If I was insuring them, I certainly have some questions about this.

http://www.coindesk.com/bitpay-sues-insurer-after-losing-1-8-million-in-phishing-attack/

BitPay Sues Insurer After Losing $1.8 Million in Phishing Attack

BitPay has filed suit against a Massachusetts insurance company after losing $1.8m during a phishing attack last December.

According to documents obtained by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the bitcoin payment processor was defrauded in mid-December by an unknown individual posing as BTC Media CEO David Bailey, whose computer was infiltrated prior to the attack.

The attacker subsequently obtained email credentials for BitPay CFO Bryan Krohn, which were then used to prompt CEO Stephen Pair and executive chairman Tony Gallippi to authorize three payments totalling 5,000 BTC on 11th and 12th December, including one transaction from a wallet on the bitcoin exchange Bitstamp.

(Related) I think Dilbert is commenting on this story.

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-09-17

Encryption is inevitable. Deal with it!

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/253875-google-vows-to-forge-ahead-on-encryption-amid-law-enforcement-concerns

Google forges ahead with data encryption despite FBI warnings

Google on Wednesday vowed to charge ahead with more encryption of user data even as law enforcement officials warn the technology could hamper their investigations.

The tech giant's director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado, on Wednesday told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the security techniques are a net positive for law enforcement, because they can many times prevent online crime in the first place. [So what is the strategy here? Catch crooks or prevent crime in the first place? Bob]

"There are lots of different ways to secure data besides encryption, but there is pretty much a consensus inside the security community that encryption is a fundamental and critical way to protect users data from the very thieves, identity theft cases, [and] privacy intrusions that law enforcement is interested in investigating," Salgado told Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

… Echoing law enforcement concerns, Grassley said officials have warned "this technology made court authorized warrants not worth the paper that they are printed on." However, recent reports note that the Obama administration might be softening its tone on the issue.

(Related) China wants the same things the FBI is asking for. Does that make the issues clearer?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/technology/china-tries-to-extract-pledge-of-compliance-from-us-tech-firms.html?_r=0

China Tries to Extract Pledge of Compliance From U.S. Tech Firms

HONG KONG — The Chinese government, which has long used its country’s vast market as leverage over American technology companies, is now asking some of those firms to directly pledge their commitment to contentious policies that could require them to turn user data and intellectual property over to the government.

The government distributed a document to some American tech companies earlier this summer, in which it asked the companies to promise they would not harm China’s national security and would store Chinese user data within the country, according to three people with knowledge of the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The letter also asks the American companies to ensure their products are “secure and controllable,” a catchphrase that industry groups said could be used to force companies to build so-called back doors — which allow third-party access to systems — provide encryption keys or even hand over source code.

(Related) Correcting an error. Library users want TOR.

Despite Law Enforcement Concerns, Lebanon Board Will Reactivate Privacy Network Tor at Kilton Library

From the good-for-them dept., Nora Doyle-Burr reports:

The Kilton Public Library will reactivate its piece of the anonymous Internet browsing network Tor, despite law enforcement’s concerns that the network might be used for criminal activities.

The Lebanon Library Board of Trustees let stand its unanimous June decision to devote some of the library’s excess bandwidth to a node, or “relay,” for Tor, after a full room of about 50 residents and other interested members of the public expressed their support for Lebanon’s participation in the system at a meeting Tuesday night.

Read more on Valley News.

Do we have a common understanding of appropriate policing to serve as a basis for appropriate drone use?

Drone policing in US seen as ‘Wild West’

Veronique Dupont reports:

Drones are increasingly making their mark in the arsenal of US police forces, operating in a legal gray area and sparking concerns of constant surveillance of civilians.

The specter of armed drones surfaced with a law passed in North Dakota last month that allows police to equip the aircraft with teargas.

“It’s still a bit of a Wild West,” said American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) policy analyst Jay Stanley.

Read more on Yahoo.

Should I categorize this as a marketing tool or a security warning?

http://fusion.net/story/191773/i-created-a-fake-business-and-fooled-thousands-of-people-into-thinking-it-was-real/

I created a fake business and bought it an amazing online reputation

If you live in the Bay Area and have looked for something special to spice up a birthday party, you might have discovered the Freakin’ Awesome Karaoke Express, a truck that promises to deliver an unbelievable selection of songs to your doorstep. You might have seen a review on Yelp that said it’s perfect for a girl’s night out or a Facebook review that mentioned it being a crowd-pleaser at a neighborhood block party. You may have been impressed by its 19,000 Twitter followers, and considered hiring this mobile song-slinging truck to drive up to your next outdoor shindig.

What you probably didn’t realize was that there is no such thing as the Freakin’ Awesome Karaoke Express (or F.A.K.E., for short). I made it up and paid strangers to pump up its online footprint to make it seem real. I didn’t do it to scam anyone or even for the LULZ. I wanted to see firsthand how the fake reputation economy operates. The investigation led me to an online marketplace where a good reputation comes cheap.

Perspective. Yet another definition of “unlimited.” Why are they still allowed to use that word? If the network is “particularly busy” speeds are already “throttled.”

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/253819-att-changes-data-throttling-policies-for-unlimited-customers

AT&T changes data rules for 'unlimited' plans

AT&T is increasing the amount of data that customers on “unlimited” plans can consume before their speeds are slowed, three months after the Federal Communications Commission proposed fining the company $100 million for allegedly not being forthright with customers about its policies.

Under the new policy, users' data speeds will only be slowed — or throttled — if they use more than 22 gigabytes in a billing period and are in an area where the network is particularly busy. The previous threshold was five gigabytes.

So should Jeff buy more content producers?

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-converting-prime-members-into-washington-post-subscribers-with-new-promotion/?google_editors_picks=true

Amazon converting Prime members into Washington Post digital subscribers with new promotion

Amazon launched a new promotion with The Washington Post this morning, offering its tens of millions of Amazon Prime members the opportunity to sign up for a free digital subscription to the newspaper — converting automatically to a discounted paid subscription after six months.

It’s the latest collaboration between the e-commerce giant and the newspaper, which was acquired by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos two years ago. Amazon is touting the promotion as a benefit to Prime members, but it also promises to be a boon for the Washington Post — giving the newspaper a deep connection to some of Amazon’s most loyal customers.

A record of those who open their mouth before engaging their brain. (But, will they continue to gather these Tweets?)

http://openstate.pr.co/111189-open-state-preserves-politwoops-history-on-the-net

Open State preserves Politwoops’ history on the net

In a move to preserve the public record for everyone, Open State has uploaded its complete Politwoops archive of deleted tweets by politicians to the Internet Archive. The archive consists of 1,106187 deleted tweets by 10,404 politicians collected in 35 countries and parliaments over a period of five years.

