Is this a new release or reporting on old news? Gets confusing after the 12 billionth time...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16700556.htm
Personal data stolen from health insurer
Associated Press Posted on Wed, Feb. 14, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - Personal information on nearly 200,000 members of health insurer WellPoint Inc. was stolen from the office of a company vendor, a newspaper reported.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint has received no reports of the information being misused, company spokesman Jim Kappel told The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., for a story in its online edition Wednesday. No arrests have been made, he said.
The data was on backup computer tapes taken in November from the Massachusetts office of Concentra Preferred Systems, a company that audits and analyzes claims data for WellPoint.
The majority of people affected are Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield members in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Virginia, Kappel said. People whose information was on the tapes were informed by a recent letter.
The stolen data included Social Security numbers, which are frequently used in identity theft.
Kappel said there is no indication that the WellPoint tapes were the target of the thefts because break-ins occurred at several businesses in the complex where the Concentra office is located.
Didn't TJX assure everyone that Canadian customers weren't impacted? (Yes, they did.)
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/02/13/cards-reissued.html
Questions swirl as BMO, CIBC reissue credit cards
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 7:21 PM ET CBC News
Thousands of CIBC and Bank of Montreal customers have been issued new credit cards from their banks along with warnings their old cards may have been used fraudulently, CBC News has learned.
Neither bank is releasing details, but some of the customers told the CBC they were told that the cancellations were linked to a major security breach at Winners and HomeSense.
... The letter didn't explain the problem, but a bank clerk later told her it had to do with the Winners and HomeSense breach.
In early February, a spokesman for Winners and Homesense said the hackers did not get information on Canadian debit card transactions.
... The banks wouldn't say how many customers have been affected, what the security breach was or whether any credit cards have actually been misused. They also wouldn't disclose why they have reissued cards when other banks have not. [Is this the right way to handle this? Bob]
We can, therefore we must.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/smile-youre-on-big-brothers-in-plane-camera/
Smile, you're on Big Brother's in-plane camera!
Posted Feb 14th 2007 12:09PM by Paul Miller
The folks in the UK aren't laissez-faire about this Big Brother thing one bit, them and Germany are throwing £25 million (bout $49 million US) at the "problem" of monitoring airline passengers with small cameras and microphones in every single seat back to monitor for suspicious behavior. [Actually, that should read, “We monitor everyone, looking for suspicious behavior.” Bob] The system will be able to detect rapid eye movements, excessive blinking, twitches, whispers or other symptoms of somebody trying to conceal something, and check the data against individual passenger profiles for alerting the crew to a potential terrorist. Airlines and privacy advocates aren't terribly stoked about the idea, with the airlines saying it'll take 10 years to outfit planes with such systems and the money would be better spent "on preventing terrorists boarding aircraft in the first place." Privacy people figure that "it will put people off flying because they will feel uncomfortable." However, Catherine Neary, the project team leader assures that under the Data Protection Act, all audio and video recordings will be destroyed at the end of each flight. That makes it all better, right?
Probably not, but they seem to have the same (lack of) skills you'd expect. Another government agency that doesn't think it through?
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/02/homeland_securi.html
27B Stroke 6 by Ryan Singel and Kevin Poulsen
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Homeland Security Website Hacked by Phishers? 15 Signs Say Yes -- UPDATED 3 Times
What would you do if you got this email?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/13/AR2007021301173.html
Better Business Bureau Tangled in E-Mail Scam
By Annys Shin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 14, 2007; Page D03
The Better Business Bureau network was the target of a "spoofing" scam yesterday in which thousands of businesses in the United States and Canada received e-mails encouraging them to download what is thought to be a computer virus.
The e-mails, using the name of the 95-year-old network of nonprofit groups that looks into consumer complaints, told businesses that they were the subject of a complaint and included a link to view related documents. Clicking on the link, however, accessed the address book of an infected computer and distributed the counterfeit e-mail to more recipients, said Steve Cox, spokesman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
... BBB members and nonmembers received the e-mail.
Confused business owners began calling the council's offices in Arlington at 6 a.m. yesterday, Cox said. By mid-morning, the organization had confirmed the attack was systemwide.
... The counterfeit e-mails were traced to an advertising firm in Kennesaw, Ga., that had had its computer system hacked into Monday night, Cox said. The agency had no prior affiliation with the BBB.
The Council of Better Business Bureaus warned recipients not to open any e-mail that contains a return address of "operations @ bbb.org" or a link citing a complaint case number, such as "Documents for Case #263621205."
Isn't it analogous to pointing to a quote in a book?
Judge Denies Appeal that Deep Linking Directly to Video and Audio Streams is Not Illegal
Posted in: News and Legal, DRM, Piracy & IP by Chris Tew
A Texas judge ruled last December that SuperCrossLive.com, owned by Robert Davis, was violating copyright laws by directly linking to audiocasts of motorcycle racing that were created, owned and hosted by SFX Motor Sports.
