Today the theme seems to be Copyright... Here, a company claims ownership of data gathered for the state.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/1150253/Controversy-Over-San-Francisco-Public-Transportation-Data?from=rss

Controversy Over San Francisco Public Transportation Data

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @09:20AM from the information-wants-to-be-expensive-sometimes dept. cellphones transportation apple

paimin writes

"A struggle is breaking out in San Francisco over whether the developer of a publicly-funded installation of real-time tracking for the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency has a right to control the use of data from the system. The situation is not totally clear, but this sure seems like an attempt to use patent threats to hijack public data. The city paid for the system, and the developer claims he lost money on the deal, [How is that relevant? Bob] so now he's shutting down applications like Routesy and Munitime that use data from the system unless they license the 'copyrighted' data from him."

(Related) Bad (over aggressive) lawyering?

http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/196227/RIAA-Defendant-Moves-For-Summary-Judgment?from=rss

RIAA Defendant Moves For Summary Judgment

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 28, @03:29PM from the element-of-surprise dept. court

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes

"One thing you don't see too much of in RIAA litigation is a defendant moving for summary judgment, but that is what just occurred in federal court in Westchester, in Lava Records v. Amurao II. The RIAA had brought suit against Rolando Amurao, a middle aged man who knew nothing about file sharing. After haranguing him for 2 years, they dropped the case and sued his daughter, Audrey, who had used LimeWire years ago. When the RIAA moved for summary judgment against Audrey, however, she surprised them with a summary judgment motion of her own, calling for dismissal of the complaint on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out on the RIAA's claims. The brief filed by her attorney (PDF) also points out some of the other infirmities in the RIAA's case, such as the inadmissibility of its evidence, the legal nonexistence of a claim for 'making available,' and the unconstitutionality of its damages theory. According to sources, the RIAA is unhappy about Audrey's motion, and is preparing a letter to send the Judge asking the Judge not to allow her to make it. Meanwhile, Audrey's father's case, Lava Records v. Rolando Amurao, is on appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit over the issue of whether the RIAA should have to reimburse Mr. Amurao for his attorneys fees. Although the appeal was fully briefed and scheduled for argument May 19th, the RIAA has been asking for postponements of the argument."

(Related) It surprises me that Judge Posner said this... (Comments are worth reading) Question: Would this apply in reverse? I've been noticing that much of the video on Channel 9 comes from viewers (the tornadoes, for example) rather than fighting at the back end, perhaps they should consider what they are getting, aggregating, and using for free... Of course, they could always hire a few hundred more reporters...

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/1619211/Judge-Thinks-Linking-To-Copyrighted-Material-Should-Be-Illegal?from=rss

Judge Thinks Linking To Copyrighted Material Should Be Illegal

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @01:16PM from the don't-you-point-at-me dept.

An article at TechCrunch discusses a blog post from Richard Posner, a US Court of Appeals judge, about the struggling newspaper industry. Posner explains why he thinks the newspapers will continue to struggle, and then comes to a rather unusual conclusion: "Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion."

Data Analysis Similar to tools used by Marketing and e-Discovery teams.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Reading machine to snoop on Web

by Mark Rutherford June 27, 2009 7:14 PM PDT

What if the wisdom of Web could be yours, without having to read through it one page at a time? That's what the military wants.

DARPA has hired a company to develop a reading machine to reduce the gap between the ever increasing mountain of digitized text and the intelligence community's insatiable appetite for data input.

BBN Technologies was awarded the $29.7 million contract to develop a universal text engine capable of capturing knowledge from written matter and rendering it into a format that artificial intelligence systems (AI) and human analysts can work with. (PDF)

… However, BBN also expects the program to enable a plethora of new civilian applications, everything from intelligent bots to personal tutors. The system could provide unprecedented access and automated analysis of the world's libraries, allowing for vastly expanded cultural awareness and historical research, according to the Cambridge, Mass.-based company.

BBN already offers a broadcast monitoring system that automatically transcribes real-time audio stream and translates it into English, creating a continuously updated, searchable archive of international television broadcasts.

(Related) Talk about a huge target! Thank you, India! Now the US & UK can “sell” the concept to their citizens – “...even small, backward, third-world countries are ahead of us in this area!”

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/1538221/India-To-Put-All-Citizen-Info-In-a-Central-Database?from=rss

India To Put All Citizen Info In a Central Database

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday June 28, @11:55AM from the you-can-trust-us dept. privacy government news

Oracle Goddess writes

"As part of a project to issue ID cards for all 1.1 billion of its citizens, India has announced plans to place information on every single citizen in what will be the world's second largest citizens' database. The government believes the scheme will aid the delivery of vital social services to the poorest people who often lack sufficient identification papers. It also sees the scheme as a way to tackle increasing amounts of identity fraud and theft, and, at a time of increased concern over the threat of militant violence, to boost national security and help police and law officials. 'This could be used as a security measure by the government which leaves migrant workers, refugees and other stateless people in India in limbo, without access to public services, employment and basic welfare,' said Charu Lata Hogg, an associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House."

(Related) Think about it. Perhaps we could write a program to generate similar requests for each citizen in Colorado. Wouldn't that make an interesting burden for the Post Office...

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=944

Spy society: astonishing amount of personal data

June 29, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Businesses, Govt, Non-U.S., Other, Surveillance, U.S., Workplace

Have you ever been tempted to try to find out what information about you is out there in databases? Matt Roper did just that, and sent out requests under the UK’s Data Protection Act to 46 organizations, requesting copies of all of his information. What he got back was a 2-foot high pile of records on himself. Most of what he got back would not surprise most of us who follow privacy news, but Roper’s experience serves as a useful example of the shock and concern that individuals experience when they realize the extent of what is compilable about them — that none of their information belongs to them and can be accessed by thousands of strangers. Roper quotes Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti:

“Big Brother is supposed to be evening entertainment, not a whole way of life.”

If you have been having trouble convincing skeptical friends or family about the extent to which we live in a database society that knows our every detail, have them read Roper’s detailed account.

Tom DeWeese also discusses the total surveillance society, but his piece focuses more on government surveillance of its citizens.

