that." [...and we have the NSA's word on that! Bob]

Here in Texas, it just takes a mouse click to publish your personal information. To remove it, simply file form C-22 in quituplicate with the appropriate clerks five days prior to publication.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081120184306497

El Pasonas Must Request To Remove Private Info From Web Site

Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 06:43 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The job of the county clerk's office is to simply preserve and record public and vital records of individuals in the community. The county clerk said it's not against the law to publish these records on the Internet, but she's working on a system to remove identifying information.

Your personal documents that could contain identifying information are public records. And it's easy to get to when ithey're published on the county Web site. It's an identity theft issue that should concern everyone.

... If you've ever filed any documents in the El Paso County Court, you should check the Web site to see if there's private information. If there is, you need to request a redaction, and you can do that by calling the county clerk's office or going to the Web site and filing out a form giving specific instruction as to what information to remove.

Source - KFOX TV

[From the article:

Briones explains it's not against the law to publish these records; in fact, it's her job. But she said her office is working on obtaining the software needed to remove private information from public records.

What information do you need to commit this crime? Detailed credit card purchases?

http://pokedandprodded.health.com/2008/11/18/fake-fda-agents-target-people-who-buy-drugs-online/

Fake FDA Agents Target People Who Buy Drugs Online

By Theresa Tamkins | November 18, 2008

... The FDA says scam artists claiming to be “FDA special agents” have been phoning people and threatening them with prison if they don’t cough up a pile of cash, typically thousands of dollars.

... The targets are generally people who have already been the victims of credit card fraud, or who have purchased drugs on the Internet or over the phone.

Should “punishment” be based on volume or procedures?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081121055730180

UK: EDS goes unpunished for data loss (follow-up and update)

Friday, November 21 2008 @ 05:57 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Justice secretary Jack Straw has been accused of letting EDS get away with " a slap on the wrist" after losing a hard drive containing sensitive personal data on prison staff.

... In a Commons statement on the outcome of the inquiry Straw revealed that the hard drive contained bank details, addresses, National Insurance numbers and dates of birth on 256 staff, and not 5,000 as originally reported.

... Straw said that EDS "is taking appropriate action", including disciplinary action "if necessary", and that National Offender Management Service (Noms) staff face disciplinary action for concealing the news from ministers.

Source - computing.co.uk Related - BBC

Privacy as a strategic weapon? Don't stand behind the bazooka!

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081120084310564

Does AT&T’s Newfound Interest in Privacy Hurt Google?

Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 08:43 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

When I first read about the formation of a new privacy think tank in Washington funded initially by AT&T, my first instinct was to see it in light of the company’s battle against Google. And I do think that is part of the story, but I also think the new group has the potential to do some real good.

.... Several commentators, including Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo and Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, have seen this as a business group trying to block any new government intervention in the advertising business. My take is that this fits more into the movement by a lot of companies to undercut the growing power of Google. Microsoft has spent a lot of time talking about privacy in Washington because it sees the topic as Google’s Achilles heel.

Source - NY Times

Take every opportunity to NOT talk about your failures...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081120132028331

8 Corporations No-Shows At ID Theft Hearing

Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 01:20 PM EST Contributed by:PrivacyNews

They were targeted by an international ring of computer thieves -- so why did a number of large retail chains fail to notify customers in California about the theft of sensitive credit information?

That question was left unanswered Wednesday in a Capitol hearing about identity theft, as eight corporations were no-shows.

According to a federal indictment, all eight corporations were victimized through identity theft and stolen data by a large international ring of hackers.

Office Max, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, TJX -- also known as TJ Maxx -- DSW, and Dave & Buster's, Boston Market and Forever 21 opted to ignore the invitation from the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Source - KCRA

Comment: maybe the Assembly Judiciary Committee should extend another "invitation" a little more forcefully? The companies who did not notify customers need to explain when they first found out that they had had a breach and whether customers were then notified, and if not, why not. -- Dissent

This looks interesting, but I'm having problems accessing the PDF.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/019866.html

November 20, 2008

National Intelligence Council Report - Global Trends 2025- A Transformed World

Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, November 2008 - "We prepared Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World to stimulate strategic thinking about the future by identifying key trends, the factors that drive them, where they seem to be headed, and how they might interact. It uses scenarios to illustrate some of the many ways in which the drivers examined in the study (e.g., globalization, demography, the rise of new powers, the decay of international institutions, climate change, and the geopolitics of energy) may interact to generate challenges and opportunities for future decisionmakers. The study as a whole is more a description of the factors likely to shape events than a prediction of what will actually happen."

Will this ruling cause other states to adopt similar laws?

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/state-can-ban-p.html

State Can Ban Prescription Data Mining, Appeals Court Rules

By Ryan Singel November 20, 2008 8:11:43 PM

Data-mining companies have no constitutional right to buy prescription data in order to help pharmaceutical companies lobby doctors to prescribe their brand-name drugs, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 3-0 decision by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals re-instates New Hampshire's 2006 ban on the commercial use of prescription information which is routinely bought from insurers and pharmacy benefit managers by data mining companies. That information includes the names of the doctor, patient and drug.

