This is a bit unusual... Why go for a backup tape?
ID FRAUD FEARS AS DISABLED RECORDS PINCHED
Thieves target fund group
By Paula Murray 11 December 2006
THOUSANDS of disabled people have been warned to be vigilant after their personal details were stolen from a support group.
The data had been put on a computer back-up tape by Government-backed Independent Living Funds.
But the tape was stolen from a van and now clients have been told their details could be in the hands of identity thieves.
... ILF refuse to say when the incident took place - and angry clients fear there's been a delay in telling them about it.
Additional information from a “victim company” perspective?
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/1211biz-honeywell1211.html
Stolen PC puts workers from Honeywell at risk
Max Jarman The Arizona Republic Dec. 11, 2006 12:00 AM
For the second time this year, Honeywell employees in the Valley are grappling with a possible leak of their personal information.
An undetermined number of Honeywell workers were notified by the company last week that their names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information were on a computer that was stolen from a Denver office Oct. 14.
... The computer contained the personal information of about 1.4 million people, including employees hired at Honeywell and other companies in the eight months before the theft. Honeywell spokesman Robert Ferris was unable to say how many of the company's employees were affected by the computer theft. [Then how can we trust anything he does say he knows? Bob]
... Affiliated Computer Services Inc. of Dallas was maintaining the information for the Colorado Department of Human Services' family support registry. The registry includes the names of people receiving family services in Colorado and a partial list of recent new hires from around the country. Of the 1.4 million names, about 900,000 were new hires.
... Companies can choose which state to send the information to.
"For some reason, a lot of companies choose Colorado," said Kevin Lightfoot, a spokesman for Affiliated Computer Services. He noted that information at a specific state is accessible by other state agencies.
... One Honeywell employee in metropolitan Phoenix, who declined to be identified for this story, first learned his personal information was possibly in the public domain Dec. 8 via a letter from Honeywell's Department of Human Resources.
"My first thought was, 'Am I going to get cleaned out?' " he said.
The employee also wondered why it took the company so long to send out the letter, which was dated Dec. 1.
"My information was out there for six weeks without me knowing about it," he said.
This would seem to drive the value of used computers down a bit. Perhaps there is a business model for a third party to “Clean drives and guarantee non-disclosure?”
http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/12/11/ap-state-sc/d8lu62b04.txt
Judge orders company to turn over school computers
Monday, December 11, 2006
GREENVILLE, S.C. - A company that bought computers from the Greenville school district at surplus auctions must return those computers and confidential data on them, a judge has ordered.
The order Friday from Circuit Judge Diane S. Goodstein says both sides agreed to let an independent computer expert document all the data under the supervision of a trustee.
... Gantt has said previously that his clients bought computers, hard drives and other items at school district auctions over a period of about six years. [Think they were the only ones? Bob] They didn't know when they bought the equipment that it contained information such as the Social Security numbers of thousands of students and employees and driver's license numbers, personnel files and health records of employees, Gantt has said.
The men have said through their lawyers that they told the district several times about the information being on the computers and found confidential data as recently as eight months ago. Gantt has said they were concerned others may have bought equipment containing such information.
District superintendent Phinnize Fisher said the district hasn't found anyone else who has acquired personal data at school auctions. [“Hasn't found” is not the same as “There aren't any” Bob]
The government is getting more aggressive?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2497787,00.html
Like it or not, errant fathers will be named on birth certificates
Sam Coates, Political Correspondent The Times December 11, 2006
Fathers will be legally compelled to put their names on to the birth certificates of their children in an attempt to make them acknowledge obligations.
John Hutton, the Work and Pension Secretary, will signal on Wednesday that he will press ahead with the reform, despite strong objections from Cabinet colleagues.
The Government will also announce new penalties for fathers who do not pay for their children’s upbringing, including curfews, the cancelling of passports and naming and shaming on the internet.
An aide to Mr Hutton denied that it was impossible to force mothers to declare paternity, and said that Whitehall discussions on how best to achieve this were well advanced. [“there's always Guantanamo...” Bob]
... “Although relationships end, responsibilities to your kids don’t. We’ve got to make life uncomfortable for the non- resident parents who aren’t paying for their kids,” he said.
A source close to Mr Hutton indicated that there might be exemptions to the new birth certificate rules for mothers who did not want their child permanently linked with the biological father — for example, if the father was a rapist.
I've seen a couple of recommendations for this video...
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/10/1553242&from=rss
Moglen on Social Justice and OSS
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday December 10, @11:22AM from the something-weighty-with-your-sunday-morning dept. Software
NewsCloud writes "What does Firefox have to do with social justice? How will the one laptop per child project discourage genocide? How soon will Microsoft collapse? Watch Eben Moglen's inspiring keynote from the 2006 Plone Conference (Archive.org: mp3 or qt; or YouTube). The video presentation is ordinary, so the mp3 is an equally good format. 'If we know that what we are trying to accomplish is the spread of justice and social equality through the universalization of access to knowledge; If we know that what we are trying to do is build an economy of sharing which will rival the economies of ownership at every point where they directly compete; If we know that we are doing this as an alternative to coercive redistribution, that we have a third way in our hands for dealing with long and deep problems of human injustice; If we are conscious of what we have and know what we are trying to accomplish, when this is the moment for the first time in lifetimes, we can get it done.'"