I immediately thought of Chauncey (the) Gardener in “Being There.” He couldn't read either.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/28/2017201/Text-Comments-Out-In-YouTube-National-Discussion-of-Health-Care?from=rss

Text Comments Out In YouTube "National Discussion" of Health Care

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 28, @04:34PM from the you-could-always-talk-with-your-friends-and-neighbors dept. government media usa

theodp writes

"While the White House has invited the nation to Join the National Online Discussion on Health Care Reform, it is currently only accepting 20-30 second YouTube video responses — text comments have been disabled. Which raises a question: Should a video camera be the price of admission for participating in an open government discussion, especially when issues may hit those with lower incomes the hardest? BTW, the response-to-date has been underwhelming — 101 video responses and counting — and is certainly a mixed-bag, including a one-finger salute, a talking butt, a woman "Showing my Apples", and other off-topic rants and unrelated videos."

Interesting...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19413_3-10274445-240.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

What the iPhone teaches us about cloud adoption

by James Urquhart June 27, 2009 11:24 PM PDT

Chris Hoff (now a colleague at Cisco, but long a phenomenal blogger in his own right) described in a recent post a fascinating analogy for the inevitable adoption of cloud computing--the adoption of the Apple iPhone:

While I have often grouped Cloud Computing with the consumerization of IT (and the iPhone as it's most visible example) together in concert in my disruptive innovation presentations, I never really thought of them as metaphors for one another.

When you think of it, it's really a perfect visual.

The iPhone is a fantastic platform that transforms using technology that has been around for quite a while into a more useful experience. The iPhone converges many technologies and capabilities under a single umbrella and changes the way in which people interact with their data and other people.

Automating the lawyer bid'ness. Send me money and I won't sue you either!

http://torrentfreak.com/automated-legal-threats-turn-piracy-into-profit-090628/

Automated Legal Threats Turn Piracy Into Profit

Written by Ernesto on June 28, 2009

Piracy watchdog Nexicon has found the ultimate way to turn piracy into profit for the fresh copyright holders added to their clientele. They offer alleged file-sharers the chance to settle for $10 per downloaded song or an equal amount for a pirated movie. If you decide not to settle, they promise to bankrupt you in court.

… The process is simple. Their software monitors BitTorrent swarms and other filesharing networks and records the IP-addresses of those people who share the work of their clients. It then automatically sends an email to the ISP linked to the IP-address with a request to forward it to the associated customer.

… In the FAQ on the VPA website it is noted that consulting a lawyers is an option, but it would be a rather silly thing to do since it will cost more than the settlement itself. “It is likely that the cost incurred to retain a lawyer will exceed the settlement amount offered.”

Hacking: File this one under “What Works”

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/29/1230216/The-Technology-Keeping-Information-Flowing-in-Iran?from=rss

The Technology Keeping Information Flowing in Iran

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 29, @09:00AM from the learn-a-new-word-today dept. privacy internet

Death Metal writes

"Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy. Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."

A related story was submitted anonymously about the efforts of hactivists to keep the information flowing inside the data-locked nation.

Tools & Techniques Interesting because it seems to offer a download option with each video. Something not always easily available.

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/findthatfile-com-files-search-website

FindThatFile.com - Files Search Website

http://www.findthatfile.com/index.php

Findthatfile.com is an online resource that was specially created in order to provide users with one of the most complete file search websites on the Internet. Simple and clear, this solution can be used to gather a wide variety of file formats and sources. Among these sources you will also find more than forty file types (in fact forty-three) and more than two hundred file extensions with an excess of ninety file upload services that are similar to the one that is actually provided by RapidShare.

This company gives you all the benefits of a service that was created with the intention to provide you with the chance to clearly identify all the relevant data you are interested in. That information includes essential figures and number about properties, metadata, extracts and more.

… On this site you will find what can be briefly defined as a file search engine for downloadable media that is useful when you need to find something to download rather than a webpage.

Tools & Techniques My students are gonna hate this one!

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/mystuidiyo-multimedia-quizzes/

MyStuidiyo: Create Multimedia Quizzes in Minutes

MyStudiyo lets you create fun and interactive multimedia quizzes in minutes. You can insert pictures, videos, html text, customize quiz introduction and endings, monitor user feedback and scores and promote your quizzes by embedding them on your website or blog.

Each quiz contains its own scoreboard, discussions page and other quizzes from the same publisher. Users can take quizzes without signing in, however, to save and improve their scores on the scoreboard they have to sign up for an account.

You can create as many quizzes as you want for free with MyStudiyo branding and ads. If you want to insert your own custom branding and no ads, you have to sign for one of their premium account.

www.mystudiyo.com

Similar tools: ClassMarker and QToro.

Not bad for a mere two weeks work!

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=5809

Blue Chip FTP Logins on Server

June 28, 2009 by admin Filed under Breach Incidents, Of Note

Security researchers have found a treasure chest of FTP passwords, some from high profile sites, on an open cybercrime server.

Jacques Erasmus, CTO at security tools firm Prevx, stumbled across a site where a Trojan is uploading FTP login credentials captured from compromised machines. So far, Erasmus has found logins for ftp.bbc.co.uk, ftp.cisco.com, ftp.amazon.com, ftp.monster.com and, even security sites including ftp.mcafee.com and ftp.symantec.com along the extensive list of more than 68,000.

Other login credentials refer to the Bank of America, one of the few organisations PrevX has had time to notify directly at the time of writing.

Initial investigations suggest the logins were swiped during the last two weeks and that at least some remain valid.

Read more on The Register.

[From the article:

Erasmus explained that the FTP login data is getting uploaded by a variant of the zbot Trojan onto a server hosted in China, where they are stored in plain text and thus potentially open to all and sundry to find and abuse.

Global Warming! Global Warming! “We're the government and we're here to help you do whatever we want!”

http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/27/2314213/EPA-Quashed-Report-Skeptical-of-Global-Warming?from=rss

EPA Quashed Report Skeptical of Global Warming

Posted by timothy on Saturday June 27, @07:50PM from the just-some-random-nutjob dept. censorship earth usa politics science

theodp writes

"CNET reports that less than two weeks before the EPA formally submitted its pro-carbon dioxide regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty 'decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data.' In an e-mail message (pdf) to a staff researcher on March 17, the EPA official wrote: 'The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward...and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision.' The employee was also ordered not to 'have any direct communication' with anyone outside his small group at EPA on the topic of climate change, and was informed his report would not be shared with the agency group working on the topic. In a statement, the EPA took aim at the credentials of the report's author, Alan Carlin (BS Physics-Caltech, PhD Econ-MIT), describing him as 'not a scientist.' BTW, the official who chastised Carlin also found himself caught up in a 2005 brouhaha over mercury emissions after top EPA officials ordered the findings of a Harvard University study stripped from public records."

