For my Computer Security students. How do you block this or at least detect it?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16708

A Chilling Case of ‘Sextortion’

November 2, 2010 by Dissent

From the FBI:

The hacker knew every move the unsuspecting victim made. He controlled her computer webcam and microphone. He could see her in her bedroom, hear her conversations, knew every keystroke she made online. And he threatened to expose her secrets unless she bowed to his demands.

It may sound like the plot for a scary teen movie, but it actually happened, and there wasn’t just one victim—there were more than 200, and dozens of them were adolescent girls.

… The hacker, a 31-year-old California man who was arrested in June after a two-year investigation, used malicious code to infect and control the computers of his victims. Then he searched for explicit pictures from their computers, downloaded them, and used the images in an attempt to extort more pictures and videos from them.

“What’s so frightening about this case was how easily the victims’ computers were compromised,” said Special Agent Jeff Kirkpatrick, one of our Los Angeles cyber investigators who worked the case.

… “And this guy was no computer genius,” Agent Kirkpatrick said. “Anybody could do what he did just by watching an online video and following the directions.”

… Victims—particularly teenage girls—were understandably devastated when they learned their privacy had been so completely violated. Many were afraid to tell their parents about the situation.

… “If he hadn’t attempted to contact the victims,” Agent Rogers said, “he could have done this forever and gone undetected—the victims would never have known he was listening and watching. That,” she added, “is one of the most disturbing things about this case.”

(Related) Perhaps my “fly armed and naked” idea was somewhat on point?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16702

In Opening Brief, EPIC Urges Federal Appeals Court to Suspend Airport Body Scanner Program

November 2, 2010 by Dissent

From EPIC.org:

EPIC has filed the opening brief in EPIC v. DHS, No, 10-1157, a case that challenges the unilateral decision of the TSA to make body scanners the primary screening technique in U.S. airports. Three frequent air travelers are joining EPIC in the lawsuit: security expert Bruce Schneier, human rights activist Chip Pitts, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations legal council Nadhira Al-Khalili. The Petitioners have brought claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Privacy Act, the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment. The Petitioners are seeking the suspension of the body scanner program. In its brief, EPIC argues that the Department of Homeland Security “has initiated the most sweeping, the most invasive, and the most unaccountable suspicionless search of American travelers in history.” EPIC further argues that the Transportation Security Administration “must comply with relevant law, and it must not be permitted to engage in such a fundamental change in agency practice without providing the public the opportunity to express its views.” For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. DHS and EPIC: Whole Body Imaging Technology.

A project for my Ethical Hackers.

http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/credit-card-2-0/

Credit Cards With Computer Chips: Coming to a Wallet Near You This Month

We’ve been hearing the refrain for years: the US is losing the credit card technology race. In Europe they have microchips. In Asia, people pay with their phones.

You’d think it’s only a matter of time before the US dumps its ancient magnetic stripes and joins the 21st century.

… Each of Mullen’s credit cards has a fully functional computer inside, controlled by touch-sensitive buttons on the card surface. Card 2.0 plastic works with all of those 10 million stripe readers in the wild, and merchants don’t even have to know you’re using a special card.

… Why do you want buttons on your card and a computer in your pants? Features. The first Card 2.0 plastic to hit the market is a rewards card. Press one button to pay with credit. Press the other button to pay with reward points.

Conundrum. How can a website offer data for “personal and non-commercial use only” and also forbid that use? A double-secret change of policy?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2344230/UKs-National-Rail-Shuts-Down-Free-Timetable-App?from=rss

UK's National Rail Shuts Down Free Timetable App

Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 03, @07:24AM

"sad tale of one developer's trying time with the National Rail, the owners of the UK's train timetable data, which flies in the face of the recent assertion of Chris Scoggins (Chief Executive, National Rail Enquiries) in Wired recently stating that they had 'opened up' their data, 'often free of charge.'"

This is a good case for keeping your old emails handy; the app's author uses cut-and-paste to excellent effect in his correspondence with the rail system.

Perhaps by sponsoring a blog?

http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/02/google-buzz-email/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Google Emails All U.S. Gmail Users About The Buzz Settlement — And To Say They’re Not Getting A Dime

… Instead, the $8.5 million settlement money will be placed into an independent fund which Google says will support organizations working on privacy education and policy on the web.

Not new, but this video explains clearly how voting without risk of fraud could be done.

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_bismark_e_voting_without_fraud.html#9540149123968236980

David Bismark: E-voting without fraud

Video interview with Google insider. Google TV, self-driving cars, etc.

http://digg.com/news/technology/october_2010_digg_dialogg_with_marissa_mayer_of_google

October, 2010 Digg Dialogg with Marissa Mayer of Google

youtube.com — What happened when President Obama visited her home and a rooftop sniper showed up? How will the Google TV change our TV viewing habits? Is Google Skynet?

Read free online...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025645.html

November 02, 2010

Proceedings of a Workshop on Deterring CyberAttacks: Informing Strategies and Developing Options for U.S. Policy

Proceedings of a Workshop on Deterring CyberAttacks: Informing Strategies and Developing Options for U.S. Policy, October 2010.

• "In a world of increasing dependence on information technology, the prevention of cyberattacks on a nation's important computer and communications systems and networks is a problem that looms large. Given the demonstrated limitations of passive cybersecurity defense measures, it is natural to consider the possibility that deterrence might play a useful role in preventing cyberattacks against the United States and its vital interests. At the request of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Research Council undertook a two-phase project aimed to foster a broad, multidisciplinary examination of strategies for deterring cyberattacks on the United States and of the possible utility of these strategies for the U.S. government. The first phase produced a letter report providing basic information needed to understand the nature of the problem and to articulate important questions that can drive research regarding ways of more effectively preventing, discouraging, and inhibiting hostile activity against important U.S. information systems and networks. The second phase of the project entailed selecting appropriate experts to write papers on questions raised in the letter report. A number of experts, identified by the committee, were commissioned to write these papers under contract with the National Academy of Sciences. Commissioned papers were discussed at a public workshop held June 10-11, 2010, in Washington, D.C., and authors revised their papers after the workshop. Although the authors were selected and the papers reviewed and discussed by the committee, the individually authored papers do not reflect consensus views of the committee, and the reader should view these papers as offering points of departure that can stimulate further work on the topics discussed. The papers presented in this volume are published essentially as received from the authors, with some proofreading corrections made as limited time allowed."