In August, Twitter blocked Politwoops in more than 30 countries that enabled the public to see what legislators and other elected officials, once had tweeted but then decided to delete.

… Earlier this month, 17 rights groups including Human Rights Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access, Sunlight Foundation and others joined in opposition to Twitter’s crackdown on Politwoops and called on the social network to restore Politwoops’ API access.

In less than a week, the open letter published by the group, was endorsed by 50 organizations across five continents, including World Wide Web Foundation, European Federation of Journalists, Derechos Digitales and EDRi.

A resource for my students.

http://www.bespacific.com/scienceopen-hits-the-10-million-article-mark/

ScienceOpen Hits the 10 Million Article Mark

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 16, 2015

PR Newswire: “ScienceOpen, the research + open access publishing network, has added article records from more than 10 million scientific publications. Researchers can now filter published content by the number of citations and monitor the relevance and impact of recent scientific results by tracking social media mentions. Over 20,000 scholarly journals are currently published worldwide. At this volume, researchers need a reliable overview of trends in their discipline. ScienceOpen has exponentially grown its database to allow scientists to more easily navigate, search and comment on scientific articles. To enhance discoverability, each research article page provides recommendations for related articles regardless of publisher. This function has long been common to consumer platforms but ScienceOpen is one of the first to bring this feature to the research community. The new ScienceOpen release is the next step in creating an independent, open database which contains references and citation information for current global research in all disciplines. The citation count of an article helps to quantify the influence of research and those who performed it. To support search and discovery, ScienceOpen has begun building the first openly and freely available citation index. This was achieved by tracking the references of the nearly 2 million Open Access articles on the site. The new release of the ScienceOpen platform displays the relative citation count, all the citing articles, and their own citations. Researchers can now filter all content based on a wide range of options including citations, journal, publisher, date and other bibliometric data. Moreover, scientists can track in real time the social media coverage of articles in Twitter, Google+, Mendeley and other social networks.”

“ScienceOpen is a freely accessible research network to share and evaluate scientific information. We aggregate Open Access articles from a variety of sources – opening them up to commenting and discussion. Manuscripts submitted to ScienceOpen will be published Open Access and evaluated in a fully transparent Post-Publication Peer Review process.”

A “suggestion” for my Data Management students.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-hottest-live-streaming-social-apps-you-need-to-try/

The Hottest Live-Streaming Social Apps You Need To Try

Oops! A word managers should never need to utter. NOTE: This is not the first time data was loaded into Amazon's public servers.

Oops! Error by Systema Software exposes millions of records with insurance claims data and internal notes

Insurance carriers, third party administrators (TPAs), and self-insureds had claims data exposed when a cloud-hosted claims management service inadvertently left their databases and files unprotected on a public server.

Another week, another infosecurity failure that exposed oodles of personal information.

This time, it’s a leak that not only exposed insurance claims data, but allegedly included internal documents that reveal how some entities planned to defend against specific claims.

According to a source who contacted DataBreaches.net, as part of research on data leaks, the self-described “technology enthusiast” (“TE”) downloaded some random data from a publicly available subdomain on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Inspection of the files revealed many GB of SQL database backups with “names, social security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, as well as various financial and medical injury data.”

I hope we're not talking default passwords again.

Spyware snooping software found on Cisco web routers

Edd Gent reports:

Cyber-spies have managed to plant snooping software in Cisco routers, located on three continents, which direct traffic around the Internet.

Security research firm FireEye says it has so far found 14 instances of the router implants in India, Mexico, Philippines and Ukraine, adding that this may be just the tip of the iceberg and that the problem could potentially affect routers from other makers.

Read more on E&T.

[From the article:

A highly sophisticated form of malicious software was installed onto the devices, but Cisco - the world's top supplier of routers - said the attacks were not due to any vulnerability in its own software. Instead, the attackers stole valid network administration credentials from targeted organisations or managed to gain physical access to the routers.

Target still a target.

U.S. judge certifies class action over Target Corp data breach

Joseph Ax reports:

A U.S. judge on Tuesday certified a class action against Target Corp brought by several banks over the retailer’s massive data breach in 2013.

Read more on Reuters.

Worth a try, I suppose.

Human Rights Watch demands to know who’s been snooping on it

Jennifer Baker reports:

Civil rights NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has launched a legal challenge to find out if its information was shared between the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The organisation is unhappy that a ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in February did not reveal the full extent of intelligence sharing.

Read more on The Register.

How different Tom Sawyer would have been...

Most Norwegians want GPS tags for children

The Local reports:

Six out of ten Norwegians would use GPS tracking devices to keep tabs on children under the age of 12, according to a new poll by Gallup.

The poll found that only 10 percent of Norwegians found the use of tracking devices unacceptable, while 60 percent were in favour.

Read more on The Local (No).

Wow! Only 10 years? (That's like 200 Internet years) By then, we'll be inserting chips subcutaneously. (See the article above.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/nyregion/de-blasio-to-announce-10-year-deadline-to-offer-computer-science-to-all-students.html?_r=0

De Blasio to Announce 10-Year Deadline to Offer Computer Science to All Students

(Related)

http://qz.com/502478/americans-agree-computer-science-is-important-but-only-one-quarter-of-us-schools-teach-it/

Americans agree computer science is important—but only one-quarter of US schools teach it

Gallup and Google just teamed up to conduct one of the most comprehensive studies of computer science education in schools. Interviewing nearly 16,000 7th- to 12th-grade students, parents, teachers, principals and superintendents, this study provides us with yet another painful reminder of how our education system is out of touch with and slow to respond to opportunities for our kids’ futures. Despite massive and growing demand to fill high-paying computer science jobs in all kinds of organizations and industries all over the world, a mere one in four principals in the US report offering computer programming or coding in their school. And as we argue about what should and shouldn’t be taught in US schools, it turns out we agree on at least one thing very clearly: Computer science should be taught. A surprising 85% of parents, 75% of teachers and 68% of principals say that computer science education is “just as important” or “more important” than teaching required courses like math, science, history and English.

What have sex robots ever done to you? Wait, don't answer that. I really don't want to know.