The companies sell the profiles to drug companies, whose 'detailers' then canvass doctors, buy lunches and give them free samples in order to influence what drugs they sell -- an effective marketing technique the industry spends $4 billion a year on.

[From the article:

The plaintiffs, who are in the business of harvesting, refining, and selling this commodity, ask us in essence to rule that because their product is information instead of, say, beef jerky, any regulation constitutes a restriction of speech. We think that such an interpretation stretches the fabric of the First Amendment beyond any rational measure.

The court also ruled that even if the state did stifle free speech with its ban on sharing or selling the information for commercial use, it would still be constitutional since the state has a vested interest in keeping health costs low.

The heavy hitters have been waiting for a case they could use to batter the RIAA. Perhaps this is it? More likely, the RIAA will back away.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/20/1830237&from=rss

Lessig, Zittrain, Barlow To Square Off Against RIAA

Posted by timothy on Thursday November 20, @01:47PM from the ensemble-cast dept. The Courts Music

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes

"The RIAA's case in Boston against a 24-year-old grad student, SONY BMG Music v. Tenenbaum, in which Prof. Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School, along with members of his CyberLaw class, are representing the defendant, may shape up as a showdown between the Electronic Frontier and Big Music. The defendant's witness list includes names such as those of Prof. Lawrence Lessig (Author of 'Free Culture'), John Perry Barlow (former songwriter of The Grateful Dead and cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation), Prof. Johan Pouwelse (Scientific Director of P2P-Next), Prof. Jonathan Zittrain (Author of 'The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It'), Professors Wendy Seltzer, Terry Fisher, and John Palfrey, and others. The RIAA requested, and was granted, an adjournment of the trial, from its previously scheduled December 1st date, to March 30, 2009. (The RIAA lawyers have been asking for adjournments a lot lately, asking for an adjournment in UMG v. Lindor the other day because they were so busy preparing for the Tenenbaum December 1st trial ... I guess when you're running on hot air, you sometimes run out of steam)."

Related: The Internet as a disintermediator.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10104750-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Byrne/Eno succeed in cutting out the middleman

Posted by Matt Rosoff November 20, 2008 5:01 PM PST

Back in August, I noted that the new David Byrne/Brian Eno album, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, was available in its entirety as a free streaming audio file.

They also put up a free download of one track, "Strange Overtones." Later, they offered several packages to purchase--from downloads-only for $8.99 to a deluxe package with a hardbound book, screensaver, and extra songs for $69.99.

Turns out that this release and marketing strategy was driven by Topspin Media, which is led by former Yahoo Music Vice President Ian Rogers.

A couple weeks ago, Rogers spoke at a Grammy-sponsored event in Seattle and, as Idolator reports, the results of the Byrne/Eno experiment have worked out quite well for the artists. After eight weeks of digital-only sales, the duo have already grossed what they would have earned from a typical record company advance for artists of their expected sales profile. And that's without any physical CDs--they don't drop into retail stores until November 30.

As Nine Inch Nails has already shown, the key for established artists is to reach out to their "superfans" and give them opportunities to feel like they're part of an exclusive club. In the case of Byrne/Eno, it really worked: of the people who entered an e-mail address, more than 50 percent opened the subsequent e-mail, and more than 20 percent eventually purchased music through the site.

I'm a David Byrne fan--I've bought most of his solo CDs (which range from OK to great), and have seen him in concert a few times (always outstanding). Sure enough, as soon as I found out that I could buy a physical CD through the site, that's what I did. I guess I'm not a superfan, as I didn't spring for the $70 deluxe package, but I did buy tickets for Byrne's Seattle stop as soon as I heard they were going on sale.

First rule of hacking: Use someone else's identity. (We They call it “e-deniability”)

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081120183448616

Ca: RCMP not charging rights watchdog over hacking allegations

Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 06:34 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

The RCMP will not pursue charges against the Canadian Human Rights Commission over allegations that its investigators hacked an Ottawa woman's wireless internet account to conceal their identity on websites under investigation for hate speech, the National Post has learned.

A parallel investigation of the same incident by the Privacy Commissioner remains ongoing.

Source - National Post

[From the article:

In his testimony, Alain Monfette, director of Bell Canada's law enforcement support team, read out the name and address of a woman, coincidentally a Bell Canada employee, whose computer IP address matched that of Jadewarr at the time in question, according to the Florida-based owner of stormfront.org, Don Black.

Neither the CHRC lawyers nor Mr. Lemire's team had ever heard of her. She has no connection to CHRC investigators, but she did have a laptop computer with a wireless connection, and the address Mr. Monfette gave for her apartment in downtown Ottawa is near the CHRC offices.