This should put IBM's “analyze data while it's still encrypted” tool into perspective.

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/021690.html

June 27, 2009

CDT's Health Privacy Project Releases Paper on De-identification of Personal Health Data

News release: "CDT's Health Privacy Project released a paper advocating the need for stronger standards for "de-identified" personal health information when used for medial research, to promote public health, or other specialized purposes. The paper notes that stronger standards are needed to ensure the "de-identified" data cannot be re-identified in order to maintain patient privacy and build trust in the health care system. CDT's paper makes several policy recommendations on how to strengthen current de-identification standards found in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Act and increase the use of anonymized data for many health care purposes."

• Encouraging the Use of, and Rethinking Protections for De-Identified (and “Anonymized”) Health Data, June 25, 2009

The world is always changing. Sometimes we even notice the changes. Isn't Facebook proposing a “least common denominator” world view?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/27/1411242/The-Battle-Between-Google-and-Facebook?from=rss

The Battle Between Google and Facebook

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 27, @10:52AM from the friend-request-denied dept.

A story at Wired delves into the ongoing struggle between Google and Facebook to establish their competing visions for the future of the internet. "For the last decade or so, the Web has been defined by Google's algorithms — rigorous and efficient equations that parse practically every byte of online activity to build a dispassionate atlas of the online world. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions a more personalized, humanized Web, where our network of friends, colleagues, peers, and family is our primary source of information, just as it is offline. In Zuckerberg's vision, users will query this 'social graph' to find a doctor, the best camera, or someone to hire — rather than tapping the cold mathematics of a Google search. It is a complete rethinking of how we navigate the online world, one that places Facebook right at the center. In other words, right where Google is now." A related article at ReadWriteWeb suggests that while Facebook's member base is enormous, the company hasn't taken advantage of its influence as well as it should have, though the capability for it to do so still exists.

“Dude, if they mess with us, we're gonna nuke 'em!”

http://technology.canoe.ca/2009/06/26/9946416-ap.html

North Korea embraces Twitter

By Kwang-Tae Kim, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea - It's best known as the place to tell millions what you had for breakfast. But dispatches from North Korea's state news agency have begun popping up on Twitter.

… User "kcna-dprk" had more than 2,800 followers - and was following the profiles of nearly the same number of Twitter users, including one who identified himself as Kim Jong Il - North Korea's absolute leader.

In his bio, he describes himself as "the ruler of North Korea. I like leading, chillaxin', inventing things, and following my dreams. I'm better at everything than you."

Probably most Music industry executives have gone to business school, so I can say with some confidence that it wasn't what they were taught that caused them to resent/reject Napster. It was what they failed to learn.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86508/bpi-exec-industry-shouldnt-have-fought-napster/

BPI Exec – Industry Shouldn’t Have Fought Napster

It may have taken 10 years for one executive to come up with this revelation, but the head of the British Phonographic Industry, or BPI, has recently admitted that the industry shouldn’t have fought Napster, but rather, engaged it. Who knows? At this rate, maybe another executive will think that the industry should consider a truce between it and file-sharers by the year 2019.

Tools & Techniques ...and you thought texting while driving was a distraction.

http://io9.com/5303332/two-augmented-reality-technologies-that-are-about-to-change-the-world

Two Augmented Reality Technologies That Are About To Change The World

By Annalee Newitz, 5:39 PM on Sat Jun 27 2009

Augmented reality is a technology futurists and scifi authors like Vernor Vinge have been talking about for decades. Now the tech has matured and is entering the market. Two videos of new products show you the near future.

Tools & Techniques

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/untiny-extract-original-link-short-url/

Untiny: Extract the Original URL Behind The Short URL

There are countless online URL shortening services nowadays (bit.ly, tr.im and others ) that turn long URLs into short ones, so that you can share them on Twitter, due to 160-character limit. However, some of these URL shorteners are blocked in a number of countries while the original URls are not.

Untiny is useful service that lets you view the original URL behind the short URL, so even if the short URL might be blocked you can still access the original URL it points to.

Tools & Techniques Make plagiarism easier! (They also sell a PDF password remover...)

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/convert-that-pdf-back-into-an-editable-word-document/

How to Convert PDF to an Editable Word Document [Windows]

Jun. 27th, 2009 By Karl L. Gechlik

… You need to download the application and submit your email address to get a free registration code.

Without registering, the program will only convert 3 pages.

http://www.anypdftools.com/

[From the website:

ou can convert encrypted and password-protected PDF files to Word documents with PDF to Word Converter.

For my math students

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/graphing-calculator-complex-graph-creator/

Graphing Calculator: Create Complex Graphs Online

Remember when you were in school and you had to spend hours while trying to come up with complex graphs for those weird sin and cos equations? Well, with the internet at your service you no longer need to do that. E-tutor’s Graphing Calculator is a complex graph creator which would create those graphs for you in one click and you just need to copy them in your notebooks. They also provide some detailed instructions on solving a system of equations by graphing.

www.e-tutor.com/et2/graphing

For my website students (when it comes out of beta)

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/kalooga-online-image-galleries/

Kalooga: Find Images By Searching Web Image Galleries

Previously we have reviewed number of services that let you find images online, some allowed you to search images by color, other by similarities or even by face. Today I came across another image search tool Kalooga which instead of searching single images specializes in finding web image galleries. Since gallery pages are usually maintained by someone who is an expert or an enthusiast on the subject matter, the images tend to be highly relevant.

… Watch demo video here.

Check out Kalooga @ www.kalooga.com

Geek humor?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/if-google-were-your-roommate-video/

If Google Were Your Roommate… (Video)

How fragile is the Internet? Imagine what would happen if something truly serious happened. (Interesting charts – compare to the DOS attack on Estonia.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1195651/How-Michael-Jacksons-death-shut-Twitter-overwhelmed-Google--killed-Jeff-Goldblum.html

How Michael Jackson's death shut down Twitter, brought chaos to Google... and 'killed off' Jeff Goldblum

By Claire Bates Last updated at 11:55 PM on 26th June 2009

The internet came alive like never before as people around the world logged on to follow the stunning news of Michael Jackson's death.