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/new-campaign-launches-to-save-us-from-harmful-lonely-life-of-sex-with-robots/

New campaign launches to save us from harmful, lonely life of sex with robots

… The Campaign Against Sex Robots sounds like a funny idea — but when you see the potential for human-rights violations down the road, you’ll have an “a-ha” moment. [More like a “you have got to be kidding!” moment. Bob]

Because God help us if anything should happen.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/253701-feds-declare-no-drone-zone-for-popes-visit

Feds declare 'No Drone Zone' for Pope's visit

Interesting. Or at least it could be.

http://www.bespacific.com/federal-court-invalidates-11-year-old-fbi-gag-order-on-national-security-letter-recipient-nicholas-merrill/

Federal Court Invalidates 11-Year-old FBI gag order on National Security Letter recipient Nicholas Merrill

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 15, 2015

Calyx Institute: “A federal district court has ordered the FBI to lift an eleven-year- old gag order imposed on Nicholas Merrill [document is redacted] forbidding him from speaking about a National Security Letter (“NSL”) that the FBI served on him in 2004. The ruling marks the first time that an NSL gag order has been lifted in full since the PATRIOT Act vastly expanded the scope of the FBI’s NSL authority in 2001. Mr. Merrill, the executive director of the Calyx Institute, is represented by law students and supervising attorneys of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, a program of Yale Law School’s Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression and Information Society Project. For more than a decade, the government has refused to allow Mr. Merrill and other NSL recipients to tell the public just how broadly the FBI has interpreted its authority to surveil individuals’ digital lives in secret using NSLs. Tens of thousands of NSLs are issued by FBI officers every year without a warrant or judicial oversight of any kind. The letters demand disclosure of user information and are almost always accompanied by complete gag orders. Today’s decision will finally allow Mr. Merrill to speak about all aspects of the NSL and, specifically, to inform the public about the categories of personal information that the FBI believes it can obtain using an NSL… U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero’s decision invalidated the gag order in full, finding no “good reason” to prevent Merrill from speaking about any aspect of the NSL, particularly an attachment to the NSL that lists the specific types of “electronic communication transactional records” (“ECTR”) that the FBI believed it was authorized to demand. The FBI has long refused to clarify what kinds of information it sweeps up under the rubric of ECTR, a phrase that appears in the NSL statute but is not publicly defined anywhere… Merrill first challenged the NSL statute in 2004 in a landmark ACLU lawsuit that resulted in significant changes to the law but ended in 2010 with much of the gag order still intact…”

This is done by a simple program on a computer. Lots of companies do it to personalize advertising (talk about your car, get an ad about cars). Would it be more acceptable if a “trusted third party” ran the program and gave nothing from the content to Twitter? (Is there such a thing as a “trusted third party?”) It is not clear from this article how this benefits Twitter technically. Shortening the URL gains you nothing but complexity if you keep the old URL to display for the user.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/09/15/twitter-hit-with-suit-claiming-it-snoops-on-direct-messages/

Twitter Hit With Suit Claiming It Snoops on Direct Messages

Twitter Inc.’s direct messages may not be as private as it claims, according to a lawsuit filed against the company on Monday.

A lawsuit seeking class action status alleges that Twitter “surreptitiously eavesdrops on its users’ private direct message communications. As soon as a user sends a direct message, Twitter intercepts, reads and, at times, even alters the message.”

The lawsuit takes particular issue with the hyperlinks sent within the private-chat function. The plaintiff claims that, for example, when a hyperlink to a New York Times story is sent via direct message, Twitter goes in and replaces the link with its own link-shortening tool, www.t.co, before it reaches the intended recipient, which it then masks by displaying the original New York Times link.

Winning friends no matter who is elected? (I hereby announce my candidacy for teacher of the year. Can I get a Donate Button?)

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/253649-twitter-rolls-out-donate-button-for-political-campaigns

Twitter rolls out donate button for political campaigns

… The button allows mobile users to enter their credit card and identifying information to donate, then return to their place in their Twitter timeline.

“By partnering with Square to enable donations through Tweets, and as the 2016 election season heats up, we’ve upgraded these tools through which citizens can raise their voices to champion causes and candidates they support,” the company announced in a blog.

Kick 'em while they're down? But what if they are not down enough.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/253713-obama-cyber-sanctions-could-spur-chinese-backlash

Obama cyber sanctions could spur Chinese backlash

Swift economic retaliation against American businesses is expected if the White House levies hacking sanctions against Chinese companies.

But U.S. industry groups are still pressuring the government to stand up to China over what’s believed to be a massive campaign to pilfer corporate secrets from U.S. firms. The alternative, they say, could be even worse: Unabated cyberattacks that drain the American private sector of its global competitive advantage.

Nothing foretells the legalization of marijuana like more revenue for governments to waste spend.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/15/colorado-just-became-the-first-state-in-history-to-collect-more-taxes-from-marijuana-than-alcohol/

Colorado Just Became The First State In History To Collect More Taxes From Marijuana Than Alcohol

No state has ever generated more tax revenue from marijuana than alcohol—until now.

The Colorado Department of Revenue, according to recently released figures, just brought in $70 million in taxes relating to marijuana, compared to less than $42 million for alcohol taxes, over the course of a year.

An update on Kim Dotcom. Extradition hearing is next Monday.

Megaupload Files Reply Brief in Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Asking for Reversal of Fugitive Disentitlement

Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, and others filed their reply brief today in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals urging the Court to reverse the trial court's finding of "Fugitive Disentitlement."

Here is an excerpt from the reply brief:

"The government asks this Court to affirm a forfeiture order that is purely advisory, was justified only by Claimants’ exercise of their right to oppose extradition, and was obtained without any opportunity to contest the government’s case on the merits. Our justice system requires more. Claimants have not been convicted of any crime, have not fled the jurisdiction, and have not been extradited. They stand ready to defend their property—located entirely in countries that have refused to enforce the U.S. forfeiture orders. But without considering the merits, the district court declared that property forfeited. That order contravenes fundamental jurisdictional requirements, statutory commands, and due process..."

Read the full reply brief.

(Related) More Kim Dotcoms?

FBI Seizes Domains Of Two Pre-Release Music Sites

The FBI has seized domains belonging to sites involved in pre-release music piracy. ShareBeast.com and AlbumJams.com now display the infamous Department of Justice banner informing visitors that the sites are being investigated for criminal copyright infringement. The RIAA welcomed the news, describing the takedowns as a "huge win."

If you can't put your foot in your mouth, keep shooting yourself in the foot until you can?

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hillary-clinton-is-in-a-self-reinforcing-funk/

The Three Stages Of Hillary Clinton’s Self-Perpetuating Funk

… Candidates can just as easily get caught — or entrap themselves — in self-reinforcing cycles of negative media attention and declining poll numbers. Hillary Clinton looks like she’s stuck in one of these ruts right now.

The Washington Post’s David Weigel recently observed that voters were hearing about only three types of Clinton stories, all of which have negative implications for her. First are stories about the scandal surrounding the private email server she used as secretary of state. Next are stories about her declining poll numbers. And third are stories about how Vice President Joe Biden might enter the Democratic presidential race.

