I dropped the 'spousal unit' at DIA around 06:30 and just got a call at 08:00 to report she had made it through security – after dumping her perfume and chapstick. May Osama die of chapped lips!
How to read search history...
http://consumerist.com/consumer/privacy/aol-user-927-illuminated-192502.php
Mon 07 Aug 2006
AOL User 927 Illuminated
Aroused by the thought of juicy big piles of AOL user search data? Consumerist does the wading for you and finds a delightful little item, AOL User 927.
The record starts out blandly enough in March. First he's concerned about how long it takes broken legs to heal. Then he investigates human mold. Perhaps staying at home after an accident? Then he peeks into a little dog sex, but the leash isn't very long, the most prurient site he reaches being SFweekly.com, a regular ol' newspaper.
Later that day he looks up flowers. flowers aster. butterfly orchid. The next day, more flowers, followed by a little forced rape porn, testicle festivals and slow-dancing steps. Must be planning a big night.
Fast-forward to May...
Queries include: beauty and the beast disney porn, holocaust rape, japanese child slave, molestation and rape porn, virtual children, 3d molestation and rape porn, topped off with a little, "oh i like that baby. i put on my robe and wizards hat."
But since he was using AOL he never got to see anything that might have potentially tainted his fragile, mold-ridden mind.
This will let you hire cheaper (bad) programmers?
Software testing product also writes code
Agitar's Agitator will automatically generate alternate bug-free and more efficient code
By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service August 10, 2006
Agitar Software plans to ship a software testing product next year that will test a developer’s code and, if necessary, automatically generate alternate bug-free and more efficient code, according to an executive of the company.
Linux is looking better every day…
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2001219,00.asp
Microsoft to Tighten the Genuine Advantage Screws
August 9, 2006 By Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft Watch
To date, with its Genuine Advantage anti-piracy programs, Microsoft has targeted consumers. Windows and Office users have been required to validate their products as "genuine" before being able to obtain many downloads and add-ons.
Come this fall, however, the Redmond, Wash., software maker is planning to turn up the Genuine Advantage heat in two ways: by baking more Genuine Advantage checks directly into Windows Vista, and by taking aim at PC makers, system builders, Internet cafes and other sources of potentially pirated software.
Microsoft officials—whose Genuine Advantage Notification strategy came under fire earlier this summer—declined to share specifics about its new Genuine Advantage plans. But executives already have been setting the stage for the upcoming changes in recent keynote addresses.
"We expect to do more to make Windows more differentiated when it's genuine, and so genuine customers get a truly different experience than non-genuine customers, as well as to make piracy harder, so that our genuine partners can do a better job competing with those that don't play by the rules," Windows Client Marketing Chief Michael Sievert told attendees of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July.
Microsoft Platforms and Services Co-President Kevin Johnson was more specific about Microsoft's plans, in his remarks to Wall Street analysts at Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting in late July.
"We built a set of features and a set of functionality that is only available to genuine Windows customers," Johnson said. "Windows Defender, for example, the anti-spyware for Windows XP and Windows Vista, is available to genuine Windows customers. Windows Media Player 11.0, Internet Explorer 7.0, will be available for download for Windows XP customers who are genuine, and of course those are built into Windows Vista. Future updates to Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player for Windows Vista will require them to be genuine. And certainly there's some premium features built into the Windows Vista operating system that will require genuine validation as well. So we're really trying to amplify the fact that being genuine enables the set of benefits and value to access these types of features and capabilities."
Read the full story on Microsoft Watch: Microsoft to Tighten the Genuine Advantage Screws
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/09/2121206&from=rss
A Different Kind of WGA 'Problem'
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday August 09, @06:46PM from the foolproof-just-found-a-better-fool dept. Microsoft Security
Ed Bott recently attempted to scout out the problems reported in so many horror stories floating around the net relating to Microsoft's WGA. He did experience problems, however, not the ones that you might expect. He intentionally installed a pirated copy of Windows XP to see how the process worked but was unable to get WGA to recognize his computer as pirated. From the article: "I'm reluctantly running a pirated version of Windows and can't get caught no matter how hard I try. But these same people want us to believe that the WGA software they've developed is nearly foolproof. They claim that all but "a fraction of a percent" of those 60 million people who've been denied access to Microsoft updates and downloads are guilty, guilty, guilty. Right."
Because we need to train them to pass drug tests, just like professional athletes?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1840997,00.html
US drug chief promotes random testing in schools
Sarah Boseley, health editor Thursday August 10, 2006 The Guardian
America's drug tsar raised the stakes on drug testing in schools yesterday, suggesting that it could come to be seen as normal required and "responsible behaviour" in the same way that some US schools routinely test all pupils for tuberculosis before admission.
What do they know that we don’t know? What do they know?
http://news.com.com/Homeland+Security+Lock+up+your+Windows/2100-7348_3-6103805.html?tag=nefd.top
Homeland Security: Fix your Windows
By Joris Evers Story last modified Wed Aug 09 11:46:51 PDT 2006
In a rare alert, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has urged Windows users to plug a potential worm hole in the Microsoft operating system.
The agency, which also runs the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), sent out a news release on Wednesday recommending that people apply Microsoft's MS06-040 patch as quickly as possible. The software maker released the "critical" fix Tuesday as part of its monthly patch cycle.
"Users are encouraged to avoid delay in applying this security patch," the Department of Homeland Security said in the statement. The patch fixes a serious flaw that, if exploited, could enable an attacker to remotely take complete control of an affected system, the agency said.
Microsoft on Tuesday issued a dozen security bulletins, nine of which were tagged "critical," the company's highest severity rating. However, the flaw addressed in MS06-040 is the only one among the updates that could let an anonymous attacker remotely commandeer a Windows PC without any user interaction.