This led to speculation that CHRC staff were illegally using an innocent woman's internet account to hide behind her identity when investigating target websites, a claim Mr. Lemire made in a formal complaint to police, while also posting detailed photographs and schematics of her apartment building. That investigation is now concluded without charges.

It's not that there is no competition. It's simply that most competitors want to (make their life easier / screw their customers) too.

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/20/1633231&from=rss

CRTC Rules Bell Can Squeeze Downloads

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 20, @12:21PM from the throttle-away dept. The Internet

pparsons writes

"Bell Canada Inc. will not have to suspend its practice of 'shaping' traffic on the Internet after a group of companies that resell access to Bell's network complained their customers were also being negatively affected. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission today released a decision that denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers' request that Bell be ordered to cease its application of the practice to its wholesale customers."

Forensic niche: “If you build it, they will come.” (Not as simple as it sounds.)

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/professor-sees.html

Experimental Shoe-Print Database Sees the Soles of Criminals

By Ryan Singel November 20, 2008 1:58:37 PM

Dr. Sargur Srihari, a computer science professor, is building a search engine populated with thousands of shoe images scraped from internet shoe stores that would let police forensics units submit a photo of a shoe print from a crime scene and quickly learn the gender, size and brand of shoe a killer or thief was likely wearing.

Not ready for prime time, but I can see this technology enabling a computer ballet. (en-point and click?)

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/21/0215233&from=rss

Oblong's g-speak Brings "Minority Report" Interface To Life

Posted by timothy on Friday November 21, @12:50AM from the staged-mock-up-or-real-time-control? Dept. GUI Displays Input Devices

tracheopterix writes

"Oblong Industries, a startup based in LA has unveiled g-speak, an operational version of the notable interface from Minority Report. One of Oblong's founders served as science and technology adviser for the film; the interface was an extension of his doctoral work at the MIT Media Lab. Oblong calls g-speak a 'spatial operating environment' and adds that 'the SOE's combination of gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels brings the first major step in computer interface since 1984.'"

The video shown on Oblong's front page is an impressive demo.

Soon every toddler will be quoting this study!

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/20/1755213&from=rss

Study Recommends Online Gaming, Social Networking For Kids

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday November 20, @01:02PM from the seeing-the-writing-on-the-wall dept.

Blue's News pointed out a report about a study sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation which found that online gaming and social networking are beneficial to children, teaching them basic technical skills and how to communicate in the Information Age. The study was conducted over a period of three years, with researchers interviewing hundreds of children and monitoring thousands of hours of online time. The full white paper (PDF) is also available.

"For a minority of children, the casual use of social media served as a springboard to them gaining technological expertise — labeled in the study as 'geeking out,' the researchers said. By asking friends or getting help from people met through online groups, some children learned to adjust the software code underpinning some of the video games they played, edit videos and fix computer hardware. Given that the use of social media serves as inspiration to learning, schools should abandon their hostility and support children when they want to learn some skills more sophisticated than simply designing their Facebook page, the study said."

Attention teachers: There are worse things that plagerism...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081120183852698

Texas Professor Fired For Vigilante Justice on Plagiarism

Thursday, November 20 2008 @ 06:38 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews

Loye Young, adjunct professor at Texas A&M International University, utilized unconventional measures to combat plagiarism in the classroom. Young warned students that he would publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating, or stealing. “If students don’t know that they will be prosecuted, this will not stop,” he said. “You need to have a deterrent, and it needs to be public.” When he caught six students cheating in his management information systems course, Young published a story about the students on his online course blog – detailing the identification of each student, that he planned to report them to university officials and that each would receive a failing grade in the course. In response to these actions, university administrators promptly fired Young for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which bars the release of students’ educational records without their permission.

Source - AACRAO

For my website class (so they can explain it to me)

http://digg.com/tech_news/Giz_Explains_Every_Video_Format_You_Need_to_Know

Giz Explains: Every Video Format You Need to Know

gizmodo.com — Once upon time, video codecs and formats were really only the concern of AV nerds, anime freaks and hardcore not-so-legal movie downloaders. Now, even the most part-time of geeks has to deal with them. The zen of knowing what bits of data to pull out to make big data chunks smaller —make for better quality video while taking up less space

http://gizmodo.com/5093670/giz-explains-every-video-format-you-need-to-know

Okay, this could be interesting, but if my wife sees it, I'll have life size pictures of the horse all over the house!

http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/stickyfan-com-make-posters-out-of-pictures

Stickyfan.com - Make Posters Out Of Pictures

http://www.stickyfan.com

StickyFan is a service whereby you submit a digital photograph and it is turned into a poster that you can order through the web. This solution is initially geared towards fathers who have child athletes and want to show off their little superstars in a big way, but it is theoretically possible to order posters that take babies and pets as the starting point, too. In fact, the service is even suitable for car lovers and hot rods aficionados.

Pricing starts at US$ 20, and the posters themselves are made to adhere to any surface, be it a wall or a window. These can also be moved at will.