A dare is a dare – hacker love dares...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080107044131596

UK: Clarkson U-turn over identity theft

Monday, January 07 2008 @ 06:21 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he was wrong to brand the scandal of lost CDs containing the personal data of millions of Britons as a "storm in a teacup" - after himself falling victim to a scam.

The Top Gear presenter and self-proclaimed voice of reason printed his own bank details in a newspaper to hammer home the point that his money was still safe and the spectre of identity theft a sham. He also gave instructions on how to find his address on the electoral roll and details about the car he drives.

However, in a rare moment of humility, Clarkson has now revealed he has lost at least £500 - after an unidentified reader copied his details to set up a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association. The charity is one of many organisations which does not need a signature to set up a direct debit. [Kinda makes it easy, don't it. Bob]

Source - Sunderland Echo

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080107033351151

The Major Verdict in a Recent Identify Theft Case: How It Underlines the Risk for Financial Reporting Companies

Monday, January 07 2008 @ 06:24 AM EST
Contributed by: PrivacyNews
News Section: In the Courts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently upheld a sizable verdict against a credit agency for failing to promptly and efficiently aid a victim of identity theft. The decision in Sloane v. Equifax Information Services does not break new doctrinal ground. It does, however, underscore how identity theft could become a headache not only for individual consumers, but large financial reporting companies. The case also highlights the difficulty of determining non-economic damages in cases involving consumer activities.

Source - FindLaw's Writ

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080106015228107

ANNOUNCE: Health-related privacy breaches analysis update

Sunday, January 06 2008 @ 12:22 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

The on-site Medical Privacy Project analysis of health- or patient-related breaches has been updated to incorporate incidents reported in the media during 2007. Some of the major findings include:

• The number of patient-related or health-related incidents reported in the media increased in 2007

• Of the 354 incidents analyzed for this report, 55 (16%) resulted in fraud or ID theft

• 80% of incidents that resulted in misuse of the data were attributable to employees who stole or improperly accessed patient or health-related information

Source - Medical Privacy at Risk: Privacy and Security Breaches [pdf] Updated January 2008.

...because.

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080107020425258

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, January 07 2008 @ 06:20 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

A recap of incidents or privacy breaches reported last week for those who enjoy shaking their head and muttering to themselves with their morning coffee.

Source - Chronicles of Dissent

The dangers of technology?

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080103/012656.shtml

National Motorists Association Challenges Cities To Prove Red-Light Cameras Are Safer

from the put-up-or-shut-up dept

Over the years, we've had a number of posts about studies showing that red-light cameras tend to increase the number of accidents, even as cities that install them claim that they're doing so for safety reasons. The problem appears to be that red-light cameras cause more people to slam on the brakes at the last second, leading to more rear-ender collisions. Plenty of studies have shown that if you really want safer intersections, the solution is rather simple: increase the length of time for yellow lights and include a pause after a light turns red before the cross-traffic signal turns green. Some cities already do this, but many do not. A big part of the problem is that red-light cameras are big money makers for municipalities, who share the revenue with the makers of the cameras -- who have every incentive in the world to set the traffic lights to encourage more violations, rather than fewer. To give proof to the lie that municipalities are installing red-light cameras for safety reasons, the National Motorists Association is now offering $10,000 to cities (found via The Agitator) if it can't reduce by 50% the number of red-light violations using regular traffic engineering. They're only looking to do this at camera-enforced intersections that still have high numbers of violations. Of course, if the NMA can show such a reduction, the city would then be required to remove its red-light camera systems. What are the chances any city takes the NMA up on this challenge?

Online is good, but nothing feels like a good comic book...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/07/016217&from=rss

Online Cartoonist Finds Financial Success Offline

Posted by Zonk on Sunday January 06, @10:32PM from the that's-a-lot-of-comic dept. Books The Almighty Buck The Internet

destinyland writes "The first collection of Perry Bible Fellowship comics has racked up pre-sales of $300,000 due to its huge online following. Within seven weeks the volume required a third printing. Ironically, the 25-year-old cartoonist speculates people would rather read his arty comics in a book than on a computer screen, and warns that 'There's something wonderful, and soon-to-be mythic, about the printed page...' He also explains the strange anti-censorship crusade in high school that earned him an FBI record!"