How DHS sees risk. Explains what they are talking about?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025642.html

November 02, 2010

DHS Risk Lexicon

"Developed by the DHS Risk Steering Committee (RSC), the purpose of the DHS Risk Lexicon is to establish and make available a comprehensive list of terms and meanings relevant to the practice of homeland security risk management and analysis. Accomplishing this goal improves the capability of the Department to assess and manage homeland security risk. To support integrated risk management for the Department, the DHS Risk Lexicon:

• Promulgates a common language to ease and improve communications for the Department and its partners;

• Facilitates the clear exchange of structured and unstructured data, essential to interoperability amongst risk practitioners; and

• Garners credibility and grows relationships by providing consistency and clear understanding with regard to the usage of terms by the risk community across the Department."

Notice to geeks: Think of the fun we could have using this technique!

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/2043222/Truthy-Project-Uncovers-Political-Astroturfing-On-Twitter?from=rss

Truthy Project Uncovers Political Astroturfing On Twitter

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 02, @05:10PM

An anonymous reader writes with a follow-up to the launch of the Truthy Project we discussed last month.

"Tens of thousands of tweets this election season have turned out to be automated messages generated by employees of political campaigns, Indiana University researchers have found. Quoting: 'In one case, a network of nine Twitter accounts, all created within 13 minutes of one another, sent out 929 messages in about two hours as replies to real account holders in the hopes that these users would retweet the messages. The fake accounts were probably controlled by a script that randomly picked a Twitter user to reply to, and a message and a Web link to include. Although Twitter shut the accounts down soon after, the messages still reached 61,732 users.'"

Ethical lawyers, crazy client?

http://e-discoveryteam.com/2010/11/01/win-at-all-costs-litigation-using-illegal-e-discovery-leads-to-dismissal-of-a-billion-dollar-case/

“Win-At-All-Costs” Litigation Using Illegal e-Discovery Leads to Dismissal of a Billion Dollar Case

Last week I mentioned the mean streets of litigation and my guess that most judges do not know how bad it has become. Two federal judges in South Florida know: District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz and Magistrate Judge John J. O’Sullivan. Leor Exploration & Production LLC v. Aguiar, 2010 WL 3782195 (Sept. 28, 2010, S.D.Fl.). They have seen and responded to some real Dr. Evil type of conduct by the defendant in this case over One Billion Dollars. The misconduct culminated in illegal e-discovery where defendant hacked into the opposing party’s email and read his lawyers’ advice and strategies for the case. Judge O’Sullivan found, and Judge Seitz agreed, that defendant had a “win-at-all-costs mentality regarding this litigation.” Leor, supra at *4.

Some of my fellow teachers believe that Wikipedia is evil. I think it makes a great starting point for research.

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/wikipedia-book-creator/

Wikipedia Book Creator: Create eBooks From Wikipedia Pages

… If you’re the kind of person who likes to print lengthy Wikipedia articles to read offline at leisure, you should give the Wikipedia Book Creator a try.

The Book Creator is a new feature from Wikipedia that lets you select one or more pages from the online encyclopedia and add them to a PDF eBook that you can then download and read offline at your leisure. You can even get a printed book delivered to your doorstep, for a small fee.

If you would like to make some changes to the pages that you just saved, you can even download the eBook in the OpenDocument Text format. [Easily read by your normal word processor... Bob]

www.en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book_creator

Perhaps I could make my own InfrGraphics? At lest some “step by step” flowcharts for my students.

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/grapholite-com-graphing-just-anything-you-want?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+killerstartups%2FBkQV+%28KillerStartups.com%29

Grapholite.com - Graphing Just Anything You Want

Grapholite is a web-based tool that makes creating graphs, charts and diagrams an absolute cinch. It is usable right on the browser, and it can be employed to come up with just anything you might need: organizational charts, floor plans, network diagrams...

… And every single diagram that you create via Grapholite can be saved in all the most popular text and image formats currently used, and imported into your favorite application(s).

It must also be mentioned that Grapholite is available in a desktop version.

http://grapholite.com/

Clearly they use words differently. But is this just a reporter with a cheap thesaurus, or actual quotes?

http://capitolhillseattle.com/2010/11/01/capitol-hill-credit-card-fraud-wave-adjudicated-task-force-claims-break-in-case

Capitol Hill credit card fraud wave 'adjudicated' -- Secret Service task force claims break in case

A special task force that combines Secret Service investigators with local law enforcement experts has made a major break in the case of a large wave of fraudulent activity involving credit card accounts belonging to people who live and work on Capitol Hill, CHS has learned.

According to David A. Iacovetti, Special Agent in Charge of the Electronic Crimes Task Force Seattle office, investigators made a break on the case late Friday night. "We addressed it so no further fraud could be conducted," Iacovetti said. [What to bet? Bob]

Iacovetti would not confirm that this wave involved a skimming device on a point of sale system somewhere on the Hill. Because this is an open and ongoing investigation, Iacovetti said it's too soon to release details of how the accounts were defrauded but that the situation has been "adjudicated." [Am I wrong to think 'adjudicated' has always meant 'resolved within the judicial system?' Bob] "Our guys got on it quick," Iacovetti said.

Iacovetti said the investigation continues and people should remain vigilant of suspicious activity on their accounts. "We're continuing," he said. "There was a point of interest that we were working on Friday. That threat was reduced." [“Reduced” does not suggest “resolved” does it? Bob]

Iacovetti tells CHS that agents will work to "reverse engineer" the circumstances and could be able to trace back all fraudulent activity for victims.

Cyber War Corporate risk analysis does not typically consider attacks by a foreign military – ignoring history again...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025630.html

November 01, 2010

Google Confronts China's "Three Warfares"

Google Confronts China’s “Three Warfares”, by Timothy L. Thomas. Parameters, Summer 2010, Vol. 40, No. 2, U.S. Army War College.

• "In early January 2010, Google announced that a computer attack originating from China had penetrated its corporate infrastructure (in mid-December) and stolen information from its computers, most likely source code. The hackers also accessed the Gmail accounts of some human-rights activists and infiltrated the networks of 33 companies. In April 2010, journalist John Markoff wrote: A person with direct knowledge of the investigation now says that the losses included one of Google’s crown jewels, a password system that controls access by millions of users worldwide to almost all of the company’s Web services, including e-mail and business applications. The program, code named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in a lightning raid taking less than two days last December, the person said." .. China’s recent incursions into US military computer networks and Google’s cyber systems are of concern when viewed in isolation. They reflect a more serious problem when viewed as part of a short-term goal of conducting “preemptive reconnaissance” that accommodates a longer-term goal of affecting US military planning or the US economy. Many factors indicate that this may be China’s goal."