The story created such a surge in online traffic that Google returned an 'error message' for searches of the singer's name as it assumed it was under attack.

And just seconds after the story broke on the American entertainment website TMZ.com, messages or 'Tweets' about the singer on the micro-blogging site Twitter doubled, leading to a temporary shutdown of the site.

… By 10.30pm, Jackson-based Twitter traffic had risen to 12.26 per cent and peaked at 11.30pm with 22.61 per cent of all messages dedicated to the star. Nine of the ten most popular topics on Twitter were dedicated to the tragic king of pop by this time.

… On YouTube, traffic flowed to music videos of Jackson, while thousands posted videos of themselves sharing their thoughts on the legendary pop star.

Others were using Facebook to organise vigils and celebrations of Jackson. One in San Francisco with nearly 50 confirmed guests hoped to recreate the Thriller dance.

Within a few hours of the news of Jackson's death, his 1982 album Thriller was the No. 1 album on iTunes. Several of his discs were also in the top 10 of the digital store.

How to win friends and influence people.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/172248/Amazon-Cuts-Off-North-Carolina-Affiliates?from=rss

Amazon Cuts Off North Carolina Affiliates

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday June 26, @02:53PM from the court-of-public-opinion dept.

Amazon.com has reportedly cut off all affiliates in North Carolina as a preemptive response to the sales tax change being pushed through the state legislature. The Seattle-based online retailer warned affiliates last week that such a move might be necessary, but the early shutoff seems to be a move in hopes of swaying opinion on the proposed legislation.

"Local affiliates say they were "blind-sided" by the company's action. 'I got this e-mail at 4:30 this morning,' said James Barrett, a technology consultant from Winston-Salem. 'It wasn't saying your account will be shut down. It said it is shut down. That just blew me up right there.' Barrett said that he is frustrated at lawmakers for considering the tax, but equally aggravated with Amazon. 'They're trying to tick off all their associates and get them to call down to Raleigh,' Barrett said. 'I think that is pretty tacky. That's not the way to use people who are referring business to your business.'"

What part of “Big Brother” didn't they get?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/27/0344230/The-Internet-Helps-Iran-Silence-Activists?from=rss

The Internet Helps Iran Silence Activists

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 27, @08:16AM from the alternative-views dept. censorship communications politics

Hugh Pickens writes

"Over the last couple of weeks, those who believe in the transformative power of technology to battle an oppressive state have pointed to Iran as a test case. However, as Farhad Manjoo writes on Slate, the real conclusion about news now coming out of Iran is that for regimes bent on survival, electronic dissent is easier to suppress than organizing methods of the past. Using a system installed last year, built in part by Nokia and Siemens, the government routes all digital traffic in the country through a single choke point, using the capabilities of deep packet inspection to monitor every e-mail, tweet, blog post, and possibly even every phone call placed in Iran. 'Compare that with East Germany, in which the Stasi managed to tap, at most, about 100,000 phone lines — a gargantuan task that required 2,000 full-time technicians to monitor the calls,' writes Manjoo. The effects of this control have been seen over the past couple days, with only a few harrowing pictures and videos getting through Iran's closed net. For most citizens, posting videos and even tweeting eyewitness accounts remains fraught with peril, and the same tools that activists use can be used by the government to spread disinformation. The government is also using crowdsourcing by posting pictures of protesters and asking citizens for help in identifying the activists. 'If you think about it, that's no surprise,' writes Manjoo. 'Who said that only the good guys get to use the power of the Web to their advantage?'"

I'll ask my statistics class if they can find a connection between “Governors who abandon their post” and Breach Laws.

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=5729

New Data Security Breach Laws in Alaska and South Carolina

June 26, 2009 @ 4:45 pm by admin Filed under: Breach Laws, Legislation, State/Local

On July 1, 2009, new laws will take effect in Alaska and South Carolina that will require entities that have experienced data security breaches involving personal information to notify affected individuals of the breaches. With these additions, a total of 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, will have active breach notification laws in place. There are no breach notification laws in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Both Alaska Stat. § 45.48.010 et seq. and South Carolina. Code Ann. § 39-1-90 will apply to breaches of unencrypted personal information in both paper and electronic records.

Read more on Privacy and Information Security Law Blog.

My assertion that “Animal House” has more influence on US lawmakers than the Constitution is reenforced yet again. “Double Secret Probation” is the new black! (Anyone want to co-author a law review article?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=877

FBI justifies gag order — in secret

June 26, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Breaches, Businesses, Court, Govt, Surveillance, U.S.

Leave a Comment

When the FBI uses a national security letter (NSL) to force the cooperation of an ISP or phone company in the surveillance of a suspect, the agency typically slaps a gag order on the service provider to prevent it from revealing the existence of the NSL. Civil liberties groups have successfully challenged the DOJ on these gag orders in the ongoing Doe v. Holder, and last month the Obama administration decided not to appeal a federal court ruling that the FBI must justify these gag orders by meeting a relatively high First Amendment standard.

The implication of the court’s ruling was that the FBI would finally have to justify the gag order that it had placed on the John Doe in the Doe v. Holder case, so that the plaintiff could talk about the NSL. The FBI has now cooperated, and has given the court a justification of the gag order, in secret.

The classified declaration that justifies the gag order can’t even be seen by Doe’s attorneys at the ACLU.