The judge ruled that "the link Davis provides on his Web site is not a ‘fair use’ of copyright material" and ordered all links to the audiocasts to be removed. SFX sued supercrosslive.com because they believed that listeners should only access the audiocasts through the website, in order for logos of sponsors to be seen.
Robert Davis actually represented himself [Oops! Bob] and was against a Baker Botts lawyer who’s listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2007, so it’s no wonder he lost.
SuperCrossLive.com appealed the decision by the Texas court but the appeal was denied on January the 18th. On January the 30th SuperCrossLive.com appealed to the 5th Circuit Court which can overturn the original verdict.
This case is of course far from over and the ruling itself has been heavily criticized as it is considered to undermine the functioning of the web as a whole. The judge has been accused of misunderstanding the technology involved.
I very much doubt that this case will wind up in favor of preventing deep linking and will be overturned in the 5th Circuit Court. However, should the injunction against SuperCrossLive stand up it would have huge implications for the whole internet. It would set precedent that you must get permission from copyright owners to link to anything but the main page of a website. [The cover of a book? Bob]
What SFX should really do if it doesn’t want people to link directly to its streams is put technology in place which prevents it, rather than embarking on a controversial court case to prevent deep linking.
There is no reason why this technology won't eventually be added to credit cards, auto ignitions, door locks, pill bottles, etc..
Biometrics to ease CIOs' cell phone concerns
As cell phones begin to carry more productivity apps -- and more sensitive data -- the need for security grows. AuthenTec is pushing biometrics as the solution
By John Blau, IDG News Service February 14, 2007
A biometric systems vendor has a pitch for CIOs nervous about company executives losing their mobile phones and risking the loss of confidential information.
“We're not looking for facts, we're looking for quotes!” Interesting debate in the Comments...
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/14/0322253&from=rss
70% of Sites Hackable? $1,000 Says "No Way"
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday February 14, @08:03AM from the money-where-mouth-is dept. Security The Almighty Buck
netbuzz writes "Security vendor Acunetix is flogging a survey that claims 7 out 10 Web sites it checked have vulnerabilities posing a medium- to high-level risk of a breach of personal data. Network World's go-to security guy, Joel Snyder, says that percentage is 'sensationalist nonsense' — and he's willing to back that judgment with $1,000 of his own money. In fact Snyder will pay up if Acunetix can get personal data out of 3 of 10 sites chosen at random from their survey list."
A brief overview...
http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6159558.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news
Video: RSA roundup: Girls gone wild (for security)
It will be interesting to see what politicians do with/to the technology.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/013947.html
February 13, 2007
Blogs Front And Center in Presidential Fundraising Campaign Efforts
WSJ free feature today: Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere: "Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular with political junkies and potential donors. With 18 candidates vying for the most open race for the White House in 80 years and front-runners on both sides announcing plans to forgo public financing, the 2008 election promises to be a huge revenue opportunity, not just for TV broadcasters."
Other uses too...
http://www.newassignment.net/blog/david_cohn/feb2007/12/extreme_democrac
Extreme Democracy -- When Wikis Inform Legislation
by Steve Petersen on February 13, 2007 – 9:49am.
... To bolster his new effort at interaction and transparency, Urquhart posted his school voucher bill in its entirety on Politicopia before he distributed it to his colleagues in the Utah House. Soon the page expanded with pro and con sections with findings from states like Vermont and Wisconsin accompanied by a section for comments, as wel as links to news articles about the bill.
“For six years we’ve been chasing our tail on this bill, and today the bill passed in very large part because of Politicopia. When private dialogue was made public, the main area of criticism was publicly revealed to be fictitious [Warning! This is not a “Politician Friendly” site! Bob],” Urquhart told WebProNews in an email.
Interesting set of “unexpected outcomes.”
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070214/082036.shtml
The Perverse Consequences Of Sarbanes-Oxley
from the in-the-dark dept
The long-sluggish IPO market staged a rebound in 2006, leading some to conclude that all of the whining about Sarbanes-Oxley and the cost of being a public company was just that, whining. But there's still plenty of evidence suggesting that Sarbanes-Oxley is a real burden on public companies. In addition to the direct costs of compliance, you can see it in the explosion in private equity and management buyouts, as the smart money realizes that there are advantages to being private. Bloomberg points to another perverse effect of the legislation: companies are realizing that they're best off if they can keep things completely in the dark, as opposed to making them open. The example it cites is the corporate bond market, where there's a flourishing practice of selling unregistered bonds to institutions. Typically, if a company had a bond offering, it would have to register that with the SEC, a process that's become quite burdensome. But, if the bonds are just traded among institutions, with no plans to make them available to the public, then the company doesn't have to file anything. This practice has grown by 50% in the last two years, far outstripping the rest of the market. Of course, unregistered bonds carry a higher degree of risk, but because there's a high demand for bonds these days, it's a risk that buyers are willing to take. This is obviously the opposite of what Sarbanes-Oxley intended, but it's the natural result of a law that imposes higher costs on companies that report publicly.
“Any tactic we can think of,” is not good lawyering strategy...