[From the article:

An example of a civilian source that emphasizes economic and digital issues is the Chinese book Internet Wars. It also focused on the Internet confrontation in general. The book has 18 chapters. Several chapters draw the reader’s attention immediately. They are: “The Inevitable Internet War;” “Battles for Internet Control;” “Offensive and Defensive Internet Wars;” “The Internet Will Determine Victory in Future Wars;” “Dangerous Virtual Reality;” and “Financial Wars in the Internet World.”31 The latter should be of particular interest to US analysts.

[Also see the PowerPoint at:

http://www.slideserve.com/presentation/16637/16637.swf

[Also see the book:

Unrestricted Warfare

http://www.c4i.org/unrestricted.pdf

(Related) ...and is the reverse also true?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/02/0134226/Kindle-Allowing-Chinese-Unfettered-Access-To-Web?from=rss

Kindle Allowing Chinese Unfettered Access

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 02, @12:02AM

"Apparently, some Chinese Kindle owners have discovered that they are able to access banned sites such as Twitter and Facebook without a problem. The article speculates that Amazon may be operating a local equivalent to Amazon Whispernet with a Chinese 3G provider. Professor Lawrence Yeung Kwan, of the University of Hong Kong's electrical and electronic engineering department, told the paper that mainland internet patrols might have overlooked the gadget (perhaps because they consider it solely a tool to purchase books). How long before Kindle traffic is locked down?"

(Related) I hope not! (daylight savings time ends Sunday Nov. 7^th in the US)

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/11/01/136235/iPhone-Alarm-Bug-Leads-To-Mass-European-Sleep-in?from=rss

iPhone Alarm Bug Leads To Mass European Sleep-in

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 01, @10:

"A flaw in the alarm clock in iPhone 4s gave Europeans a bit of a lie-in this morning. While the Apple handsets automatically adjusted to daylight savings time, a bug in the alarm system meant many were woken up an hour later than they should have been, after clocks rolled back over the weekend. Annoyingly, Australia was hit by a similar problem last month, but Apple failed to fix the problem or even warn users. American Apple fans, consider yourselves warned. The iOS4 bug can apparently be avoided by using one-off alarms, rather than pre-set regular wake-up calls."

This looks more like typical political ass-covering. They seem to be using these request to flag areas where they may have screwed up in order to have a timely 'rebuttal' ready when the evidence is released.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025628.html

November 01, 2010

FOIA, Transparency and Additional Reviews Based on Origin of Requests

DHS Singles Out EFF’s FOIA Requests for Unprecedented Extra Layer of Review: "The Identity Project notes on its blog today that the Department of Homeland Security singled out EFF, along with other activist groups and media representatives such as the ACLU, EPIC, Human Rights Watch, AP, etc, for an extra layer of review on its FOIA requests. Records posted online by the DHS in response to one of the Identity Project’s FOIA requests show that the agency passed certain requests through extra levels of screening. According to a policy memo from DHS’s Chief FOIA Officer and Chief Privacy Officer, Mary Ellen Callahan, DHS components were required to report “significant FOIA activities” in weekly reports to the Privacy Office, which the Privacy Office then integrated into its weekly report to the White House Liason. Included among these designated "significant FOIA activities" were requests from any members of "an activist group, watchdog organization, special interest group, etc." and “requested documents [that] will garner media attention or [are] receiving media attention."

“The world according to ___________” Could be useful to know haw they other guys think(?) but I doubt it will be used that way... I wonder if they have a Forrest Gump option?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/11/01/1413201/Blekko-Launches-a-Search-Engine-With-Bias?from=rss

Blekko Launches a Search Engine With Bias

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 01, @10:45AM

"Previous specialized search engines including Cuil, Hakia, Powerset, Clusty, and RedZ — each had a special trick, but they've all faded from memory, some after crashing in flames, some after making their founders rich. Now Rafe Needleman reports at Cnet that along comes Blekko, whose claim to fame is that you can tilt your search results in the direction you like by using a category of bias, like 'liberal' or 'conservative.' Categorization lists are applied by appending a 'slashtag.' The query, 'climate change /conservative' will give you politically slanted results, for example. 'Climate change /science' will restrict your results to hits from scientific Web sites. Blekko won't have a real, Web-wide impact unless its concept — that bias is good and more aggressive search filtering is needed — gets some traction, writes Needleman. But 'Blekko is a solid alternative to Google and Bing for anyone, and more importantly it's got great potential for researchers, librarians, journalists, or anyone who's willing to put some work into how their search engine functions in order to get better results.'"

Speaking of bias... Or perhaps lobbying?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/11/01/1942259/Google-Sues-US-Govt-For-Only-Considering-Microsoft?from=rss

Google Sues US Gov't For Only Considering Microsoft

Posted by Soulskill on Monday November 01, @04:20PM

"Late last week, Google sued the US government for putting out a Request For Quotation for the messaging needs of the Department of the Interior that specified only Microsoft solutions would be considered. Google apparently had spent plenty of time talking to DOI officials to understand their needs and make sure they had a solution ready to go — and were promised that there wasn't a deal already in place with Microsoft. And then the RFQ came out. Google protested, but the protest was dismissed, with the claim that Google was 'not an interested party.'"

Big Brother Barbie? “Train them young?” Have children (or parents) demanded surveillance enabled toys?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16669

Call to boycott Barbie with built-in camera

November 1, 2010 by Dissent

Daniella Miletic reports:

MATTEL’S trademark vinyl doll is getting older but she has embraced technology – Barbie’s new built-in camera abilities are worrying some privacy advocates and psychologists.

The Barbie Video Girl doll has been criticised for enabling children to film themselves and others using a hidden camera in Barbie’s necklace.

The doll, which retails for about $110, also has a small colour LCD screen in her back and the capacity to record 30 minutes of video, which can be transferred to a computer.

Read more in The Age.

(Related)

http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/61661

State Electronic Harassment or "Cyberstalking" Laws

November 2, 2010 11:54

State Electronic Harassment or "Cyberstalking" Laws

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures

Law enforcement agencies estimate that electronic communications are a factor in from 20 percent to 40 percent of all stalking cases. Forty-seven states now have laws that explicitly include electronic forms of communication within stalking or harassment laws. State laws that do not include specific references to electronic communication may still apply to those who threaten or harass others online, but specific language may make the laws easier to enforce.

