...because...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080804061038873
Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week
Monday, August 04 2008 @ 06:10 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
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
“We can, therefore we must!” I wonder how they ensure that my prescription records haven't resulted from an Identity Thief buying drugs in my name? Or simple typos...
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080804062612165
Prescription Data Used To Assess Consumers
Monday, August 04 2008 @ 06:26 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Health and life insurance companies have access to a powerful new tool for evaluating whether to cover individual consumers: a health "credit report" drawn from databases containing prescription drug records on more than 200 million Americans.
... Traditionally, insurance companies have judged an applicant's risk by gathering medical records from physicians' offices. But the new tools offer the advantage of being "electronic, fast and cheap," [not to mention inaccurate Bob] said Mark Franzen, managing director of Milliman IntelliScript, which provides consumers' personal drug profiles to insurers.
The trend holds promise for improved health care and cost savings, but privacy and consumer advocates fear it is taking place largely outside the scrutiny of federal health regulators and lawmakers.
Source - Washington Post
Would this shift the burden to the FBI to prove that evidence was legally obtained? Wouldn't you want a copy of those computers in discovery? (Should you include a request for all computers obtained without a warrant?)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/192222&from=rss
FBI Seizes Library Computers Without Warrant
Posted by kdawson on Sunday August 03, @04:36PM from the we-don't-need-no-steenkin dept. Privacy Government
An anonymous reader writes
"Two FBI agents walked into a public library in Maryland, without a warrant, and walked out with two computers. The library director agreed to release the machines to these smooth-talking feds. According to the article, the director of Frederick County Public Libraries indicated that this was the third time in his 10 years there that the FBI had requested records, but the first time they had come without a court order. The director seemed to indicate no regrets, stating 'It was a decision I made on my experience and the information given to me.' He further justified his actions, noting that the agents indicated specific computers they needed (of the several dozen in the library) and further that they 'had an awful lot of information.'"
The library director speculated whether the raid may have involved the Bruce Ivins / anthrax case, musing "Obviously it coincided with the events everyone is talking about," but he said the agents hadn't mentioned it.
ATTENTION HACKERS! Now it is more than a mere collectors item! I'll have to buy a dozen at least! (Make you own Kindle?)
http://digg.com/gadgets/Esquire_to_Geeks_Hack_Our_e_Paper_Magazine_Cover
Esquire to Geeks: Hack Our e-Paper Magazine Cover
gadgets.boingboing.net — E-paper cover a "stupid gimmick"? No way, Brian. Esquire's animated 75th anniversary cover is the flashing, squawking future of magazines.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/30/esquire-to-geeks-hac.html?repost=True
[From the article:
... It's the same e-paper that's inside Amazon's Kindle e-book reader, except this sheet of e-paper — two, actually; there's a second sheet on the inside cover that advertises the Ford Flex crossover SUV — will cost just a few bucks, not $350.
... But on to the question most of the geeks have been asking: Can you rip out the cover and use it for your own projects?
Griffin says it should be possible — "We look forward to seeing what people do it" — although there isn't any discrete input on the custom-designed circuit board that will control the e-paper. The data will be baked into the circuitry. Figuring out how to reprogram the e-paper controller or installing an entirely new one will be up to the hackers.
Good news about the battery, though: it should be trivial to replace.
"The batteries are pretty standard, small batteries," says Griffin, some sort of coin cell battery that can be purchased from a variety of retailers. That means when the soldered-in battery dies after an estimated ninety days, replacing it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.
“Contract” doesn't mean the same thing it used to...
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/2024216&from=rss
Canadians File Class Actions Over Incoming SMS Fees
Posted by kdawson on Monday August 04, @03:06AM from the unilaterally-changing-the-locked-in-contract dept. Cellphones Communications The Courts
dontmakemethink writes
"CTV reports that over the last couple of weeks class-action lawsuits have been filed against two major Canadian cellular service providers, Bell and Telus, for imposing fees on incoming text messages. While there has been very vocal opposition to the introduction of the fees, those who cannot change providers due to binding contracts feel the situation is actionable in court. Some of those not bound by contract, such as myself, have given their service provider notice that they will charge the provider for having to contact them to have charges reversed for unsolicited texts. Because service providers are aware of the volume of unsolicited texts, we feel they are liable for the inconvenience to their clients for preventing spam charges, and more importantly under no circumstances should service providers profit from spam. We also feel that requiring us to buy text bundles to avoid the inconvenience of reversing spam charges constitutes extortion. They can charge me for texts when they stop the spam."