Facts for those (who should be) studying new media

http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/2236210/The-Simpsons-Worth-More-Per-Viewer-On-Hulu-Than-On-Fox?from=rss

The Simpsons Worth More Per Viewer On Hulu Than On Fox

Posted by Soulskill on Friday June 26, @07:21PM from the ay-caramba dept. tv media money internet

N!NJA writes with this excerpt from PCWorld:

"A tectonic shift has taken place for the digital age: ad rates for popular shows like The Simpsons and CSI are higher online than they are on prime-time TV. If a company wants to run ads alongside an episode of The Simpsons on Hulu or TV.com, it will cost the advertiser about $60 per thousand viewers, according to Bloomberg. On prime-time TV that same ad will cost somewhere between $20 and $40 per thousand viewers. Online viewers have to actively seek out the program they want to watch, so advertisers end up with a guaranteed audience for their commercial every time someone clicks play on Hulu or TV.com. Online programs also have an average of 37 seconds of commercials during an episode, while prime-time TV averages nine minutes of ads." [So it's not worth fast-forwarding past the commercial. Bob]

They likely have a point...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/26/google_youtube_analysis/

Google's real YouTube strategy

Meet the new boss

By Telco 2.0 Posted in Music and Media, 26th June 2009 14:44 GMT

There is an ongoing debate about the size of the losses at YouTube and for how much longer the parent, Google, can afford to fund its errant child’s excessive lifestyle. Credit Suisse put a high price on it; Brough Turner criticised their analysis; RampRate decisively debunked it.

The debate has focused upon YouTube as a standalone service and little attention has been given to the spin-off benefits accruing to the parent. Google controls a significant and growing share of the means of production of the entire internet industry. [Workers of the Internet, ARISE! Bob] We argue that ownership of YouTube is a crucial ingredient for Google’s control of the economic rent that Google extracts from the whole of the Internet value chain.

[I particularly like reason five:

5. YouTube positions Google very powerfully for a key role as a gatekeeper in the copyright world.

My job as a Math teacher is secure! (I also learned that if you organize a revolt on Twitter, you gather the twoops!)

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/2356216/ATampTs-Bad-Math-Strikes-MythBusters-Savage?from=rss

AT&T's Bad Math Strikes MythBusters' Savage

Posted by Soulskill on Friday June 26, @10:05PM from the do-they-know-he-has-explosives dept. cellphones communications humor

etherlad writes

"MythBusters' Adam Savage got a bill charging him $11,000 for 'a few hours' of Web surfing while in Canada, using his AT&T USB Mercury modem. AT&T gave him a quote on the data rate: '.015 cents, or a penny and a half, per kb.' Looks like AT&T didn't learn from Verizon's inability to do math. AT&T is also claiming Savage downloaded over 9 GB, which he calls 'frakking impossible.' Savage's huge following on twitter got him a speedy response by AT&T."

Tools & Techniques Some people find email too impersonal. Are they worth $1.29? Would a business model that did not limit you to an iPhone be viable? (How about valentine postcards from Loveland, CO?)

Using Body Language is an encyclopedic collection for those wishing to go into the very details.

PrintYourLife.com - Print Your Life And Go Postal

http://www.printyourlife.com/

There are many ways to show your friends how much care for them and you can do it by giving them a call, sending an email, as well as sending postcards.

This site gives you information about and application that is very simple and easy to use. Printyourlife.com will give you the chance to create and mail a physical, personalized postcard to the people you love.

In addition to your relatives or friends you can use this service for business purposes and you can send a business postcard to your associates directly from your iPhone.

… After you take the picture you need to add a personalized message, and select a recipient from your address book. Simple and clear, you can give your give your friends a nice surprise with a postcard you have tailored for them. This service can be used through the U.S. Mail no matter what state you want to send your cards.

This solution works with both the iPhone and the iPod Touch but you will have to email or import the photos to the Touch before you can create a postcard due to its lack of camera.

Tools & Techniques “Dear Student, Bob did get your email. He will answer it when and if he feels like answering it. Meanwhile, study hard! (signed) Bob's AI”

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/kukoo-email-autoresponder/

Kukoo: Email Autoresponder With Customizable Reply Rules

If you are always looking to reply an email as soon as possible so that the sender doesn’t think you are ignoring him then Kukoo would prove to be a great help to you. It helps you create email reply rules and provides you with an autoresponder email adders which lets the sender know instantly when he should be expecting a reply from you.

You can start by creating an account and claiming your email address with them. Once you verify that address, you get a new auto-responding email address which is created by adding .kukoo.com to your existing address. You can create separate reply rules for each day of the week and hence be more productive in handling your emails.

http://kukoo.com/

Tools & Techniques Can your email do all this?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gmail-tips-four-degrees-towards-becoming-a-gmail-ninja/

Gmail Tips: Four Degrees Towards Becoming A Gmail Ninja

Jun. 26th, 2009 By Saikat Basu

What’s with Google? Googlers seem to never put down their thinking caps and out comes this little nugget of a page called Gmail Tips.

A few posts back, I had put up something on 10 Little Known Google Pages worth a Second Look. Now, here’s another section of Google which is far more useful and worthy of a bookmark.

… The Gmail Tips page is an effective course for someone new to Gmail. But even old hands can pick up a tip or two.

Here at MakeUseof.com, we aren’t doing too badly either with ways to make the most of Gmail. Whether it’s the Ultimate GMail Collection of over 80 Tools and Tips or How to Stay Connected with Gmail , our complete list of posts on Gmail covers quite a lot of ground

How to signal your displeasure without speaking a word.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-read-and-use-body-language-a-quick-guide/

How To Read and Interpret Body Language: A Quick Guide

Jun. 26th, 2009 By Tina

… Understanding body language and using that knowledge can give you a huge advantage over people who don’t pay attention. [i.e. Most people... Bob]

… Bodycom has a short quiz that will give you an idea whether you’re instinctively able to read and interpret body language. Once your score is good enough, you’ll receive a complimentary diploma.

… 2KnowMySelf has an excellent set of articles explaining everything about How to know if someone is lying to you. Similarly, What’s This? has three comprehensive articles on The Art of Lying, which explains body language in part two.

… The article How to Command Respect at Even Happier explains how you can use posture, things you’re looking at, the way you are sitting, your head, face, and hands to air confidence and competence. A similar article also telling you what not to do can be found on InsideCRM - Leadership 101: How to Command Respect through Body Language.

… The website Persuasive has a Persuade Someone in 5 Steps guide that makes body language its primary point. In fact, it’s a tool to positively step into the conversation.

… The Adult Dating Body Language and Attraction Blog has an article that provides you with 33 Ways to Tell She’s Definitely Interested In You. And wikiHow features an article called How to Make the First Move, which also explains how to react to signs and express your own interest.

… Marc and Angel Hack Life has an excellent list on 25 Acts of Body Language to Avoid, which can serve as a quick reference as to what behavior you have to stop immediately.