I'm sure the RIAA will agree, as long as they have the majority of seats on the panel...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16657

UK: Minister proposes privacy mediation service and good-privacy kitemark

November 1, 2010 by Dissent

A UK Government minister has proposed the creation of a mediation service for people who think their right to privacy has been violated on the internet. The mediation could result in the removal of material, Ed Vaizey said..

Vaizey is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, and told a House of Commons debate that there should be a mediation service for content to match the Nominet-run service run to resolve domain name disputes.

“Nominet, the charity that is responsible for internet domain names, runs an extremely effective mediation service, so that people who are disputing the ownership of an internet domain name may be involved in a low-cost process to discuss how to resolve that dispute,” he said.

Read more on Out-Law.com.

“Gee Prof. Bob, I'm just studying!”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20021407-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Oxford, Rice, Open University release eBooks on iTunes U

The Open University has released 100 free, interactive eBooks and promises an additional 200 titles by the end of the year. The school said its eBooks aren't just digital versions of existing books, but rather books that are designed specifically for the electronic format.

As an example, Martin Bean, vice chancellor of The Open University, said that if you are learning about Schubert, you can hear the music while you follow the score and read the text.

In June, The Open University became the first school to reach 20 million downloads of its material on iTunes U. It now has over 27 million downloads worldwide.

Oxford University joined the eBook release party as it pushed out Shakespeare's entire First Folio. Oxford's Shakespeare contribution is available free from iTunes U.

Oxford said it is also making six plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare available, including "The Duchess of Malfi" by John Webster.

Rice University released 18 of its most popular free textbooks available as part of its open education initiative, Connexions.

The books are available for download on iTunes U in the open ePub format. iTunes U, providing free educational material such as lab demonstrations and lectures, launched in 2007.

Is it illegal to receive what others are broadcasting? Should the police stake out every open WiFi node in the US?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16639

Is it legal to use Firesheep at Starbucks?

November 1, 2010 by Dissent

Gregg Keizer reports:

People using the Firesheep add-on may be breaking federal wiretapping laws, legal experts said today.

Or maybe not.

“I honestly don’t know the answer,” said Phil Malone, a clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School as well as the director of the school’s Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Malone also served for more than 20 years as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Firesheep, which was released just over a week ago and has been downloaded nearly half a million times since, is an add-on to Mozilla’s Firefox browser that identifies users on an open network — such as a coffee shop’s public Wi-Fi hotspot — who are visiting an insecure Web site. A double-click in Firesheep gives its handler instant access to the accounts of others accessing Twitter and Facebook, among numerous other popular Web destinations.

Read more on Computerworld.

[From the article:

"There are two schools of thought," said Jonathan Gordon, a partner in the Los Angeles office of law firm Aston + Bird. "The first is that there's no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public insecure Wi-Fi connection."

Gordon, who regularly counsels clients on their Internet business practices, cited the U.S. statute pertaining to wiretapping, which states that it's not a violation of the law "to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured to that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public."

"But the second [school of thought] is that when people are accessing their social network [account], they have an expectation that whatever they're doing is governed by the privacy settings in that network," Gordon said. In other words, the fact that accessing a site takes place in an insecure environment is beside the point.

… But privacy laws were not crafted to cover scenarios where the owner of the data -- in the Firesheep example, people accessing their Facebook accounts at an insecure hotspot -- didn't take steps to protect their information.

Any investigator (not just the computer forensics team) should be able to use the tools any teenager can use.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/10/31/1753223/UK-Police-To-Get-Facebook-Lessons?from=rss

UK Police To Get Facebook Lessons

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday October 31, @03:30PM

"The police are to receive training on how to use Facebook and Twitter to catch people committing serious crimes. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) will overhaul its training modules to include sessions on the social networking sites for detectives. 'This programme is a vital part of the career pathway for detectives and the new training covers sensitive areas of policing where limited guidance existed previously,' said deputy chief constable Nick Gargan, acting head of the NPIA, in a statement to the Press Association. 'These improvements are exactly what detectives need to tackle the challenges and complexities of modern policing effectively,' he added. 'The changes underline the importance to having a national agency to provide guidance and train detectives to a single high standard so they can work on investigations in any part of the country and give their colleagues and the public the best quality service in fighting crime.'"

How should management react to this?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025615.html

October 31, 2010

New Survey Reveals Extent, Impact of Information Overload on Workers

From Boston to Beijing, Professionals Feel Overwhelmed, Demoralized: "An international survey of white collar workers reveals that information overload is a remarkably widespread and growing problem among professionals around the world, and one that exacts a heavy toll in terms of productivity and employee morale. The survey of 1,700 white collar workers in five countries – the United States, China, South Africa, United Kingdom and Australia – found professionals in every market struggling to cope and looking to their employers for customized solutions. On average, fifty-nine percent of professionals across the five markets surveyed say that the amount of information they have to process at work has significantly increased since the economic downturn. Given the rising tide of information, it is not surprising that a majority of workers in every market (62%, on average) admit that the quality of their work suffers at times because they can’t sort through the information they need fast enough."

• 2010 International Workplace Productivity Survey, commissioned by LexisNexis

Law geek?

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/10/31/1955240/Texas-Supreme-Court-Cites-Mr-Spock?from=rss

Texas Supreme Court Cites Mr. Spock

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday October 3

"We always knew that Spock was wise and would probably make a pretty good judge, so perhaps it's a good thing to see the Texas Supreme Court citing Spock in a recent ruling, noting his wisdom in stating that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.""

For my students (to use OFF CAMPUS!)

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/freeoldies-old-game-database/

FreeOldies: Extensive Old Game Database

Computer games are made in greater numbers than you would think. Unfortunately a lot of these games are abandoned by their owners for a variety of reasons. These games then become “abandonware”. Free Oldies is a old game database that lets you search and download these abandoned computer games.

Free Oldies is a great website that lets its visitors play abandonware games for free. You can browse the available games alphabetically, according to their release year, or genre-wise.

www.freeoldies.com

• Also read related articles:

4 Sites Where You Can Download Old PC Games For Free
5 Sites To Play Old Computer Games Once Again
How To Play Old Arcade Games On Your PC.

Reasonable, what a concept!