The flaw has some similarities to the Windows bug that enabled the notorious MSBlast worm to spread in 2003. Both security vulnerabilities are related to a Windows component called "remote procedure call," which provides support for networking features such as file sharing and printer sharing.
"Blaster took advantage of a vulnerability in the same service. We recognize that this is something that is easily exploitable," said Amol Sarwate, the manager of vulnerability research lab at Qualys. "It is excellent that DHS sent out this alert, because I think a lot of people are vulnerable."
Microsoft has seen a "very limited attack" that already used the newly disclosed flaw, the software maker said Tuesday.
Overnight, some hacker toolkits were updated with code that allows researchers to check for the flaw and exploit it, said Neel Mehta, a security expert at Internet Security Systems in Atlanta.
"This is a very serious vulnerability," Mehta said. "At the moment, this exploit is being used in targeted attacks to compromise specific systems. However, there is nothing about the nature of the vulnerability that prevents it from being used in a much more widespread fashion as part of a worm."
Microsoft worked with the Department of Homeland Security on the alert, a company representative said. "Microsoft...encourages customers to deploy this update on their systems as soon as possible, given that we are aware of targeted exploitation of the vulnerability," the representative said.
Microsoft deems the vulnerability critical for all versions of Windows. However, users of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 should be protected by the Windows Firewall if they do not use file sharing and printer sharing, Christopher Budd, a security program manager at Microsoft, said in an interview Tuesday.
The Microsoft updates are available via the Windows Update and Automatic Updates tools as well as from Microsoft's Web site. Temporary workarounds are outlined in the security bulletins for those who can't immediately apply the patches.
Who do you go to when you can't trust the FBI to get it right?
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2001528,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
VA Announces Data Breach Analysis Contract
August 9, 2006 By Wayne Rash
The Department of Veterans Affairs is hiring ID Analytics to perform data breach analysis to ensure that information on 26.5 million veterans contained on a stolen laptop was not compromised. The laptop has since been recovered. According to a release from the VA, ID Analytics will look for patterns of misuse and suspicious activity related to the theft.
"Data breach analysis will provide VA with additional assurances that veterans' personal information remains unharmed," Secretary R. James Nicholson said in a statement.
Before two men were charged with the theft on Aug. 5, the agency had promised that it would exercise an abundance of caution and perform data breach analysis to make sure veterans' information was safeguarded.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs earlier hired ISS for a data theft investigation. Click here to read more.
According to the release, hiring ID Analytics fulfills that promise. ID Analytics offers a real-time tracking system that is widely used by retail and credit card issuers, along with wireless companies and finance companies.
"VA remains unwavering in its resolve to become the leader in protecting personal information, training and educating our employees in best practices, and establishing a culture that always puts the safekeeping of veterans' personal information first," Nicholson said in the statement.
Spokesperson Matthew Burns said the VA would be sending a letter to veterans this week explaining the situation regarding another computer theft, that of a computer stolen the week of July 31 from Unisys, a contractor for the VA.
Burns said the VA will also send out a letter to affected veterans telling them how to sign up for a credit monitoring service to be provided by Unisys. Burns said some details remain to be worked out, but said both letters would go out in the next day or two.
U.S. Transport Dept laptop with personal data stolen
Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:00 AM IST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government computer loaded with approximately 133,000 drivers' and pilots' records - including Social Security numbers -- was stolen last month, the Department of Transportation said on Wednesday.
The department's Office of Inspector General said one of its laptops was taken from a government vehicle in Doral, Florida, on July 27. The agency is sending letters to those whose information may have been compromised.
... The stolen Transportation Department computer included information from more than 80,000 commercial driver's licenses issued in the Miami-Dade County area. The data included drivers' names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, the agency said.
The laptop also had 42,800 records for people issued pilot licenses in Florida by the Federal Aviation Administration, and 9,500 Tampa area drivers' licenses, the department said. Those records also included names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth.
"The laptop is password protected, and it is unlikely that the perpetrators stole it based on any knowledge of its data contents," the inspector general's office said in a letter to those affected.
The information on licenses had been collected as part of investigations into possible fraud, according to the letter. A $10,000 reward has been posted for information leading to the recovery of the laptop, the inspector general said.
Is this like getting a list of companies wearing “Sue Me!” T-shirts?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012084.html
August 09, 2006
New Report Tracks the Origin and Path of Unwanted Internet Ads
Press release: "More than half of the pop-up ads served by nuisance "adware" programs are placed knowingly by advertisers, according to a study released today by the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)."
Following the Money II: The Role of Intermediaries in Adware Advertising (28 pages, PDF)
This is interesting, perhaps even useful. Will it be enough for large customers to upgrade to Vista? Somehow I doubt it.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060808/vista-speech-recognition-screencast/
Vista speech recognition screencast: It works!
Published August 8th, 2006 in blog, windows, vista, video
Surprise surprise. Windows Vista speech recognition actually works. Contrary to what MSNBC criticize as a ‘wreck’, the speech recognition technology is well developed and highly usable. I got my hands on the July CTP build (5472) of Windows Vista and gave it a try, and I recorded what I found. I used the internal microphone array in my laptop, so the sound quality is not optimal but Vista handled it well.
This screencast focuses on the areas of speech recognotion including: dictation, commands, selecting alternatives, ’show numbers’, ‘mouse grid’, mouse functions, web browsing, and keyboard functions. The following video contains mild coarse language, strong violence and parental guidance is advised.
http://linkstobullshit.blogspot.com/2006/08/links-to-23-penn-and-teller-bullshit.html
Links to 23 Penn and Teller: Bullshit episodes
23 free full length videos of Penn and Teller: Bullshit, one of the best shows on TV!
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