What happens when “What can we do to settle?” becomes “What would make you lawyers happy?”
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080613062132642
Judge Weighing Ameritrade Hack Lawsuit Settlement
Friday, June 13 2008 @ 06:21 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: In the Courts
A federal judge on Thursday put off approving a proposed settlement of a class-action representing as many as 6.3 million TD Ameritrade customers whose data was breached when hackers stole personal identifying customer information.
Among the reasons: The lead plaintiff, who signed the deal, opposed it in open court Thursday and said his lawyers coerced him into accepting the accord.
Source - Threat Level blog
[From the article:
Under the accord, class members would be entitled to a one-year subscription of "Trend Micro Internet Security Pro," about a $70 retail value. The biggest payout goes to class lawyers, [“Surprise, surprise, suprise!” G.Pyle] who are set to get more than $1.8 million.
Ameritrade lawyer Lee Rubin said Ameritrade was paying "significantly less" than retail value for the Security Pro software.
Elvey said the software is "available for free after rebate" at some electronics stores.
This may explain why there is so much resistance – or it may not.
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080613064548711
When it comes to data security breaches, the general public doesn’t need to know
Friday, June 13 2008 @ 06:45 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches
When it comes to data security breaches, 78 percent of US IT decision-makers feel that companies do not need to inform the general public; this according to a recent survey by content security specialists Clearswift. While respondents felt the general public did not need to know (78%), they did indicate that affected customers and partners should be informed (95%) while less than half of them felt that industry regulators (42%) or even the police (35%) should be notified.
Of the U.S. organizations polled, 19 percent had suffered a data loss in the last 12-18 months, and of those, 50 percent had experienced more than one. Despite the fact that more than 89 percent of those surveyed said that data loss/data breach was a very important or critical issue to their organizations, the research indicated that they are still not locking down the transfer of sensitive information appropriately. E-mail is the most popular method of transferring confidential data (over 70% allow staff to transfer confidential data via e-mail), and yet over a quarter of businesses (26%) admit to losing data via e-mail. [Not clear from the article how they define “losing data via e-mail” Bob]
Source - Help Net Security
For the White Hat club: So much for unbreakable security... (Does this mean that E ≠ MC2?)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/13/1255208&from=rss
How To Build a Quantum Eavesdropper
Posted by kdawson on Friday June 13, @09:34AM from the perfection-is-not-a-requirement dept. Encryption Security Science
KentuckyFC writes
"Quantum encryption is perfectly secure, in theory. In practice, however, there are loopholes. Now Japanese scientists have designed a quantum eavesdropper that exploits one of these loopholes to listen in to quantum conversations. QC's security arises from the impossibility of making a perfect copy of a quantum object without destroying it — so the sender and receiver can always tell if they've been overheard. But it turns out that an eavesdropper can make imperfect copies and use them to extract information from a quantum message without alerting sender or receiver (abstract). The Japanese design does just this. That should worry banks and government agencies that have begun to use some of the commercial quantum encryption systems now available."
Even assuming they are being completely honest (never wise when dealing with politicians) they are clearly not aware of the minimal “learning curve” required to become a hacker...
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/12/1436236&from=rss
China Says It Lacks Skills To Hack US Systems
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday June 12, @12:35PM from the next-you'll-tell-me-they-don't-play-checkers dept. Security United States Politics
ScentCone writes
"A spokesman for China's foreign ministry says that — China being the 'developing nation' that it is — he doubts that his country has the sophistication to hack foreign systems. This in response to statements by two congressmen regarding apparent probing by China-based crackers into congressional systems for information about communication between US officials and activists in China."
Related: Perhaps Congress could use a team like this?
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/12/1642212&from=rss
Ask Lt. Col. John Bircher About Cyber Warfare Concepts
Posted by timothy on Thursday June 12, @01:20PM from the please-include-your-gps-coordinates dept.
The Air Force is not the only U.S. military branch trying to come to grips with the electronic side of warfare, both current and future. The U.S. Army Computer Network Operations (CNO)-Electronic Warfare (EW) Proponent (USACEWP), located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas — home to the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Center — serves as the Army's hub for cyber-electronic concepts and capabilities. This is the organization responsible for developing doctrine, materiel and training to prepare the Army for cyber-electronic engagements. For example, USACEWP has developed training teams to ensure that U.S. commanders and soldiers around the world are fully informed of cyber-electronic capabilities at their disposal. Leading the Proponent's Futures branch is Lt. Col John "Chip" Bircher; Bircher entered the Army in 1989 as an Infantry officer, then served in various command and staff positions, most recently Information Operations (IO). He was the IO Chief for the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Hawaii, and Director of IO for Combined Joint Task Force -76, Bagram, Afghanistan. If you want to know more about the realities and challenges that face an armed, global IT department in a time when electronic warfare is ever more important and dangerous, now's your chance to ask Lt. Col. Bircher some questions. We'll pass on the highest-moderated questions for Lt. Col. Bircher to answer. Usual Slashdot interview rules apply.