… Using Body Language is an encyclopedic collection for those wishing to go into the very details.

Today it seems the theme is: “We don't know how to succeed in our own industry, so it must be someone else's fault!.”

“We don't know what to do to keep all the users Google sends us.”

http://techdirt.com/articles/20090624/1244475352.shtml

According To WSJ, Google Not Just A 'Thief' But A 'Digital Vampire'

from the oh-please dept

There's an absolutely huge business out there of folks trying to get more traffic from Google, called Search Engine Optimization. It's a big deal. Traffic to your website is the lifeblood of most internet business models, and so any way to get more traffic is a good thing. Except if you're in the newspaper business for some reason. Lately we keep seeing odd stories of newspaper business folks complaining about the fact that Google sends them traffic. The latest? Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton, who called Google a "digital vampire" claiming that it's "sucking the blood" out of the newspaper industry (found via Mathew Ingram). He then goes on to suggest that at least some of this is the newspapers' own fault for giving "Google's fangs a great place to bite."

So, uh, Mr. Hinton, here's a suggestion: there's a little thing called robots.txt. You can block Google from indexing your websites. Then everyone's happy, right? That stops the bloodflow right there.

Except, perhaps the real issues is that, as everyone in every other business seems to recognize, traffic is important, and it's up to the website receiving that traffic to capitalize on it. So, either Hinton doesn't know this, or he's simply lying. Neither one makes Dow Jones look particularly smart.

(Related) Oh look, Microsoft is admitting they were wrong! Or perhaps they never really looked at the corporate market beyond all those desktops?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/0652216/Microsoft-Backed-Firm-Says-IBM-Is-Anticompetitive?from=rss

Microsoft-Backed Firm Says IBM Is Anticompetitive

Posted by timothy on Friday June 26, @08:15AM from the ibm's-suffered-under-the-antitrust-whip-before dept. microsoft ibm supercomputing government business

BBCWatcher writes

"Microsoft has long claimed that the mainframe is dead, slain by the company's Windows monopoly. Yet, apparently without any mirror nearby, Microsoft is now complaining through the Microsoft-funded Computer & Communications Industry Association that not only are mainframes not dead, but IBM is so anticompetitive that governments should intervene in the hyper-competitive server market. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is worried that the trend toward cloud computing is introducing competition to the Windows franchise, favoring better-positioned companies including IBM and Cisco. HP now talks about almost nothing but the IBM mainframe, with no Tukwila CPUs to sell until 2010. The global recession is encouraging more mainframe adoption as businesses slash IT costs, dominated by labor costs, and improve business execution. In 2008, IBM mainframe revenues rose 12.5% even whilst mainframe prices fell. (IBM shipped 25% more mainframe capacity than in 2007. Other server sales reports are not so good.) IBM mainframes can run multiple operating systems concurrently, including Linux and, more recently, OpenSolaris."

At last Apple is getting into a truly innovative industry (and then getting out again...)

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/06/porn-comes-to-the-itunes-app-store/

Porn Comes to the iTunes App Store

By Charlie Sorrel Email Author June 25, 2009 9:12 am

Apple has finally allowed pornography into the iTunes App Store. The application, called Hottest Girls, costs $2 and includes “2200+ images of topless, sexy babes and nude models”.

UPDATE: TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has pulled the app from its App Store, stating, “it appears someone over at Cupertino [has] ultimately decided to reject the first such app.” However, the removal of the app is only a temporary one, according to the app’s developer, who states the he made the decision to stop distributing the app himself.

It is always amusing to note that everything that we know isn't quite true. Access to large amounts of data and reasonable analysis tools (and asking the right questions) seems to be changing “common knowledge,” if we would only listen...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10273344-62.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Myths and realities of teen media trends

by Dave Rosenberg June 25, 2009 4:51 PM PDT

Nielsen is out with a new report on media consumption by teens and the results are counter-intuitive to what we commonly believe to be the norm. According to the How Teens Use Media report (PDF), "teens exhibit media habits that are more similar to the total population than not."

Key takeaways from the report:

• Teens are not abandoning TV for new media: In fact, they watch more TV than ever, up 6 percent over the past five years in the U.S.

• Teens love the Internet, but spend far less time browsing than adults: Teens spend 11 hours and 32 minutes per month online. Far below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes.

• Teens watch less online video than most adults, but the ads are highly engaging to them: Teens spend 35 percent less time watching online video than adults 25-34, but recall ads better when watching TV shows online than they do on television.

• Teens read newspapers, [Do newspapers write for teens? Bob] listen to the radio, and even like advertising more than most: Teens who recall TV ads are 44 percent more likely to say they liked the ad.

• Teens play video games, but their tastes aren't all for the blood-and-guts style games. Just two of their top five most-anticipated games since 2005 have been rated "Mature."

• Teens' favorite TV shows, top Web sites and genre preferences across media are mostly the same as their parents: [Well, not everything can be positive. Bob] For U.S. teens, American Idol was the top show in 2008, Google the top website and general dramas are a preferred TV genre for teens around the world.

(Related) Is this true, or just “Yellow Bird” journalism?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10273382-62.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Sesame Workshop: Video games good for kids

by Dave Rosenberg June 25, 2009 5:03 PM PDT

A new report (PDF) published by the Joan Ganz Clooney Center at Sesame Workshop discusses the potentially positive effects of video games in educating children and promoting their physical well-being. (And if you can't trust the fine people at Sesame Workshop, who can you trust?)

Studies that look at the effects of video games on kids have been mostly positive of late, with a focus on safe virtual worlds, and devices such as the Nintendo Wii that encourage physical activity.

(Related) “All that is not mandatory is forbidden.”

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/06/25/1821235/Australian-Web-Filter-To-Censor-Downloaded-Games?from=rss

Australian Web Filter To Censor Downloaded Games

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 25, @03:03PM from the we've-already-got-these-cool-filters-in-place dept. censorship games

Xiroth writes

"The Australian Federal Communications Ministry has confirmed that they intend to use the planned filter to block the download of games that have been refused by Australia's classification authority, the OFLC. As an Electronic Frontiers Australia spokesman noted, 'This is confirmation that the scope of the mandatory censorship scheme will keep on creeping.'"