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070215/001607.shtml
Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Blaming MySpace For Sexual Assault
from the suing-whoever-has-the-money dept
Last summer we were disappointed, but not surprised, to see the family of a 14-year-old girl who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old guy she met on MySpace decide to sue MySpace for allowing it to happen. Such a lawsuit is ridiculous on any number of levels -- both legally and at a common sense level. It's like suing the phone company any time a phone is used as part of a crime. Legally, it's quite clear that MySpace is protected by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which makes it clear that a service provider is not responsible for the actions of its users. This makes perfect sense. The law is designed to make sure it's those who are actually responsible for the illegal actions who get in trouble for them. That's why it's good to see that the judge has tossed out this case, pointing to section 230 and noting that if it were allowed, companies like MySpace "would be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third-party communications." The lawyers for the family, of course, plan to appeal -- wasting even more resources on a case that is unlikely to get anywhere. Of course, we're still waiting to hear what the 19-year-old involved in this case is going to do. After the girl's family sued MySpace, his lawyers realized that if MySpace was somehow responsible, then perhaps they could sue as well, and take some of the blame off the guy.
Interesting idea.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRUSTED_DOWNLOADS?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Group Certifies Programs OK to Download
By ANICK JESDANUN AP Internet Writer Feb 15, 12:11 AM EST
NEW YORK (AP) -- An organization that monitors Web site privacy and e-mail practices for businesses has certified eight computer programs as consumer-friendly and non-invasive.
... Independent technicians hired by TRUSTe review software used for advertising or tracking user behavior. Certified adware and other software must obtain consent before downloading, be easy to uninstall and cannot modify computer settings to cause damage or harm.
Inevitable? (See next article too)
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16680431.htm
The next class fits in your pocket
By JOHN AUSTIN STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER Posted on Mon, Feb. 12, 2007
Distance learning has been around for decades, but thanks to the iPod and other digital music players, higher education is becoming as portable as a pop song.
... MP4 capability adds video to the iPod audio mix. And while it's still relatively rare, students are increasingly plugging in to listen to downloaded books, textbook study guides, and language labs on the go. Books and personal stereos have always been portable, of course, but audiobooks are easier to carry around in digital form.
... Schools including Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison belong to iTunes U, a year-old Apple Inc. service that lets professors post lectures and students download them for free.
Some libraries, including Swem Library at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, are lending MP3 players to students.
... Davis was surprised at the enthusiastic reception when the university began podcasting this semester.
"We didn't think there'd be four iPods in the whole bunch," Davis said. But the graduate students are "getting paid and they've got the toys."
... Finn said the technology works particularly well for students such as varsity athletes who miss classes because of travel. But Finn quickly learned that she would have to adapt her content to fit the small screen, regardless of whether jocks or nerds were tuning in.
"The lectures were too long," she said. "The students couldn't interact with a podcast."
So "I've now made all the podcasts 15 to 20 minutes," Finn said. And to mix things up, "we are going to have different people showing up on the podcast."
Why it's inevitable?
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2007/tc20070214_915949.htm
The Next Big Ad Medium: Podcasts
Advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, but they're still not sure who will be listening to them
by Catherine Holahan February 14, 2007, 12:00AM EST
Remember podcasting? While marketers have been busy uploading commercials to YouTube, the once-buzzed-about medium has spent the past two years building its audience and enhancing advertising capability. Now, podcasts are finally poised to grab a larger slice of the multibillion-dollar online advertising pie.
Research firm eMarketer expects that advertisers will spend more than $400 million on podcasting by 2011, up from $80 million last year, according to a report scheduled for release later this week. Fueling the anticipated growth is the expected entrance of Google into the podcasting arena, as well as new podcasting services focused on answering advertisers' most pressing questions: How many people are tuning in to the hundreds of thousands of online podcasts, and who are they?
... The medium isn't waiting for Google, however. On Feb. 14, podcast company Podtrac unveiled a free online service that enables advertisers to research audience information for audio and video podcasts based on demographics, size, and other characteristics. The company, which helps connect roughly 5,000 of the top podcasters to advertisers, includes data for all podcasts in its new service, including those from major media companies with whom Podtrac is not affiliated. It indexes its data to information in Mediamark Research's Survey of the American Consumer.
Think any of this is true?
02 14 2007
14 Hewlett-Packard Company Secrets From A Former Employee
... 1: Many HP Printers, like their laser printers, have a built-in page-count after which they won't work. This resides in the a transpart sometimes called image or drum kit. Rather than get the printer fixed, it's often cheaper to buy a new printer, OR you can do a NV ram reset. It resets everything in the printer, including all the page counts, but it's not without risks.
Where there's a will, there's a hack! See why Security Managers who take their jobs seriously know this as a bigger job that the manager who decided to block a site thinks it is?
http://engtech.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/how-to-access-gmail-when-its-blocked-at-work-or-school/
How to access Gmail when it is blocked at work or school
... If you’re looking for a proxy that will let you access any blocked web page then the comments of this Digg post have a lot of suggestions.
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