These cases are always the best. However, if Prince didn't specifically identify what his copyright covered, shouldn't this case be tossed out?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080610/1651401368.shtml
Even Lawyers Are Confused About What's Legal Or Not In The Prince/Radiohead Spat
from the wait-a-second... dept
We were just discussing how copyright has been stretched and twisted so many times that it really just isn't designed properly to handle internet communications -- and a good case in point may be the funny little spat we covered a few weeks back between Prince and Radiohead. If you don't recall, Prince performed a cover of a Radiohead song at a concert. Someone in the audience videotaped it and put the video on YouTube. Prince's representatives demanded that the content be taken down under a DMCA request -- raising all sorts of questions. After all, Prince didn't own the copyright on the song. That's owned by Radiohead, whose lead singer wanted the video back online. Prince didn't own the copyright to the video either, since he didn't take it. So how could he use the DMCA to take down the video?
But, it's not that simple, apparently. As Ethan Ackerman details, as lawyers began to think about the situation, the more confused they got, noting that maybe there was a right under anti-bootlegging laws. Only, then things got more confusing, because it turns out that anti-bootlegging laws aren't actually a part of the copyright act (though it does fall under the same "title" just to add to the confusion), and the DMCA (under which the takedown occurred) only applies to copyright law.
However, again, we're left in a situation where the "law" is hardly clear at all, and even those who follow the space were somewhat confused over whether or not Prince had any sort of legal standing here. A law is not useful if the boundaries of that law are not clear, and if someone has no clue if their actions go against the law. In the internet era, copyright certainly falls under that category of laws in which it is no longer clear what is and is not legal -- and that should be seen as a problem.
This is interesting. I'll read it carefully to see if it also applies to Colorado.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/018578.html
June 12, 2008
Opinion of the Court by Justice Anthony Kennedy Grants Certain Habeas Corpus Rights to Detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
SCOTUSblog: "The opinion by Justice Kennedy in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195) and Al-Odah v. United States (06-1196) is available here. Justice Souter issued a concurring opinion joined by Justices Ginsburg and Breyer. The Chief Justice wrote a dissent joined by Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito. Justice Scalia filed a dissent, joined by the Chief Justice and Justics Thomas and Alito."
I think this likely, since I predict handhelds will replace laptops as the 'access tool' of choice.
Apple considering iPhone sales through universities
By Kasper Jade Published: 11:00 AM EST Thursday, June 12, 2008
... The iPhone has already become a fixture on a handful of top-tier campuses like Harvard, MIT and Stanford, thanks to a new educational learning initiative pilot initiated last year dubbed 'iPhone University.' Through an extension of its existing iTunes University service, the program sees underclassmen equipped with iPhones with which they can wirelessly download class materials, receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances.
Increasing the presence of iPhones at universities across the country is just one step towards Apple's much larger goal of helping to reestablish itself as a leader in higher education, where recent progress has seen it overtake rival Dell as the No. 1 supplier of notebook systems and record a new all-time best for quarterly sales throughout the sector.
Related (Business Opportunity: Copyright/trademark/patent “Spitoon” as an anti-malware tool for phones...
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/12/136232&from=rss
Spit Will Be Worse Than Spam
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday June 12, @11:05AM from the but-less-fun-to-say dept. Security Spam
KentuckyFC writes
"A team of German computer scientists has developed a program that reproduces all the known forms of spit (spam over internet telephony) attack. Their plan is to make the spitting software available to computer security experts wanting to test antispit strategies. Developing these won't be easy. There are various antispit techniques, such as white lists that allow only calls from predetermined callers, Turing tests such as audio CAPTCHAs that make a caller prove he or she is human and payment-at-risk services where the caller makes a small payment in advance and is refunded immediately if the receiver acknowledges the call as legitimate. But all have weaknesses, say the researchers. The main difference between junk calls and junk email is that the email arrives at your mail server before you access it. This gives the server time to analyze its content and filter out the junk before it gets to you. Not so with internet telephony, which is why radically different strategies are needed."
1) Cost of gas is only part of the “Total cost of ownership” 2) Do we know any auto dealers in “Low gas cost” countries?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/06/12/suv.irpt/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
CNN.com readers holding on to big SUVs
updated 8:02 a.m. EDT, Thu June 12, 2008
... Holler paid thousands less than the cars' blue book values and also saves on insurance because they're older cars, he said.
One of his friends bought a Toyota Camry hybrid and is saving about $300 a month on gas, but has a $600 a month car payment, he said.
Holler also is making money off of the SUV glut by buying vehicles at cut rate prices and selling them to people in Central and South America, where gas is cheap and big trucks are in high demand.
"I'm snatching them up as fast as I can," he said.
He says he just bought a pair of 2007 Ford F150s for $9,000 each and he's selling them for $18,000 each. It costs him about $2,200 to ship a vehicle out of the country, which leaves him with a tidy profit.
For my Web Site class: I had lots of fun with BeFunky.com – here's another one
http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/dumpr-net-upload-photos-and-add-effects/
Dumpr.net - Upload Photos and Add Effects
Dumpr is a really fun site that allows you to alter your photos and then save them or share them on your favorite social network. Simply upload your photo and then choose from an extensive list of tools that you’d like to use to alter your photo. Some of the more popular effects include museumr, which allows you to place your photo on a museum wall and Rubik’s Cube which turns your photos into a Rubik’s Cube. Other options include Celebrity Paparazzi, Peeling Paint, Sketch Artist, Jigsaw Puzzles, Photo to Sketch and bunch of other fun tools. There really are a great number of fun options for playing with your photos and sharing with your friends.
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