A useful research tool?

http://www.bespacific.com/harvard-kennedy-school-think-tank-search/

Harvard Kennedy School – Think Tank Search

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 15, 2015

“Think Tank Search is a custom Google search of more than 590 think tank websites. For the purposes of this search, think tanks are defined as institutions affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to HKS coursework and scholarship, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.”

Several tools for my geeky students.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/find-website-traffic-hits/8008/

Find Out How Much Traffic a Website Gets

You only need a few minutes (seconds?) advanced notice.

http://www.securityweek.com/defendants-newswire-hacking-case-agree-pay-30-million

Defendants in Newswire Hacking Case Agree to Pay $30 Million

The SEC revealed in August that a cybercriminal group led by Ukrainian nationals Ivan Turchynov and Oleksandr Ieremenko hacked into the systems of newswire services Marketwired, PR Newswire and Business Wire in an effort to steal unreleased corporate earnings announcements that would be highly valuable for making profitable financial trades. The stolen data was transmitted via a website to traders in the U.S., Russia, Ukraine, Malta, France, and Cyprus.

The scheme is believed to have generated more than $100 million in illegal profits based on roughly 150,000 press releases stolen between 2010 and 2015. The hackers reportedly gained access to the valuable information after stealing the login credentials of newswire employees and planting malware on the targeted systems.

In one example provided by SEC, the hackers and traders managed to make over half a million dollars after getting their hands on a negative earnings report 36 minutes before it was released to the public.

This is a rather big deal. Intercept the plain text before it goes into the encryption software and you don't need to worry about breaking encrypted communications.

http://www.securityweek.com/tls-communications-exposed-kci-attacks-researchers

TLS Communications Exposed to KCI Attacks: Researchers

A flaw in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol can allow man-in-the-middle attackers to access apparently encrypted communications, researchers have warned.

… The new method, dubbed “Key Compromise Impersonation (KCI) attack,” leverages a vulnerability in the protocol specification of TLS. The technique allows an MitM attacker to gain complete control over the client-side code running in the victim’s browser. Malicious actors can eavesdrop on communications, replace legitimate elements on a website with arbitrary content, and even perform actions on the victim’s behalf.

Ignorance is not bliss, it's just ignorance.

Gov. Charlie Baker promises probe 
of E-ZPass hack risks

Bob McGovern reports:

Gov. Charlie Baker — responding to a Herald report on potential hacking and civil liberties problems with the E-ZPass system — said he has asked transportation officials to study the issue.

“Obviously every time there is a story that suggests there’s an issue with something like this we ask folks, whatever it is, to look into it and hopefully we’ll have an answer on that in a day or two,” Baker said yesterday.

Read more on Boston Herald.

[From the article:

Universal electronic tolling on the Pike is due by the end of next year, and experts told the Herald that E-ZPass technology — which is linked to users’ bank accounts — could be susceptible to hacking. Meanwhile, the movements of New York drivers with E-ZPass transponders have been monitored by state officials even when they were far away from the toll, according to a report by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Baker, who has a transponder, said he isn’t worried about someone stealing his information. [See my comment, above. Bob]

Interesting twist, but unlikely to operate long before irate customers notify (scream at?) their bank.

http://www.securityweek.com/new-atm-malware-allows-attackers-physically-steal-cards

New ATM Malware Allows Attackers to Physically Steal Cards

… According to the security firm, Suceful is capable of reading data from the payment card’s magnetic stripe and chip, and disabling ATM sensors. The malware, which attackers can control from the ATM’s PIN pad, also includes a feature that hasn’t been seen at other such threats: it can retain and eject inserted cards to allow fraudsters to physically steal them.

For my Computer Security students – looks like your career success is guaranteed.

http://www.bespacific.com/dni-testimony-on-worldwide-cyber-threats/

DNI Testimony on Worldwide Cyber Threats

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 14, 2015

Statement for the Record – Worldwide Cyber Threats – House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence – James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, September 10, 2015.

“Worldwide Cyber Threats – Overview – Cyber threats to US national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication, and severity of impact. The ranges of cyber threat actors, methods of attack, targeted systems, and victims are also expanding. Overall, the unclassified information and communication technology (ICT) networks that support US Government, military, commercial, and social activities remain vulnerable to espionage and/or disruption. However, the likelihood of a catastrophic attack from any particular actoris remote at this time. Rather than a “Cyber Armageddon” scenario that debilitates the entire US infrastructure, we envision something different. We foresee an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources over time, which will impose cumulative costs on US economic competitiveness and national security.”

“We're here to help you!” Sound familiar?

FTC Chairwoman to the Valley: I Come in Peace — And to Keep Your Company Secure

Mark Bergen reports:

Edith Ramirez wants Silicon Valley to see her agency as something more than a wrist slapper.

Last Wednesday, the Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission came to San Francisco to host the agency’s first “Start with Security” conference, an initiative to institute broad guidelines for consumer privacy protection — and convince tech companies to turn to the FTC for guidance.

Read more on Re/code.

There is Privacy, then there is what? Hiding? Being “on the lam?”

Prosecutors: registering with alias, fake IDs cost Durst his right to privacy in hotel room

AP reports:

Federal prosecutors say registering at a hotel under a false name cost real estate heir Robert Durst his right to privacy there.

That opens their 65-page response to defense lawyers’ contentions that all evidence found in Durst’s New Orleans hotel room should be thrown out.

Read more on Fox News.

Interesting.

Ca: Court opens door to adding privacy claims to defamation lawsuits

Law Times reports:

A recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling appears to open the way to adding invasion of privacy claims to defamation lawsuits against journalists, says a defamation lawyer.

“It’s a development that I think is of concern to the media that invasion of privacy torts that one would have thought are subsumed in defamation may now be treated differently and separately from defamation, as the judge seemed to accept,” says Paul Schabas, a partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP and an adjunct media law professor at the University of Toronto.

On Aug. 31, Justice Graeme Mew released the reasons for his July 17 decision on a motion in Chandra v. CBC. The motion, brought by the CBC, sought to have the court decide that it shouldn’t put an invasion of privacy claim to the jury that the plaintiff had added to his original defamation case.

Read more on Law Times.

A peak at your data should not mean potential insurers get to keep it forever.

Medical Informatics Engineering, Concentra, Employers, Data Sharing, And Privacy

Over on I’ve Been Mugged, George Jenkins describes what he learned when he and his wife really pursued the question of how Medical Informatics Engineering had wound up with his wife’s personal information caught up in their breach.

It’s a long – but important – read, as it highlights routine business practices that may come back to bite consumers who have no interest in – or knowledge that – their employer may have shared their identity information with prospective health insurers.

You can read his article here.