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16616

German court sets file sharing damages at €15, not €300

October 31, 2010 by Dissent

A German court has said that a teenager who was guilty of posting copyrighted material to a file sharing network must pay €15 in damages per track and not the €300 the rights holders were demanding.

The court said that the basis for a fine should be the amount that reasonable parties would agree as a royalty for the use of the music.

The case is a rare ruling on damages for the uploading of copyrighted content. In US cases rights holders can demand up to $150.000 per song.

Read more on Out-Law.com.

For my Computer Security students.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/30/our-government-can%E2%80%99t-prevent-a-digital-9-11-entrepreneurs-need-to-step-in/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Our Government Can’t Prevent A Digital 9-11: Entrepreneurs Need To Step In

At the Security Innovation Network (SINET) Showcase at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C., this week, Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, presented a dire assessment of the cyber-security threat facing our nation. He discussed how rogue governments and hackers are quietly infiltrating our computer systems and the disasters that can be perpetuated—like those you see on the TV show “24”. Chertoff worries that these risks haven’t yet gripped the public imagination; that it may take a “digital 9-11” to get businesses, consumers, and governments to fortify their defenses.

Is maintaining the old model more costly than developing a new model?

http://hothardware.com/News/Customers-Suffer-As-TV-Networks-Obfuscate-/

Customers Suffer As TV Networks Obfuscate

Last week, we brought you the story of how television networks were blocking Google TVs by not allowing them to display content normally accessible by browser. At that time, the likes of CBS and Disney were claiming that it was Google's refusal to remove links to pirated content that had them up in arms.

Apparently aware that the piracy argument wasn't very strong, the major networks have played the 'creative compensation' card. "Everyone of these businesses [dastardly web providers] is building these services out on our product," Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said about devices like Google TV at an industry panel discussion in Los Angeles. Reilly later claimed this was a critical issue, saying networks must "get fairly compensated for the programs we make." Similar statements were made by other industry heads, including CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler. "We invest a tremendous amount of time and money in making great shows and we should be justly compensated," she said. "There is great value to it and we have to protect that. It is important to provide (content), but we just have to be compensated."

Such protestations don't reek as much as the RIAA's claim to be acting on behalf of music artists, but it's a near thing. The real battle has nothing to do with creative control and everything to do with what are called "retransmission fees." Retransmission fees were originally instituted when cable and satellite were newfangled options. The name is self-explanatory—if Cable Company X wants to carry Fox programming, it pays a fee for the privilege of doing so. With the advertising market in the tank, the major networks have been cranking up their retransmission fees in an attempt to compensate.

… The various major networks appear to have missed two key facts in their rush to retain revenue. First, customers who buy a Google TV and then attempt to actually watch something with it aren't going to blame Google when they discover they can't see anything on Fox or CBS—they're going to blame Fox and CBS. This is doubly true if the household in question still pays for cable or satellite service. From the consumer's point of view, they already pay for the privilege of NBC, ABC, and the Midget Dating Network. Network executives might have more ground to stand on if they'd collectively refused to broadcast on Hulu or their own Internet sites, but having established the practice of making content available online they'll have an exceptionally difficult time turning off the tap.

Just because it could be handy...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025612.html

October 30, 2010

Google Launches Place Search - a faster, easier way to find local information

Official Google Blog: "Today we’re introducing Place Search, a new kind of local search result that organizes the world’s information around places. We’ve clustered search results around specific locations so you can more easily make comparisons and decide where to go. Say you’re looking for that great barbecue restaurant with live music... The new results are marked with red pins, and each one is a unique restaurant with relevant information and links from across the web."

For my students to learn resume writing and for me to locate “experts”

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/kabroo-download-resumes-for-free/

Kabroo: Find & Download Resumes For Free Online

Many professionals upload their resumes to the web and make them searchable. You can search for these resumes and find them to be very helpful whether you are planning to hire somebody or simply looking for sample resumes. Kabroo is one website that lets find and download those resumes for free.

www.kabroo.com

• Similar tool: TheResumator, Praux, JobSpice, Emurse and VisualCV.

• Also check our related article: Top 5 Free Resume Hosting Websites.

“It's for the children!” How else can they be trained to be submissive little sheep?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16586

School Buses Tracking Kids With Fingerprint and Card Scanners

October 29, 2010 by Dissent

Caleb Johnson writes:

To ensure that kids don’t get off at the wrong stops, some school districts have started using fingerprint and card scanners to track students who ride school buses. The Desert Sands Unified School District, located just north of San Diego, began testing a Biometric Observation Security System (BOSS) on its buses earlier this month, according to USA Today. Students simply touch their fingers to a tiny screen when they get on and off the bus; if a child tries to get off at the wrong stop, BOSS sounds an alarm to notify the driver. About 30 school districts across the country, including ones in Missouri and Illinois, have begun using a similar system called Zpass. Instead of a fingerprint, the system uses an electronic card that’s tethered to a child’s backpack. [Forget your backpack and you can't “get poor Charlie of the MTA!” Bob]

I guess no one can go home with a friend any more without sirens and alarms going off, huh?

This is creepy/spooky. A high resolution photo of the World Series, that allows you to tag anyone with their Facebook profile. Think of it as a sample “facial recognition” application. (and why is the Second Baseman holding his glove that way?)

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/29/mlbs-tagoramic-lets-you-stare-into-the-face-of-each-and-every-fan-at-the-world-series/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

MLB’s TagOramic Lets You Stare Into The Face Of Each And Every Fan At The World Series

Were you lucky enough to attend one of the MLB playoff games this month? Then you’ll want to check out TagOramic, a nifty feature on MLB.com that was built to celebrate the Fall Classic. Over the course of the playoffs, MLB has taken some absolutely massive panoramic photos of each stadium — and they’ve taken them at high enough resolution that you can zoom in and see each and every fan.

The site has also integrated support for Facebook Connect, so even if you didn’t get to attend one of the playoff games, you can sign in and see if any of your friends have been tagged in the photo. It sounds silly, but it’s surprisingly fun to see a shot of your friend mid-hot dog, surrounded by a sea of other fans.

We have the technology, so we can do anything we want with it...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16590

Brazilians will be forced to use RFID chips and GPS trackers in their cars

October 29, 2010 by Dissent

Brazil‘s government, behind the facade of open democracy, continues to advance its way as one of the most autoritarian police states in the world.