Speakers at ABA National Security Law Conference Confront NSA Surveillance Program and Leaks of Classified Information to the Press
Posted by Randy Gainer Posted By DWT - 12 | 8 | 2006
Speakers at the 16th annual review of National Security Law, held November 30-December 1, 2006, in Washington, D.C., addressed topics ranging from accountability for actions by private security contractors on the battlefield to civil litigation against terrorists and their bankers. Approximately 440 lawyers attended the conference, which was sponsored by the ABA Committee on Law and National Security, by the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, and by the Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security at Duke University School of Law. Conference materials, which include several insightful papers, are available online.
Okay lawyer types, give me a warm fuzzy feeling that this couldn't happen to me. Please?
http://www.feedblog.org/2006/12/six_apart_censo.html
Six Apart Censors My Blog in Response to Fake Michael Crook DMCA Takedown Notice
December 10, 2006
Six Apart has agreed to censor my blog in response to a fake DMCA takedown notice.
Just to follow up here, the legal advice we have received is that for the next 10 business days, the disputed content does need to be removed from public access. If at the end of this period, we have not received the specified legal filing from Mr. Crook, then access to the material can be restored at that time. We apologize for the need to do this, and for any incorrect or confusing information we may have provided in the past, but we will need to ask you to remove the disputed files from public access for the next 10 business days. If you are not able to do this by the end of the day on Monday, December 11, we will need to delete the disputed files.
First. Let me say that I'm a big fan of Six Apart. I'm not trying to cause them any hassle. I've been a loyal customer since they launched Typepad. Heck. They even acquired my last company (Rojo) so here's yet another reason to like them. Even the people who work there are super nice!
In this situation though I think they're dead wrong.
I'm not sure if you've been following the situation but this guy has been harassing bloggers left and right.
There's also a pending EFF case where they're suing the guy. So when I posted about the futility of sending off a DMCA notice I figured the whole thing would just blow over.
Wrong. The guy just isn't rational. He's an insane Internet bully Holocaust denier who thinks the troops in Iraq all deserve to die because they're getting paid too much (not making this stuff up folks).
He's sent me a few private emails. Threats to come to my house and and how I have to comply to the DMCA cause I'm "in his jurisdiction." Not going to happen.
Here's a fun little quote:
You are an arrogant piece of s*it. You can file a counterclaim, but the material will stay down for 14 days, which will give me time to justify having my lawyer file papers in federal court to sue you're *ss. That process will delay the return of the material, as an injunction is easy to get.
First. This isn't his content. He doesn't hold copyright here. Fox News does. Second. He's clearly perjuring himself.
In order to send in a counter-notification letter I have to include my name, telephone number, and address. Essentially, he can take down any Typepad blog for 14 days and get their name, address, and phone number just by sending Six Apart a fake DMCA.
Six Apart should take a stand on behalf of their customers. If Laughing Squid can do it then so should Six Apart. In this case it's just good business. They're on the right side of the law. This guy is perjuring himself.
This system is broken people.
Is this good for customers in general or is it merely a way to avoid legal hassles from the government?
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72278-0.html?tw=rss.index
E-Gold Gets Tough on Crime
By Kim Zetter 02:00 AM Dec, 11, 2006
The founder of PayPal competitor e-gold has grown tired of the government characterizing his business as a haven for money launderers, terrorists, child pornographers and credit card thieves.
So a year after the Department of Justice raided his offices, Douglas Jackson, president of Gold and Silver Reserve, which operates e-gold, has been wading deep into his customer transaction logs to identify and fight back against people who misuse his system. In the last month, he's blocked about 2,000 accounts from his system, and he's voluntarily turned over detailed account and transaction histories to federal law enforcement.
In the process, Jackson says he's exposed an illicit and previously invisible economic underground. [That has been written about for years... Bob]
... E-gold is a privately issued digital currency backed by real gold and silver stored in banks in Europe and Dubai. Jackson says about 1,000 new e-gold accounts are opened daily, and the system processes between 50,000 and 100,000 transactions a day.
With a value independent of any national legal tender, the electronic cash has cultivated a libertarian image over the years, while drawing the ire of law enforcement agencies who frequently condemn it publicly as an anonymous, untraceable criminal haven, inaccessible to police scrutiny.
... Jackson acknowledges some discomfort over the decision to give information to the feds without legal process -- a move that could save e-gold from further law enforcement aggression, while tarnishing its libertarian sheen.
His lawyers aren't bothered by the move, however. They say agents repeatedly promised to provide Jackson with court orders since last February but have not come through.
... Kevin Bankston, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says e-gold is violating its privacy policy, which states that the company won't hand over data except under court order. Its actions "could open it to liability under contract violation and false advertising and unfair competition claims," he says.
Won't they be surprised when the viewer numbers jump!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/10/new-york-times-surrenders-to-social-news/
New York Times Surrenders To Social News
December 10 2006 Natali Del Conte
The New York Times has decided to let users post stories directly from their site to Digg, Facebook, and Newsvine. As of Monday, the paper will embed links to all three sites to most of their online stories.
The new link will not be embedded into stories used on the paper’s premium content site, TimesSelect, staff blogs or wire stories.
Could be interesting during the next election campaign...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/10/add-text-bubbles-to-videos/
Add Text Bubbles To Videos
December 10 2006 Michael Arrington
Brand new Israeli startup BubblePLY has created an easy tool for adding text or link comic-book style bubbles to videos from popular video sharing sites. Tell it the link to a video on YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe and others, and then add your own content. The video is saved and can be shared via a link or embedding on a web page. See the demo here, and an example is here (there seems to be some problem with embedding right now).
This is way too much work for me, but my guess is that some MySpacers will find this compelling.
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