So, what have we learned?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=846

Kaspersky gets “good samaritan” immunity

June 26, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Court, Internet, U.S.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed its opinion in Zango v. Kaspersky yesterday. Zango had sued Kaspersky Labs because Kaspersky’s software blocks Zango’s software. Kaspersky claimed that it was immune to lawsuit under the safe harbor provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 § 230.

The district court had granted summary judgment in Kaspersky’s favor, but Zango appealed. The Court of Appeals agreed with the district court and affirmed (pdf) their decision.

(Related article)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2009384467_kaspersky_blocks_zango_lawsuit.html

Kaspersky blocks Zango in court case that raises big question about Web filtering

Posted by Brier Dudley

… But one judge said the case raises questions about vague language in the act that could enable computer security and filtering companies to abuse their immunity, blocking competititors without informing users, for instance.

Zango had argued that Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) disabled the Zango toolbar that displays ads related to a user's Web searches. Whenever Zango's software tried to access the Internet, KIS would display a warning and ask users if they wanted to block the program.

Big news for data analytics! Also for Privacy!

http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/06/25/1736230/IBM-Claims-Breakthrough-In-Analysis-of-Encrypted-Data?from=rss

IBM Claims Breakthrough In Analysis of Encrypted Data

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 25, @02:13PM from the scrambled-in-the-shell dept. encryption ibm math security

An anonymous reader writes

"An IBM researcher has solved a thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago. The breakthrough, called 'privacy homomorphism,' or 'fully homomorphic encryption,' makes possible the deep and unlimited analysis of encrypted information — data that has been intentionally scrambled — without sacrificing confidentiality."

Reader ElasticVapor writes that the solution IBM claims

"might better enable a cloud computing vendor to perform computations on clients' data at their request, such as analyzing sales patterns, without exposing the original data. Other potential applications include enabling filters to identify spam, even in encrypted email, or protecting information contained in electronic medical records."

[From a Comment:

The abstract for Gentry's article can be found at: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1536414.1536440 [acm.org]

Tools & Techniques?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167424/google_voice_5_reasons_to_use_it_5_reasons_to_think_twice.html

Google Voice: 5 Reasons to Use It, 5 Reasons to Think Twice

Google is opening the gates to its long-awaited Google Voice phone management service this week. Here are some things to consider as you decide whether the service is right for you.

JR Raphael, PC World Jun 25, 2009 7:00 pm

After weeks of anticipation, Google is finally accepting a limited number of new users into its Google Voice phone system. Google Voice allows you to unite all of your phones under a single number and then use a powerful set of controls to determine how calls are handled. It packs plenty of other impressive functionality, too, including voicemail-to-text transcribing and advanced call-screening.

At the same time, though, adopting Google Voice as your communications commander introduces some potential negatives, ranging from privacy-related concerns to questions about reliability. Here's a breakdown of five pros and five cons to help you determine whether the service is right for you.

This could be an amazing tool for Statistics.

http://www.seeingstatistics.com/

Seeing Statistics

Seeing Statistics ® is a new approach to teaching statistics using the World Wide Web.

Most of the graphs and figures in this textbook are dynamic and under the control of the reader. Interacting with the graphs allows you to see the important statistical principles in action.

(Related) This one looks interesting too. I need to explore it a bit more.

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/datalightproject-com-a-different-way-to-do-statistics

DataLightProject.com - A Different Way To Do Statistics

http://www.datalightproject.com/Default.aspx

Created by two self-defined “data geeks”, this application came about because they believed that people would use statistics more if only statistics software was not as unfriendly as Doctor Gregory House when he hasn’t taken his Vicodin for three days.

This application is aimed both at experienced analysts and those who are just beginning to grasp such concepts. It employs a new Microsoft technology that goes by the name of Silverlight that turns it into a tool which can be virtually run on any browser and any computer.

Some available features include crosstable analysis, chi-square tests and descriptive statistics in order find relationship in data. You can also figure out how accurate you were by testing hypotheses using the resulting data.

The site includes comprehensive information as regards pricing, and a free trial is included for you to see if it delivers or not. In any case, remember that this new service is still in beta so bear with the programmers and do not write it off if something is where it shouldn’t.

Tools & Techniques Becauseweneverhaveenoughtime.

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/podshifter-podshifter-speeds-up-podcasts-for-faster-listening/

PodShifter: Speeds Up Podcasts For Faster Listening

… It can easily make podcasts up to 2 or even 3 times faster.

To speed up podcast simply enter the RSS feed of a specific podcast into provided field, customize speed (from 0.6x to 3x) and click “shift it”.

www.podshifter.com

Pure amusement

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tuxpi-make-your-own-wanted-poster/

Tuxpi: Make Your Own Wanted Poster

If you ever wanted to make your own WANTED poster just like in old Western movies, head to Tuxpi.com. All you need do is upload a picture from your computer, preview and modify the caption, reward lines as you see fit, and then download generated file to your computer.

www.tuxpi.com/effect/wanted

Similar tools: FunPhotoBox.

At some point, management should realize that computers store data and that some data should actually be protected. Perhaps using day-glow orange laptops with “Sensitive data” stickers and motion detecting chips that set off an alarm if the computer is moved more than 10 feet would be the minimum allowable protection?

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=5695

Ca: Laptops with patient information stolen from hospital

June 24, 2009 @ 2:46 pm by admin Filed under: Breach Incidents, Healthcare Sector, Non-U.S., Theft

The University of Alberta Hospital is reporting that a burglary occurred earlier this month resulting in two laptops containing patient information being stolen. Alberta Health Services said the theft happened on June 4th, in the hospital’s Provincial Lab Information Technology room.

Two laptops with health information of more than 300,000 people were stolen. Information on the laptops are said to include names, birth dates, personal health numbers and lab test results for communicable and reportable diseases.

The hospital said the laptops are protected by a security program that requires multiple passwords to be entered before information is made accessible.

Read more on CTV News.

We all assume that the thief is the only bad actor in the story.

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=5717

Jp: Former securities company manager arrested over huge data leak

June 25, 2009 @ 5:52 am by admin Filed under: Breach Incidents, Financial Sector, Insider, Non-U.S.

Tokyo police Thursday arrested a former manager at a brokerage who was fired for stealing personal data on nearly 1.5 million customers and selling some of the information to mailing list companies.