Should your employer be able to share your identity information with prospective health insurers without your knowledge or consent? Should the prospective insurers be able to retain that information forever – again without your knowledge or consent?

If you answer “no” to either of the above questions, then what law prohibits this from occurring? Should this be considered an “unfair” business practice under the FTC Act?

There’s lots to think about from George’s article. I encourage you all to read it.

Content and semantics will make this difficult and error prone. Can you tell if I'm pointing out the error of someone's rant or ranting myself?

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/15/9329119/facebook-germany-hate-speech-xenophobia-migrant-refugee

Facebook will work with Germany to combat anti-refugee hate speech

Facebook this week said it will work with the German government to crack down on hate speech and xenophobia online, following calls from the country's justice minister to do more to combat hateful speech about refugees. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Facebook will work with Germany's ministry of justice, internet service providers, and other social networks to form a task force aimed at flagging and removing hateful content more quickly. Facebook also pledged to help finance organizations that track online hate speech, though the company did not say it would change its policy on what types of content are considered offensive.

(Related) Political correctness carried to the ridiculous?

Self-Censorship in Action: The British Library Rejects Taliban Archive

On August 28, 2015 the British Library publicly stated that it would not acquire or give access to the digital archive of materials collected by the Taliban Sources Project (TSP). This decision, coming from “one of the world’s greatest research libraries” and “a place of knowledge and inspiration, encouragement and engagement” has been criticized by academics/researchers as “madness” and “completely, completely ridiculous.” But, from a legal perspective, the British Library’s self-censorship is a predictable consequence of the UK’s broad terrorism laws and so if that self-censorship is to be criticized then it is important not to lose sight of the root cause of such decisions — the underlying law. It is only then that progress is likely: the effectiveness of the law can be practically assessed, its content re-appraised and, who knows, lessons may even be learned and applied to future counter-terrorism proposals engaging academic freedom.

Is “Free” also “Secure?” What constitutes a “third party” in a client/attorney conversation? http://www.bespacific.com/2015-legal-technology-survey-report-online-research/

2015 Legal Technology Survey Report – Online Research

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 14, 2015

Via Bob Ambrogi [he refers to a fee based set of reports from ABA]: In referencing the 2015 Legal Technology Survey Report, Vol. V: Online Research – Ambrogi highlights that younger lawyers who replied to the survey indicated they choose to use free sources for legal research over fee based services more often than older counterparts.

How fast will this spread? I bet takedowns will continue to be a problem.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/253616-overnight-tech-copyright-ruling-could-spill-over-to-2016

Overnight Tech: Copyright ruling could spill over to campaign trail

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that copyright holders — such as movie and music publishers — must consider fair use before demanding companies such as YouTube remove potentially infringing content. The court allowed Stephanie Lenz’s lawsuit against Universal to go forward after the company improperly demanded her video, in which her child dances to a Prince song, be taken offline because of infringement concerns.

“Today’s ruling in the Lenz case comes at a critical time,” according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which argued the case. “Heated political campaigns — like the current presidential primaries—have historically led to a rash of copyright takedown abuse. Criticism of politicians often includes short clips of campaign appearances in order to make arguments to viewers, and broadcast networks, candidates, and other copyright holders have sometimes misused copyright law in order to remove the criticism from the Internet.”

Interesting. Something for my Enterprise Data Management students to consider.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2015/09/15/ge-spins-out-ge-digital-to-take-on-ibm-and-cisco-in-the-race-for-iot-dominance/

GE To Take On IBM In The Race For IOT Dominance

General Electric announced yesterday the creation of a new unit with the aim to become the leader in the Industrial Internet of Things race. GE Digital will integrate GE’s Software Center, the expertise of GE’s global IT and commercial software teams, and the industrial security strength of Wurldtech. This new business model will be led by Bill Ruh, formerly GE’s Vice President and Global Technology Director and now newly appointed as Chief Digital Officer.

… This is a direct aim at the announcement from IBM, also timed yesterday, with the creation of two new business units that will apply Big Blue’s portfolio in Big Data, analytics and cognitive computing (aka Watson) to the Internet of Things (IOT) and Educations markets, respectively.

… In a typical industrial example, an electric turbine generates power but also 500Gb of data a day. That data is extremely useful if used in the right way but the machine itself is not considered ‘smart’. Now imagine how that turbine that can communicate in advance when it could potentially have a critical failure. In industrial situations a machine can advise other systems when it’s likely to fail due to being monitored against performance and tolerance levels. GE’s platforms such as Predix caters for these types of scenarios. The process can schedule maintenance in advance before the event occurs through the data it’s receiving, but not only this it can tell other turbines to take a spread of the load during the maintenance and then switch back again once the repairs are completed. To the outside world nothing has happened because it was all seamless and taken care of by the platform.

(Related) Doh!

FBI dumps on IoT security

Richard Chirgwin reports:

The FBI has decided that your Things are too risky to be allowed anywhere on the Internet.

Curiously, given that the Internet of Things is backed by some of the largest tech vendors in the world, the Bureau has also decided that responsibility for security – and for understanding the capability of hardware and software – should rest with the technological equivalent of Homer Simpson. [I've got to start using that phrase! Bob]

The FBI’s public service announcement, published on September 10 here, puts nearly all of the consumer protection responsibility on consumers.

Read more on The Register.

An IT Governance victory? Only out for one hour! Someone has their act together!

http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/14/twitter-for-web-is-down-something-is-technically-wrong/

Twitter for Web is down: ‘Something is technically wrong’ (Update: It’s back)

… Twitter’s last minor outage was in August when it went down for 40 minutes. Unlike last month’s blip, today’s outage appears to affect all users.

Twitter Support says the website went down from 11:22 a.m. to 12:16 p.m. PST, but the issue has since been resolved.

… We’ve reached out to Twitter for more information. We’ll be live-tweeting updates. [Cute Bob] Check back here for updates.

(Related) Also an IT Governance and Data Management issue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/14/us-new-york-symphony-idUSKCN0RE1OQ20150914

NY regulator reaches agreement with four banks on Symphony messaging

New York State's Department of Financial Services said it has reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Bank of New York Mellon on record-keeping for the Symphony messaging system.

The banks, part of a consortium of 14 financial institutions that have set up the Symphony service, have agreed to retain a copy of their chat messages for seven years.

They will also store duplicate copies of the decryption keys for their messages with independent custodians.

… Under New York law, banks are obligated to retain records of their operations.

Many on Wall Street view Symphony Communications LLC as a rival to message systems provided by Bloomberg LP [and Thomson Reuters Corp, whose clients include bankers, traders and investors.

Symphony's technology, which was originally developed by Goldman Sachs, will become available to all potential customers from Tuesday.