Brazilian population will be forced very soon to have in their cars identification chips (RFID), besides GPS locators and blockers.

According to several news , the brazilian government hurries to show until november of 2010 the GPS tracker that will be legally required to be in all new cars from February of 2011.

Read more on New World Order in Brazil.

Isn't that a bit over broad? Is there an alternative to providing an IP address (at minimum) to you ISP?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16593

Utah statute requiring sex offenders to register Internet identifiers violates neither First nor Fourth Amendments nor ex post facto clause

October 29, 2010 by Dissent

Via FourthAmendment.com:

A Utah statute that required that sex offenders register their Internet identifiers with the state violates neither the First nor the Fourth Amendment. As to the Fourth Amendment, there is no high privacy interest in the identifiers that a person uses on the Internet because it is voluntarily provided to third parties. It also does not violate the ex post facto clause. Doe v. Shurtleff, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 21988 (10th Cir. October 26, 2010).*

(Related Isn't it?)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20021182-281.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Police Blotter: Husband accused of tapping wife's PC

Larry Bagley was sued in June by his wife Rhea Bagley, who accused him of surreptitiously placing audio recording devices in their house as well as a software keystroke logger. The Bagleys are in the process of divorcing.

The complaint in this civil case says that during the divorce proceedings, the husband revealed the existence of the surveillance tech and acknowledged that the "software recorded screenshots of activity on this computer." The husband replied in court documents that "in all conversations, the defendants' children were present and defendant was able to consent to recordation by way of vicarious consent."

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal ruled on October 18 in favor of the husband, saying that the court was required to follow a Fifth Circuit decision saying that the federal wiretap law known as Title III does not apply to marital relationships.

… In the current Texas case, the judge's opinion was relatively narrow. Because there are other plaintiffs in the case (besides the wife) alleging that the surveillance was illegal, the case will continue. Their lawsuit also accuses Larry Bagley of violations of Texas' wiretap law, a claim that Rosenthal allowed to proceed.

I wonder if some candidate for a PhD in psychology would like to study this. We (the Security community) have been pointing to user ambivalence for years. Now there are plenty of tools available to quantify that ambivalence and perhaps identify how hard we need to slap someone to wake them up...

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/10/29/2255258/Herding-Firesheep-In-NYC-mdash-Do-Users-Care?from=rss

Herding Firesheep In NYC — Do Users Care?

Posted by timothy on Friday October 29, @07:14PM

"Following the Firesheep uproar, I spent some time telling people who don't read Slashdot about the vulnerability that open WiFi networks create in what seemed like the most effective way possible: by sidejacking their accounts and sending them messages about how it happened. The results were surprising — would users really rather leave their accounts open to intruders rather than stay off Facebook at Starbucks? The link recounts the experience, and also lists some rough numbers of how many accounts could be compromised at a popular NY Starbucks location."

(Related) I wonder if the White House offers free WiFi?

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/whats-your-question-dude/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

White House Press Secretary Fields ‘First Question’ From Twitter

(Related) Useful security article...

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-facebook-log-in-password-stolen/

5 Ways Your Facebook Log-In Password Can Get Stolen

You need to be responsible for the security of your account.

Mahendra offered some awesome tips for safeguarding your Facebook security, and Tim offered some useful privacy tips when you choose to use Facebook Places. Today, I’d to enlighten you with a few more tools in your arsenal against Facebook account hijackers with 5 ways that those hackers commonly obtain Facebook passwords.

So few signs of intelligent life in the universe... or in Congress.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/10/29/1657248/Annual-US-Intelligence-Bill-Tops-80-Billion?from=rss

Annual US Intelligence Bill Tops $80 Billion

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 29, @01:35PM

"The LA Times reports that the US government has disclosed its annual intel budget for the first time in more than a decade: $80.1 billion on intelligence gathering, representing about 12% of the nation's $664-billion defense budget. The government revealed the total intelligence budget twice before, in 1997 and 1998, in response to a lawsuit. It was $26.6 billion and $26.7 billion, respectively, meaning the budget has tripled in 12 years. 'It is clear that the overall spending on intelligence has blossomed to an unacceptable level in the past decade,' says Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. Dana Priest reported that more than 1,200 government agencies or offices and almost 2,000 outside contractors are involved in counter-terrorism activities, producing about 50,000 intelligence reports each year, far more than the government can effectively digest. The US is running so many secret programs that James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence, said during his confirmation hearings that 'only one entity in the entire universe' knows what they're all doing, and 'that's God.'"

For my website students

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/simplebooklet-com-create-presentations-embed-them?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+killerstartups%2FBkQV+%28KillerStartups.com%29

SimpleBooklet.com - Create Presentations & Embed Them

True to its name, this website will let you create a booklet (IE a small presentation) in an easy way, and have it embedded on your site or blog for all to see. These booklets can include not only text and images [and video Bob] but also HTML content, and they will be useful in just any context in which specific information has to be transmitted.

http://simplebooklet.com/index.php#

How many other Universities “assume” their faculty web sites are secure? How did the Liberty Coalition access a “faculty” web site? (Why are all these security issues obvious only in retrospect?)

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=14984

UH West O’ahu security breach affects Mānoa students

October 28, 2010 by admin

The University of Hawaii has just posted a breach notice concerning the incident described in an earlier blog entry:

The University of Hawai`i – West O`ahu (UHWO) is notifying approximately 40,000 individuals that their personal information may have been compromised.

The exposure occurred when a faculty member inadvertently uploaded files containing data including names, social security numbers, addresses, birth dates and educational information to an unencrypted faculty web server. Individuals potentially affected are students who attended the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa from 1990 – 1998 and during 2001. In addition, students who attended UHWO during Fall of 1994 or graduated from 1988 – 1993 may also be affected.

The faculty member, who is now retired from UHWO, was conducting a longitudinal study of UH students. The faculty member obtained the files from the University of Hawai`i System Institutional Research Office and placed the files containing the information onto the faculty web server in December 2009.

UHWO promptly removed the unintentionally exposed files and disconnected the affected server from the network, after Liberty Coalition, a non-profit group based in Washington D.C., notified University officials about the exposure on October 18. Different files had different information on some of the individuals, but it is believed that the aggregation of the exposed files could allow matching to create the potential for identity theft, which is highly unlikely to occur.

The FBI and Honolulu Police Department have been notified. At this time, UHWO has no evidence that anyone’s personal information was accessed for malicious intent. UHWO is also working with UH System to adopt more proactive security measures to ensure better privacy protection.