Hideaki Kubo, 44, a former acting manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co.’s systems department, has admitted to the allegations of theft and illegal computer access, police said.

Police said they will investigate the sloppy handling of information at the company.

According to police, Kubo used the ID of a female temporary staff employee at a subsidiary to illegally access the customer database on Jan. 26.

[...]

Violators of the fraudulent access prevention law can be sentenced to a maximum one year in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Police will also seek a theft charge against Kubo over the 65-yen [Roughly 65 cents Bob] CD taken from the company supplies.

A theft conviction can result in a 10-year prison term or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Read more in Asahi Shimbum. Previous coverage here.

Ooo! I feel safer already!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/new-cyber-chief-to-protect-against-computer-attacks-1715969.html

New cyber chief to protect against computer attacks

Prime Minister creates security post after warnings of electronic espionage

By Kim Sengupta and Nigel Morris Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Britain is to appoint its first national cyber security chief to protect the country from terrorist computer hackers and electronic espionage, Gordon Brown will announce tomorrow.

Comes up in my Computer Security class and in “Intro it IT”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10272311-238.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Survey: Teens "sext" and post personal info

by Larry Magid June 24, 2009 3:54 PM PDT

An Internet safety study (PDF) just released by Cox Communications shows that teens may be a bit more safety conscious than previously thought.

The survey, which was done by Harris Interactive, asked 655 13- to 18-year-olds about their online and cell phone behavior, specifically addressing issues of cyberbullying and sexting. The study was in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and "America's Most Wanted Host" John Walsh.

For the purposes of the study, cyberbullying was defined as "harassment, embarrassment, or threats online or by text message," while sexting referred to "sending sexually suggestive text or e-mails with nude or nearly-nude photos."

There is something to this...

http://it.slashdot.org/story/09/06/25/0228217/IT-and-Health-Care?from=rss

IT and Health Care

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 25, @02:36AM from the broken-by-design dept. database medicine it

Punk CPA writes

"Technology Review has some thoughts about why the health care industry has been so slow to adopt IT, while quick to embrace high technology in care and diagnosis. Hypothesis: making medical records available for data analysis might expose redundancy, over-testing, and other methods of extracting profits from the fee-for-service model. My take is that it might also make it much easier to gather and evaluate quality of care information. That would be chum in the water for malpractice suits."

Probably not related to the story above, but the strategic goals are identical

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8e4ccdce-60cf-11de-aa12-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html?nclick_check=1

China blocks Google website

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing and Richard Waters in San Francisco Published: June 24 2009 16:22 | Last updated: June 25 2009 05:57

Google’s global website was blocked in China on Wednesday night, marking an escalation in Beijing’s unprecedented crackdown on the world’s leading search engine company.

Attempts to access Google.com and Gmail from different computers in Beijing started failing after 9pm local time, but the websites could be accessed through proxy servers – normally a sign that a website is being blocked by internet censors. The service in Beijing at least was back after two hours.

This is the opposite of the “DNA extracted after tasering a suspect” reported earlier this month.

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=787

Forcible DNA extraction violated the Constitution

A Las Vegas detective violated an inmate’s constitutional rights by “forcibly extracting” his DNA without a warrant while he was shackled and chained to a bench, the 9th Circuit ruled on a 2-1 vote.

The extraction was requested by Deputy District Attorney Elissa Luzaich, who wanted to put Kenneth Friedman’s DNA sample into a cold-case data bank.

[...]

On appeal, the defendants cited a Montana law that purportedly allowed them to take the DNA swab. Friedman had previously pleaded guilty to a sex crime in Montana, served his time and was released before moving to Las Vegas.

But the Montana statute doesn’t apply across state lines, the San Francisco-based federal appeals court noted in tossing this argument.

The court similarly rejected the claim that the swab search was “reasonable.”

“The warrantless, suspicionless, forcible extraction of a DNA sample from a private citizen violates the Fourth Amendment,” Judge Thomas wrote. “The actions of the officers were not justified under the ’special needs’ exception, reliance on an extraterritorial statute, or on general Fourth Amendment principles.”

Read more on Courthouse News.

Could this be another definition of Privacy? (If not, why not?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=731

EU Commission investigates right to ‘chip silence’

The European Commission is to investigate whether or not people have the right to disappear from the ever-more pervasive digital networks that surround them.

The Commission has expressed concern about the privacy implications of personally-identifying technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. It said that it is important to discuss whether or not people should be able to disappear from networks.

“The Commission will launch a debate on the technical and legal aspects of the ‘right to silence of the chips’, which has been referred to under different names by different authors and expresses the idea that individuals should be able to disconnect from their networked environment at any time,” said a Commission consultation paper.

Read more on Out-Law.com. The report, Internet of Things — An action plan for Europe, can be found here (pdf)

(Related) Why is disconnecting important?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=758

Chipped phones can track consumers

RFID stories seem to come in threes. This one, from Threat Level, is about how mobile phones will be chipped — for better or worse:

An Ericsson executive says all new mobile phones sold in 2010 will include an RFID chip that will allow owners to open their car or house door with their phone. A handy feature, no doubt, for some people. But the executive says the chip might also be used by credit card companies to track the location of cardholders to cut down on fraud.

Håkan Djuphammar, vice president of systems architecture for Ericsson, speaking at a conference in Stockholm this week, said credit card companies could make use of mobile user location data and IP mapping to determine if the owner of a card is in the same location where a card transaction is taking place.

Read more on Threat Level.

I use video a lot in my classes, so easy search is important.

http://youflow.finnrudolph.de/

YouFlow

Online service that lets search and browse YouTube with a stylish image flow interface and most importantly, play multiple videos in one browser. You can open and play as many videos as you like and easily scale them to your desired size

When you need information in real time...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10272370-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Twitter search sites: The three best, and all the rest

by Rafe Needleman June 25, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

For my hackers... Several sites listed...

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-get-free-internet-service-almost-anywhere/

Find Totally Free Unlimited Internet Access Almost Anywhere

Jun. 24th, 2009 By Guy McDowell

This is no joke. There are still Internet Service Providers (ISPs) out there offering free service. We’re going to look at a few ways to find totally free unlimited Internet access, legitimately and legally.