The regulator had earlier expressed concerns over some of Symphony's features, such as its promise of "guaranteed data deletion" that could hinder regulatory investigations.

Russia acts like a Capitalist when they choose to.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-found-guilty-of-abusing-dominant-market-position-in-russia-1442250025

Google Found Guilty of ‘Abusing Dominant Market Position’ in Russia

MOSCOW— Google Inc. has been found guilty in a rapid Russian antitrust probe, a spokesperson for the country’s antitrust regulator told The Wall Street Journal.

In February, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service opened a probe into Google for alleged anticompetitive practices related to how the company bundles apps with its Android mobile operating system.

The company was found guilty of “abusing its dominant market position,” but not of “unfair competition practices,” the regulator told The Wall Street Journal.

To be expected.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2984112/streaming-services/chicago-s-netflix-tax-challenged-in-court.html?google_editors_picks=true

Chicago’s ‘Netflix’ tax challenged in court

As was to be expected, the 9 percent “amusement tax” being levied on all kinds of streaming services and gaming platforms in Chicago has provoked a lawsuit. The complaint was filed last week by a legal non-profit on behalf of six Chicago residents, each of whom is a subscriber to one or more of such services: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, Xbox Live, and what have you.

The amusement tax itself is not the problem, though. At issue here is the imposition of the said tax on streaming music, streaming video, and online gaming platforms, all of which were not on the city’s list of taxable “amusements” until June 9, 2015. That’s when Chicago’s Comptroller Dan Widawsky ruled that the charges paid for accessing the above services within its limits would attract a 9-percent amusement tax from September 1, 2015.

Perspective. Is this because of a serious flaw in the Taxi business model? It seems to me they could match this kind of service easily.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/14/indian-cab-hailing-firm-ola-is-raising-over-500m-at-a-valuation-of-around-5b/

Indian Cab-Hailing Firm Ola Is Raising Over $500M At A Valuation Of Around $5B

Another Thing on the Internet of Things and a lot of hackable data?

http://www.bespacific.com/unmanned-aircraft-systems-uas-commercial-outlook-for-a-new-industry/

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Commercial Outlook for a New Industry

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 14, 2015

CRS – Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS): Commercial Outlook for a New Industry. Bill Canis, Specialist in Industrial Organization and Business, September 9, 2015.

“Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) — commonly referred to as drones — have become a staple of U.S. military reconnaissance and weapons delivery in overseas war zones such as Afghanistan. … However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently prohibits the use of UAS for commercial purposes, except where it has granted an exemption permitting specific activities. FAA has granted such exemptions since May 2014, primarily to firms wishing to use UAS for agricultural, real estate, film and broadcasting, oil and gas, and construction activities. As of September 2, 2015, it had granted more than 1,400 such exemptions. … Around 89 companies in the United States now produce UAS, which can range from hobbyist planes that fly on a single charge for about 10 minutes and cost under $200 to commercial-level craft that can stay aloft much longer but can cost as much as $10,000. Manufacture of the aircraft, known as unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs), is relatively simple. The aircraft’s basic elements include a frame, propellers, a small motor and battery, electronic sensors, Global Positioning System (GPS),and a camera. Some UAVs are operated by controllers, but others can be guided by the operator’ s smart phone or tablet. The widespread availability of electronic sensors, GPS devices, wifi receivers, and smartphones has reduced their cost, enabling manufacturers to enter the market without worrying about the supply of components. It has been estimated that, over the next 10 years, worldwide production of UAS for all types of applications could rise from $4 billion annually to $14 billion. However, the lack of a regulatory framework, which has delayed commercial deployment, may slow development of a domestic UAS manufacturing industry..”

Perspective.

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/apple-is-on-pace-to-sell-10m-iphones-on-opening-weekend-beating-last-years-record/?google_editors_picks=true

Apple is on pace to sell 10M+ iPhones on opening weekend, beating last year’s record

You can't tell the players without a scorecard!

http://www.bespacific.com/usa-gov-resources-on-voting-political-candidates-and-parties/

USA.gov resources on voting, political candidates and parties

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 14, 2015

“With the 2016 Presidential Election a little over a year away, do you know how to research presidential candidates and their political parties? On The Issues [Every Political Leader on Every Issue] has a complete list of all the current presidential candidates and includes their views on issues important to constituents across the United States. For more information visit our Researching Candidates page on USA.gov.” Links and sources are public, non-partisan, current, and useful for educators, citizens and researchers.

Remember students, 1% to your favorite professor.

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4572-online-business-ideas.html?google_editors_picks=true

15 Great Online Business Ideas

This may explain my sleepy students.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250627?ctp=BizDev&src=Syndication&msc=google-editors-pick&google_editors_picks=true

The Habits of Super Successful Sleepers (Infographic)

https://assets.entrepreneur.com/static/1442245717-moshells-sleep-guide-full-size.png

I should print this for my Spreadsheet students.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quick-excel-tips-every-office-worker-need-to-know/

Quick Excel Tips Every Office Worker Needs to Know

As I read it, an employee snooped her account, but no one noticed for 18 months? Shouldn't any action like that be immediately reported to management? There are probably legitimate reasons to do this, but they should be able to match such access to a “trouble ticket” or other documentation. Failure to match should be investigated.

AU: Vodafone ‘fesses up to hack of journalist’s phone, denies ‘improper behaviour’

Kelly Fiveash reports:

The Australian division of mobile giant Vodafone has admitted that one of its employees illegally accessed the phone records of a journalist to try to uncover her sources, following publication of a negative story.

However, Vodafone – which first investigated allegations of a privacy breach four years ago – has strongly denied that its actions were unlawful.

Fairfax journalist Natalie O’Brien, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday, said that the hacking of her phone had been a “creepy, nauseating experience”.

Read more on The Register.

[From the article:

Our investigation into alleged privacy breaches in January 2011 was undertaken to determine if any VHA [Vodafone Hutchison Australia] staff had breached privacy laws or engaged in any criminal behaviour, not to discover the source of damaging media stories.

As a result of our investigation, several retail staff were dismissed for breaches of VHA security policies.

In around June 2012, VHA became aware that an employee had, in January 2011, accessed some recent text messages and call records of a customer. VHA immediately commissioned an investigation by one of Australia's top accounting firms.

The investigation found there was no evidence VHA management had instructed the employee to access the messages and that VHA staff were fully aware of their legal obligations in relation to customer information.

You might think this is an example of a company that is “too big to manage.” That's nonsense of course. Each task employees perform should be based on a “Best Practice” selected by management. Why else would they do it? (Changes in law or contracts will take some time to percolate down to the people who need to know if there is no “Best Practice” in place for effective communication.)

Is Google’s signing of the Student Privacy Pledge meaningful at all?