Notice what’s missing from the above? No mention that they didn’t discover the breach at all and it had to be pointed out to them.

Their full statement also includes reference to an FAQ on the incident, but it’s not available on the site at the time of this posting.

Interesting, but less that a single Computer Security lecture would provide...

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/10/29/0428206/Separating-Cyber-Warfare-Fact-From-Fantasy?from=rss

Separating Cyber-Warfare Fact From Fantasy

Posted by timothy on Friday October 29, @08:04AM

"This week's New Yorker magazine has an investigative essay by Seymour Hersh about the US and its part in cyber-warfare that makes for interesting reading. Hersh talks about the financial incentives behind many of the people currently pushing for increased US spending on supposed solutions to network vulnerabilities and the fine and largely ignored distinction between espionage and warfare. Two quotes in particular stood out: one interviewee said, 'Current Chinese officials have told me that [they're] not going to attack Wall street, because [they] basically own it,' and Whitfield Diffie, on encryption, 'I'm not convinced that lack of encryption is the primary problem [of vulnerability to network attack]. The problem with the Internet is that it's meant for communication among non-friends.' The article also has some interesting details on the Chinese disassembly and reverse-engineering of a Lockheed P-3 Orion filled with espionage and eavesdropping hardware that was forced to land in China after a midair collision."

Another Facebook “Privacy invasion” tool?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20021068-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Facebook launches quirky 'friendship pages'

Facebook today launched a feature called "Friendship Pages," which lets users load up the interactions between themselves and individual friends, or between any two friends, on the social network. You'll see their posts on one another's walls, events to which both RSVP'd, photos in which both are tagged, and other interactions that you would otherwise be able to access on either friend's profile (i.e. nothing that wouldn't otherwise be public)

… This is the brainchild of a single Facebook engineer, Wayne Kao, who built the feature at one of the company's all-night "hackathons" along with a designer. "One of my favorite Facebook moments is browsing photos from friends in the News Feed after they've begun a new relationship, gotten engaged or gotten married," Kao wrote in a blog post. "It gives me a fun and meaningful glimpse of the friendship between two people I know. I realized that a similarly magical experience was possible if all of the photos and posts between two friends were brought together."

(Related)

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/28/facebarack/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Facebook’s Dominance Leaves President No Choice

In an effort to increase voter turnout for next Tuesday’s Congressional Election, President Barack Obama has put out a call on Twitter for constituents to install a Facebook application called the “Commit to Vote Challenge.” Like a more noble version of Fast Company’s Influence Project, the Commit to Vote Challenge takes advantage of the “network effect” by using Facebook to spam your friends about voting. Facebook’s population is currently greater than that of the United States. [Which, to a Chicago politician is even more attractive than registering dead voters! Bob]

(Related) What do you do with 500 million users who have no privacy? Behavioral Advertising! (Or, “Your friends were dumb enough to buy this, so you probably will too!”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20021141-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Facebook applies for ad-targeting patent

This is interesting: Earlier this month, Facebook filed for a patent to further hone its ad-targeting technology so that ads can be based on what a user's friends interests may be. The reason for this, it appears, is so that Facebook can better serve ads toward users who have not filled out their profiles with enough information for traditional ad targeting.

Facebook calls this second-degree targeting "inferential."

Continuing the theme of “Our security must be working, we haven't been attacked by a single Klingon since we started!” If you don't have a 'reasonable suspicion,' semantically isn't that the same as having an “unreasonable suspicion?”

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16550

UK: Over 100,000 stops-and-searches: zero terrorists

October 28, 2010 by Dissent

Jane Fae Ozimek reports:

When it comes to wasting police time, the biggest offenders appear to be…the police. That, at least, appears to be the conclusion of the Home Office. Its official statistics, published today, show that while police stopped over 100,000 individuals last year to “prevent acts of terrorism”, there was not a single arrest for a terror offence as a result of these stops.

This perhaps is the final nail in the coffin for the widely criticised section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which gives police forces powers to stop and search individuals – in so-called “designated areas” – to prevent acts of terrorism without the need for reasonable grounds of suspicion. According to today’s report: “In 2009/10, 101,248 stops-and-searches were made under this power.

Read more in The Register.

(Related) Certainly not supported by the annual “Wiretapping Report” to congress...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/025602.html

October 28, 2010

EFF: Government Withholds Records on Need for Expanded Surveillance Law

News release: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against three agencies of the Department of Justice (DOJ) today, demanding records about problems or limitations that hamper electronic surveillance and potentially justify or undermine the Administration's new calls for expanded surveillance powers. The issue has been in the headlines for more than a month, kicked off by a New York Times report that the government was seeking to require "back doors" in all communications systems -- from email and webmail to Skype, Facebook and even Xboxes -- to ease its ability to spy on Americans. The head of the FBI publicly claimed that these "back doors" are needed because advances in technology are eroding agents' ability to intercept information. EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the DOJ Criminal Division to see if that claim is backed up by specific incidents where these agencies encountered obstacles in conducting electronic surveillance."

Where does anonymity stop?

http://www.phiprivacy.net/?p=4782

Sperm donors’ privacy rights should trump rights of offspring, Vancouver court told

By Dissent, October 28, 2010

Neal Hall reports:

The privacy rights of anonymous sperm donors should outweigh the constitutional rights of donor offspring, a government lawyer argued today.

Leah Greathead, the lawyer representing B.C.’S attorney general, told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that Olivia Pratten has a very sympathetic claim — she wants to know details of her genetic history from her biological father, a sperm donor.

“It is important to know your genetic history,” the lawyer conceded…]But, she added, “There is no right for everyone to know their genetic heritage.”

[...]

Pratten has filed a lawsuit — believed to be the first of its kind in North America — that seeks to strike down the B.C Adoption Act on the grounds that it is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Read more in the Vancouver Sun

Replacing those bracelets with bar codes? How do they ensure that the person claiming to be Mr. Insured really is? If I arrive at the Emergency Room after an Identity Thief has used my information, how is my care impacted? (Am I presumed “innocent” or “indigent?”)

http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/47154/group/News/

Wisconsin hospital adds hand scans to ID patients

Hospitals in New York and San Diego are using hand scans to identify patients. Now a Wisconsin hospital is too.

Patients with the same name even the same birthday are rare but it's one of things that a new system at UW Hospital and Clinics in Madison is designed to sort out. It's starting a database of hand scans to identify people through the vein patterns in their palms.

