Another fine example of the “We don't know”school of management
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080227080915164
UT: Students fear personal data may be compromised
Wednesday, February 27 2008 @ 08:09 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches
Marty Greenlief is concerned his personal information may have been compromised after a laptop disappeared at Salt Lake Community College.
"I'm upset that they're not telling me everything that happened," the SLCC student said.
Greenlief said the school called him early last week and instructed him to change the password he uses to access his student page on the SLCC Web site because of a possible security breach.
SLCC acknowledged a laptop had been stolen, but spokesman Joy Tlou said the school is still unsure whether the laptop taken from the Continuing Community Education of SLCC's Miller campus in Sandy contained internal login information for about 1,000 students, faculty and staff.
"We know which computer it was and we are trying to ascertain what information was on that computer," Tlou said.
Source - Salt Lake Tribune (h/t., ESI)
[From the article:
Within a matter of hours of the computer's disappearance, the school began to contact all subscribers to the SLCC Web site through telephone calls, e-mails and a notice on the site.
"By the end of the next day, we called more than 25,000 people," he said.
[That's got to cost more than knowing who to contact... Bob]
Imagine a German court making this ruling!
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080227073527769
German Court Finds State's Use Of Cyber-Spying Violates Privacy
Wednesday, February 27 2008 @ 07:35 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Non-U.S. News
Germany's highest court ruled Wednesday that spying on individuals' personal computers violates their right to privacy, restricting security officials' ability to use virus-like software to monitor suspected terrorists' online activity.
The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said security services could carry out such activity only in exceptional cases and with a judge's permission beforehand.
Source - Wall Street Journal
Not new, but a clear example...
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13639_1-9879433-42.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Data-mining detects the disaffected
Posted by Mark Rutherford February 27, 2008 6:41 AM PST
Here's another reason to get off that anti-social kick and get with the networking.
The Air Force is developing a data-mining technology meant to root out disaffected insiders based on their email activity--or lack thereof, according to an article in this month's International Journal of Security and Networks.
The technology, based on something called Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing (PDF), scours an organization's e-mail traffic and constructs a graph of social network interactions illustrating employee activity. If a worker suddenly stops socializing online, abruptly shifts alliances within the organization, or starts developing an unhealthy interest in "sensitive topics," the system detects it and alerts investigators.
I like it! (But I didn't find the link. Even looked on Google.co.uk. I did see ad ad from Marks & Spencer, so perhaps the outbid the union?)
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article3441589.ece
Union swaps walkouts and pickets for a different kind of direct action
Steve Hawkes, Retail Correspondent February 27, 2008
Britain’s biggest private sector union is using “cyber-warfare” to open a new front in a campaign against Marks & Spencer over workers’ rights.
Unite, which has nearly two million members, plans to use searches for M&S on Google from 5am today to divert users to its list of grievances.
Anyone typing “M&S” or variations of “Marks & Spencer” into Google will see a direct link to the “Look Behind the Label” campaign put together by the T&G section of Unite, as well as normal search results.
Does this sound like a strategy to you? It seems more like panic to me.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080226/144346360.shtml
Comcast Hires People Off The Street To Fill Seats At FCC Hearing
from the better-to-keep-out-those-net-neutrality-hippies dept
We pretty much ignored yesterday's FCC hearing concerning Comcast's traffic shaping activities, as the whole thing seemed like a bit of grandstanding. However, it's fairly stunning to find out that Comcast has admitted to hiring people off the street to fill seats at the hearing, blocking out many Comcast critics who were turned away once the room was full. Comcast claims that they hired the people merely to act as placeholders for Comcast employees (since, apparently, Comcast employees are too important to actually show up on time and wait in line like everyone else). However, as the picture at that first link shows many of the "paid" sitters stayed throughout the event and either slept or cheered on Comcast.
...and perhaps they have good reason to panic – others are jumping on the bandwagon.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_8369162?nclick_check=1
N.Y. attorney general subpoenas Comcast on traffic throttling
Associated Press Article Launched: 02/26/2008 01:55:16 PM PST
NEW YORK - The New York attorney general's office has requested information from Comcast Corp. on the company's handling of Internet traffic.
(Somewhat related to the articles above) I'll repeat what I've been saying for years: Cities should form their own “Infrastructure Service” to lay fiber to the home, then let anyone use it for a nominal fee. If you don't have a monopoly, how would you attract clients?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080225/135642351.shtml
We Need A Broadband Competition Act, Not A Net Neutrality Act
from the get-out-the-wrecking-ball dept
Andy Kessler has put together a fantastic editorial for the Wall Street Journal explaining why Markey's attempt at legislating Net Neutrality won't do any good. As we pointed out when Markey first announced it, this plan seems to be focused on the symptoms, not the real problem (and, no, just having the FCC step in to slap the wrists of neutrality violators doesn't help either). The real problem, of course, is the lack of real competition in the broadband market. Kessler suggests that we shouldn't be focused on Net Neutrality, but should wipe out the bogus regulations that are currently restricting competition in the broadband market. That means not going through a painful localized franchising process or making it a pain to get the rights of way necessary to install equipment necessary for next generation broadband. It means actually opening up the market to competition, not creating subsidies and regulations that mean only the incumbents can play. Not that politicians are about to do anything like this, but it sure would be nice.
Interesting way to personalize the rhetoric. (And what is on the Internet never dies)
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/017630.html
February 26, 2008
C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle
"The C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle is an index to the C-SPAN video recordings of the House and Senate floor proceedings. The video recordings are matched with the text of the Congressional Record as soon as the Record is available. It only includes members who appeared on the floor to deliver or insert their remarks. The text included here is what the member submitted. Each appearance has a video link where users can watch and listen to the actual remarks."
I suppose Apple cuts them a deal, but will it attract students?
http://www.acu.edu/news/2008/080225_iphone.html
ACU to give iPhone or iPod Touch to all incoming freshmen; will pioneer learning strategies with devices
An Apple iPhone or iPod Touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University's innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president.
At ACU - the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class - freshmen will use the iPhones or iPod Touches to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.
... ACU's vision for technology has been captured in a forward-looking film called 'Connected,' found online - along with information about ACU's other ground-breaking mobile learning efforts - at www.acu.edu/connected.
Interesting idea. Objective reviews and sell ads to everyone...
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/Vinquirecom---Search-Review-and-Buy-Wine/
Vinquire.com - Search, Review, and Buy Wine
Wine lovers may soon be raising their glasses to Vinquire.com, a one-stop destination for wine information, pricing, and reviews. Vinquire features a powerful, free search engine and a database of over 570,000 wines. Specify as many or as few criteria as you’d like and search for wines by name, vintage, retailer, price range, type, and/or size. Vinquire will return a list of wines that match your criteria, with prices and links to retailers for each.
Boy, them iPods does everything!
http://www.killerstartups.com/Mobile/Theplaceforitallcomipodulator---Create-iPod-Compatibl/
Theplaceforitall.com/ipodulator - Create iPod Compatibl
Would you like to use your iPod for more than just listening to music and playing solitaire? The iPodulator allows you to quickly and easily copy web pages or RSS feeds and read them on your iPod.
http://www.theplaceforitall.com/ipodulator/
Let's not forget the golf nuts!
GolfFlyover
A golf course flyover is a virtual tour showing every hole of a golf course as if you were riding in a helicopter stopping at each tee, fairway and green for a closer look.
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