Although Google did not initially embrace the Student Privacy Pledge, in January, it announced that it had signed it.

So why did @Parents4Privacy’s child see this screen when their child was logged into Google Apps for Education (GAFE)?

[I skipped the screenshot Bob]

The Student Privacy Pledge pledges, in part, that school service providers will:

• Not sell student information
• Not behaviorally target advertising
• Use data for authorized education purposes only

Why is Google using the student’s non-educationally related interests and browsing history to offer up ads while they’re logged into their GAFE account? Shouldn’t there be no ads if Google signed the pledge and the parent hasn’t opted in to ads for their minor child’s account while they are logged in to GAFE?

As Bill Fitzgerald noted on Twitter:

Bill Fitzgerald @funnymonkey

Yeah. And there are many Google Certified Trainers who still insist "No Ads In GAFE!" @Parents4Privacy

Bill Fitzgerald @funnymonkey

The way Google structures the additional services that can be enabled in GAFE is very problematic. Really opaque/unclear @Parents4Privacy

Google ignored two requests for a statement as to how this their behavior, as evidenced in the screen shot, is consistent with their signing the student privacy pledge.

So the take-home message to parents seems to be:

DON’T TRUST GOOGLE – because their understanding of the Student Privacy Pledge may be quite different than what you might rationally expect. Watch and explore what really happens while your child is logged in to GAFE.

The stickers aren't paper thin (yet) but you can see where “surveillance by anyone” is headed.

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/can-use-tiny-stickers-map-stuff/

You Can Use These Tiny Stickers to Map All of Your Stuff

From the beginning, Estimote has wanted to create an operating system for the physical world. And it’s just taken another step toward that goal.

The hardware and software company makes Bluetooth-enabled stickers you can put pretty much anywhere. These stickers use beacon technology to communicate with apps on your phone. The way Estimote imagines it, analog people and objects magically become digital and interactive.

It's not that this was unknown, but men who were duped rarely talked about it.

How Ashley Madison Hid Its Fembot Con From Users and Investigators

… As I reported last week, Ashley Madison created tens of thousands of fembots to lure men into paying for credits on the “have an affair” site. When men signed up for a free account, they would immediately be shown profiles of what internal documents call “Angels,” or fake women whose details and photos had been batch-generated using specially designed software. To bring the fake women to life, the company’s developers also created software bots to animate these Angels, sending email and chat messages on their behalf.

To the Ashley Madison “guest,” or non-paying member, it would appear that he was being personally contacted by eager women. But if he wanted to read or respond to them, he would have to shell out for a package of Ashley Madison credits, which range in price from $60 to $290.

… As documents from company e-mails now reveal, 80 percent of first purchases on Ashley Madison were a result of a man trying to contact a bot, or reading a message from one.

… But the men were not fooled. At least, not all of them. An analysis of company e-mails, coupled with evidence from Ashley Madison source code, reveals that company executives were in a constant battle to hide the truth. In emails to disgruntled members of the site, and even the California attorney general, they shaded the truth about how the bots fit into their business plan.

Want a self-driving car? Google it!

http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-brings-in-chief-for-self-driving-cars-1442199840

Google Brings in Chief for Self-Driving Cars

Google Inc. is ready to turn its self-driving car technology into a business and has hired an auto-industry veteran to run it.

Google said John Krafcik, president of online car-shopping service TrueCar Inc., is joining as CEO of its car project in late September.

… By hiring him, Google is sending a message that it is serious about the business side of autonomous vehicles and keen to work closely with the auto industry to commercialize the technology.

… Google doesn’t plan to manufacture its own cars and wants to partner with others to develop the technology, she added.

For my IT Governance students. The Quarter ends but government stupidity continues. Apparently neither the IRS nor Treasury noticed that tax bills were getting larger. “No need to fix the system, we'll just find a work-around.” Maybe companies could pay with their SmartPhones?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/no-checks-please-irs-no-longer-takes-checks-over-100m/2015/09/14/61aacc12-5ab5-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html

No checks, please: IRS no longer takes checks for $100M

Starting next year, the IRS says it will reject all checks for more than $99,999,999. That’s because check-processing equipment at the nation’s Federal Reserve banks can’t handle checks that big.

Checks of $100 million or more have to be processed by hand, increasing the risk of theft, fraud and errors, according to a pair of memos from the IRS and the Treasury Department.

As a result, the richest among us will have to wire their tax payments electronically. Or write multiple checks for less than $100 million apiece.

… The Federal Reserve says most commercial banks can’t process checks with amounts that stretch for more than 10 digits, including cents. The Fed says federal agencies have been prohibited from depositing checks of $100 million or more for years.

Apparently, the IRS didn’t get the memo.

Looks like they found some goats to scape.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c0be2d30-5ac3-11e5-97e9-7f0bf5e7177b.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fmarkets%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz3liGTbYtx

China stocks’ worst day in nearly three weeks after punishments

Chinese equities were walloped on Monday, with smaller stocks falling nearly 7 per cent after the securities regulator announced punishments of individuals for market manipulation.

… The China Securities Regulatory Commission late on Friday announced punishments of two wealthy individual investors for manipulating 13 different stocks using fake buy orders to temporarily boost their prices. That sent a chill through short-term speculators on Monday.

(Related) You have to find stimulus money somewhere...

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/09/14/us-china-economy-fiscal-idINKCN0RE0Z520150914

Exclusive: China seizes up to $157 billion of unspent local government budgets - sources

Angry Chinese authorities have seized up to 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion) from local governments who failed to spend their budget allocations, sources said, as Beijing seeks ways to stimulate economic growth which is at its slowest for 25 years.

The huge underspend, linked to officials' reluctance to spend on big-ticket projects while authorities crack down on corruption, supports the argument of some economists that Chinese state investment has grown too slowly this year.

Interesting. Not sure I would have used any of this to select a college.

http://www.bespacific.com/education-department-college-scorecard/

Education Department College Scorecard

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 13, 2015

“Welcome to the College Scorecard Data site. Here, you can get the data behind the College Scorecard, as well as other data on federal financial aid and earnings information. These data provide insights into the performance of schools eligible to receive federal financial aid, and offer a look at the outcomes of students at those schools…

Data Documentation The College Scorecard is designed to increase transparency, putting the power in the hands of the public — from those choosing colleges to those improving college quality — to see how well different schools are serving their students. This documentation provides more on how to use the data, including:

• Sources of the data
• The construction of metrics
• Data considerations and limitations”
• Related – see also via NYT – At some expensive colleges, the salaries of students 10 years after enrollment are bleak, and there is an earnings gender gap at every top university

I wonder what process failed. Would informant and surveillance data be generally available rather than tightly compartmentalized? Did no one review the data sent to the lawyers? (The fact that it was a “link” suggest anyone who saw it could grab a copy of the data, not just the lawyers it was intended for.)