UW Health's chief information officer, Mike Sauk, says the $70,000 system links patients to their electronic health records. [So did (should) the bracelets. Bob] It could be used when a person is unconscious or to verify that the patient and their insurance match up. [No pay, no cure! Bob] Sauk says the system is to protect against instances where somebody steals a health insurance card or ID, and is able to use the victim’s insurance for their care.

… Some people have refused to have their palms scanned.

This looks like Boston is “doing something” without thinking through the outcomes. Is the goal to improve education, or identify potential excuses for their failure to educate? (Failing students didn't use the library” “Students who use public transportation are often late to class” “Students who don't eat a healthy lunch do poorly in Math”)

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/10/28/new_student_card_big_benefit_or_big_brother/

New student card: Big benefit or Big Brother?

City officials plan to launch a pilot program today to make it easier for some public school students to use city services by providing them with one card they can use to ride the MBTA, withdraw books from city libraries, play sports, attend after-school programs at community centers, and access meal programs at their schools.

The so-called BostONEcard will also be used to take attendance and may eventually serve as a debit card, among other potential uses.

… “This card will help make the assets of our city more accessible and remind each student every day that there are community centers and libraries for them to explore.’’ [Perhaps they will add a small speaker, allowing the card to 'nag' the students. Bob]

This program is starting at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Chinatown, where all 530 students in grades 6 through 12 are being provided a card, which has multiple barcodes, a radio frequency device to use on the T, and their photos.

… Chris Osgood, cochair of the mayor’s office of New Urban Mechanics, said he hoped the information generated by the cards would allow city officials to develop a single picture of whether students use libraries, community centers, and other programs.

“We want to be able to use this data to look at the impact of, say, a homework or literacy program and how it affects student achievement,’’ Osgood said. “It will also help schools make sure attendance is up.’’ [Wishful thinking. It could be used to take attendance, but only if the students brings it with them. Bob]

… She questioned whether the information could be subpoenaed by law enforcement agencies or whether it could be surreptitiously slipped to marketing companies.

“There would need to be stringent privacy protections so that the librarian doesn’t have access to where a student took the T; the school police officer doesn’t know what books the student is reading; and a school principal doesn’t know how much lunch money students in have in their accounts,’’ she said. “The question is who has access to this database, which when combined reveals a treasure trove of personal information about our children, including what they read, what they eat, where they go, and how much money they have. That information is highly confidential.’’

City officials said they are developing the system and that it would take time before all the information is linked to any central database. [So, they have no way to use or validate the data they are collecting? I doubt that, but vast ideas with half-vast implementation is not uncommon. Bob] They said the cards are being donated by the MBTA and that the costs for now are minuscule. Completing the system and expanding it to the district’s 57,000 students would increase costs substantially.

In the past two years, the city has introduced a system of barcode readers that can track students when they swipe their cards at the Boston Public Library’s 28 branches and the Boston Centers for Youth & Families’ 38 community centers. They are installing card readers at schools citywide.

… At the Josiah Quincy Upper School, which volunteered to launch the program after 30 students last year had attendance rates below 80 percent, headmaster Bak Fun Wong called the cards “very smart.’’ He hopes they promote attendance and encourage students to use the library and after-school programs.

“When Spy-Apps are outlawed, only my Ethical Hackers will have Spy-Apps” Readers who believe this solves the problem are advised to visit to “BuyMySwampLand.com” t

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=16532

SMS Spying App Pulled from Android Market

October 28, 2010 by Dissent

Lucian Constantin writes:

A controversial application, which allows users to forward copies of all incoming SMS messages to a different phone, has been removed from the Android Marketplace for violating the service’s content policy.

The app, called the “Secret SMS Replicator,” was created by DLP Mobile, a software developer cattering for various platforms, including iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS.

In a blog post, the company describes the new application as “a tremendously useful and potentially insidious tool” and makes no effort to hide its intended purpose.

“One potential use of this app might be the following: Grab your boyfriend’s phone while he is in the shower.

“Download our app onto his Android phone and the app runs secretly, unable to be detected, BCC’ing you with all his incoming texts.

“Find out salacious details and he’ll have no idea you’re on to him. Perfect. Perfectly cruel,” the company says.

Read more on Softpedia.

Who do they think they are, Republicans? Just shows how easily big donors/lobbyists can manipulate congress, no matter who is in the majority. (and like Animal House taught us, “double secret probation” is the way to go.)

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/acta-treaty-or-accord/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Scholars Say International Property Accord Needs Senate Approval

More than 70 academics, mostly legal scholars, are urging President Barack Obama to open a proposed international intellectual-property agreement to public review before signing it.

The likely route for that is bringing the ACTA agreement to the Senate for ratification.

The deal, known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (.pdf), according to many critics, favors big media at the expense of the general public. And the intellectual property accord, which Obama could sign by year’s end, has pretty much been hammered out in secret between the European Union, Japan, the United States and a few other international players, including Canada and Australia. Noticeably absent is China.

Geeky stuff

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Set_Up_Multiple_Monitors?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Set Up Multiple Monitors

Having two or three displays side-by-side doesn't just look cool, it can actually boost your productivity. … It's like having a larger digital desk.

Gee, they must be the best teachers ever!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/27/MNBO1FVLLM.DTL

High salaries cast doubt on Foothill-De Anza colleges' parcel tax

A photography teacher earns $208,169 a year. A computer instructor takes home $222,791 - more than his colleagues and even the college president. And a maintenance worker's annual paycheck is $93,706.

… But some voters wonder if the district is justified in holding out the hat while paying such high wages.

"It sounds like maybe they need to do a better job of controlling their payroll before going out and asking for a new tax," said Douglas McNea, president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association and author of the No on E ballot argument.

At the same time, experts in college compensation - including a traditional critic of excess spending - say Foothill-De Anza's high wages may actually represent a cost savings

Another reason to use PowerPoint?

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/10/add-some-oomph-to-powerpoint-slides.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Add Some Oomph to PowerPoint Slides

oomfo (yes, they spell it in all lowercase letters) is a free add-on to Microsoft PowerPoint. The purpose of oomfo is to enable users to insert animated charts and graphs into their PowerPoint slides. Using oomfo users can import data from spreadsheets to create their charts and graphs. Users can also export the charts they've created for reuse in other presentations. Watch the video below to see oomfo in action.