NZ: Police file leak ‘could put lives at risk’

Radio New Zealand reports:

Police say that sensitive, secret files have been mistakenly sent to a defence lawyer and have been widely circulated.

A criminal lawyer who has seen the files said they contained details about informants, criminal activity and police surveillance that could put people at risk.

The mistake occurred when a standard criminal disclosure sent to a lawyer contained a link to the sensitive information, which should not have been accessible.

Read more on RNZ.

Now why would the defense lawyer who received the material have circulated it? Wouldn’t they realize it was a mistake and be ethically bound not to disseminate it further?

Didn't the FBI used to have experts? Is this a mere “Oops!” or indication of real paranoia?

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/253485-feds-drop-espionage-charges-against-physics-professor

Feds drop espionage charges against physics professor

The Justice Department will drop economic espionage charges against a Temple University professor the government claimed was providing secret technology to China, according to multiple reports.

The misstep is a setback in the government’s attempts to stanch what they say is a massive Chinese economic espionage campaign to pilfer U.S. intellectual property.

… Xi’s lawyers said the FBI had misinterpreted the technology behind the professor’s efforts and overseas communications.

At a presentation given to investigators Aug. 21, Xi and his lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, presented affidavits from the world’s top physicists who had analyzed Xi’s emails with his Chinese contacts and concluded the professor was conducting a scientific pursuit with little commercial application, the Associated Press reported.

… The FBI recently said economic espionage cases have shot up 53 percent over the last year, mostly due to China-based activity, according to the Journal.

This could be amusing...

http://www.bespacific.com/eff-provides-evidence-to-courts-on-telecoms-collection-of-metadata/

EFF Provides Evidence to Courts on Telecoms Collection of Metadata

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Sep 12, 2015

“This week EFF presented evidence in two of its NSA cases confirming the participation of Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T in the NSA’s mass telephone records collection under the Patriot Act. This is important because, despite broad public acknowledgment, the government is still claiming that it can dismiss our cases because it has never confirmed that anyone other than Verizon Business participated and that disclosing which providers assist the agency is a state secret. This argument was successful recently in convincing the D.C. Circuit to reverse and remand the case of Klayman v. Obama. EFF filed requests with the courts in two lawsuits, Smith v. Obama and First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA, asking that they accept as evidence and take into account government filings in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that were recently made public. The filings confirm that AT&T, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint participated in the NSA’s programs since they report on a “compliance incident” involving those companies. One of the documents was released as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the New York Times. It is a letter sent from the Department of Justice to the FISC describing how the agency failed to comply with an order the court issued in 2010. The subject line of the letter references that the order was for records from AT&T, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint. The other document is one that had previously been made public on the website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that confirms that the spying program referred to in the letter is indeed the mass collection of telephone call detail records…”

Smith Request for Judicial Notice

First Unitarian Request for Judicial Notice

The never-ending saga of a bad decision.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tech-company-no-indication-that-clintons-e-mail-server-was-wiped/2015/09/12/10c8ce52-58c6-11e5-abe9-27d53f250b11_story.html

Tech company: No indication that Clinton’s e-mail server was ‘wiped’

The company that managed Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private e-mail server said it has “no knowledge of the server being wiped,” the strongest indication to date that tens of thousands of e-mails that Clinton has said were deleted could be recovered.

… To make the information go away permanently, a server must be wiped — a process that includes overwriting the underlying data with gibberish, possibly several times.

That process, according to Platte River Networks, the Denver-based firm that has managed the system since 2013, apparently did not happen.

… Even if the e-mails could be restored, it’s unclear whether anyone would have the authority to do so.

Conservative groups have already been pressing in court for access to those e-mails, if they exist.

… Politically, even the possibility that the e-mails could be retrieved is likely to further inflame an issue that has already hampered the campaign of the Democratic presidential front-runner. Clinton has been trying to move past the issue for months and on Tuesday said she was “sorry” she had not used separate e-mail accounts for public and private matters.

… The conservative group Judicial Watch asked a federal judge on Sept. 4 to order the State Department to take steps to determine whether those personal e-mails still exist. The group has said that Clinton’s e-mails were essentially government property that she should not have been allowed to take upon her departure from the State Department.

Justice Department lawyers, on behalf of the State Department, have opposed the request, arguing that personal e-mails are not federal records and that the court lacks jurisdiction to demand their preservation. Government lawyers offered a robust defense of Clinton’s e-mail practices on Wednesday in a court filing, arguing that federal employees, including Clinton, are allowed to discard personal e-mails provided they preserve those that deal with public business.

… Republican lawmakers have questioned the credibility of Clinton’s process for dividing her public and personal e-mail correspondence.

Lawmakers have repeatedly noted that all or part of 15 e-mails to Clinton from longtime adviser Sidney Blumenthal that appeared to be work-related were missing from the State Department’s file of official e-mails. Blumenthal had provided those e-mails to the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

The chairman of that panel, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), said at the time that the missing Blumenthal e-mails confirmed “doubts about the completeness of Clinton’s self-selected public record and raises questions about her decision to erase her personal server . . . before it could be analyzed by an independent, neutral third party.”

Keeping up.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-aircraft-carrier-stacks-up-to-other-world-powers-2015-9

Here's how China's aircraft carrier stacks up to other world powers'

For my students taking a late class.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/companion-tens-thousands-using-safety-app-that-lets-friends-digitally-walk-you-home-night-1518197

Companion: Tens of thousands using safety app that lets friends digitally walk you home at night

Tens of thousands of people around the world are now using a free personal-safety mobile app that allows friends to virtually walk you home at night. The Companion app, created by five students from the University of Michigan, enables users to request a friend or family member to keep them company virtually and track their journey home via GPS on an online map.

Although they can do so, the friend or family member does not need to have the Companion app installed, which is available for both Android and iOS. The user can send out several requests to different phone contacts in case people are not available to be a companion or not with their phones at the time.

Those contacted then receive an SMS text message with a hyperlink in it that sends them to a web page with an interactive map showing the user walking to their destination. If the user strays off their path, falls, is pushed, starts running or has their headphones yanked out of their phone, the app detects these changes in movements and asks the user if they're OK.

If the user is fine, they press a button on the app to confirm within 15 seconds. If they do not press the button, or a real emergency is occurring, the Companion app transforms the user's phone into a personal alarm system that projects loud noises to scare criminals from the scene, and gives you the option to instantly call the police.

This reminds me of a student. (Okay, several students) Makes my lectures much more interesting.

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-09-13