Reverse surveillance: Who watches the watchers?
http://digg.com/gadgets/Man_Prowls_NYC_Streets_looking_for_Cops_Breaking_the_Law
Man Prowls NYC Streets looking for Cops Breaking the Law
washingtonpost.com — He calls himself "Jimmy Justice," a self-styled "cop-arazzi," armed only with a video camera as he prowls the streets of New York looking for law enforcement officers who are breaking the law. His targets are illegally parked city government vehicles -- particularly cars of traffic cops blocking bus stops, sitting in "no parking" zones or double-pa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201503.html
A reminder for my geeky friends with data important enough to protect...
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/197254&from=rss
Error-Proofing Data With Reed-Solomon Codes
Posted by kdawson on Monday August 04, @12:39AM from the trust-but-verify dept.
ttsiod recommends a blog entry in which he details steps to apply Reed-Solomon codes to harden data against errors in storage media. Quoting:
"The way storage quality has been nose-diving in the last years, you'll inevitably end up losing data because of bad sectors. Backing up, using RAID and version control repositories are some of the methods used to cope; here's another that can help prevent data loss in the face of bad sectors: Hardening your files with Reed-Solomon codes. It is a software-only method, and it has saved me from a lot of grief..."
Also a geek tool...
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/1915258&from=rss
Diagramming Tool For SQL Select Statements
Posted by kdawson on Sunday August 03, @08:49PM from the unique-like-a-snowflake dept. Databases
alxtoth writes
"Snowflake is a new BSD-licensed tool that parses SQL Select statements and generates a diagram. It shows parts of the underlying SQL directly in the diagram. For example: x=30, GROUP BY (year), SUM (sales), HAVING MIN (age) > 18. The primary reason for the tool was to avoid Cartesian joins and loops in SQL written by hand, with many joined tables. The database will execute such a statement, if syntactically correct, resulting in runaway queries that can bring the database down. If you sit close to the DBAs, you can hear them screaming... "
http://sourceforge.net/projects/revj/
One more for the geeks...
http://digg.com/microsoft/How_to_Create_The_Ultimate_Windows_XP_Installation_CD_DVD_2
How to Create The Ultimate Windows XP Installation CD/DVD
anewmorning.com — A great guide on how to create the ultimate Windows XP Installation CD/DVD. This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating an unattended Windows installation CD with the latest hotfixes, drivers, DirectX, IE7, WMP11, Office 2007 and any other software that you would like to include on the CD.
http://www.anewmorning.com/2008/01/30/how-to-create-the-ultimate-windows-xp-installation-cddvd/
How to ruin your reputation in one easy step. (Comments suggest many users never considered it safe because they kept the encryption keys.)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/1411242&from=rss
Is Hushmail Still Safe?
Posted by Soulskill on Sunday August 03, @11:07AM from the possibly-good-protection dept.
Ringo Kamens writes to ask if the use of Hushmail can still be considered a secure method of communication: "For a long time, Hushmail was considered a very secure email provider until an affidavit (PDF) from a DEA agent in 2007 showed that they had handed over 12 CDs of possibly decrypted data to law enforcement. Now, Cryptome has posted that the Hushmail encryption program is no longer the same program for which Hushmail releases their source. Is Hushmail even safe to use anymore?"
A model for us all? “Excuse me citizen, could I have a fingerprint, footprint, earprint, retina and iris scan, cheek swab, blood sample, urine sample, bone marrow sample, and a few more bodily fluids just in case the President or some other higher class citizen needs a transplant?”
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/03/179254&from=rss
Israel Moves Toward a National Biometric Database
Posted by kdawson on Sunday August 03, @02:18PM from the breaking-ground-for-england dept. Privacy Government
An anonymous reader writes
"Israeli's government has approved the creation of a biometric database which would contain fingerprints and facial photos of all Israeli citizens. If the bill becomes law — and it is at an early stage — the biometric information of each citizen would be embedded in their passport and national ID card. Israeli citizens would be required by law to submit to biometric testing upon request by government employees, soldiers, and policemen, so that their biometric info can be compared to the info embedded in their ID card / passport. The declared purpose of the bill is to combat forgery of passports and ID cards, and also to aid identification 'in cases of a mass disaster.' The bill was approved over objections from civil rights groups and the Israeli Bar. The article notes that no other democratic country has a comprehensive biometric database of all citizens." [No doubt Congress will scream that the US is being left behind! Bob]
How else could you teach Computer Security? (Not much of a story...)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/150465
This Bug Man Is a Pest
George Ledin teaches students how to write viruses, and it makes computer-security software firms sick.
By Adam B. Kushner | NEWSWEEK Published Aug 2, 2008 From the magazine issue dated Aug 11, 2008
In a windowless underground computer lab in California, young men are busy cooking up viruses, spam and other plagues of the computer age. Grant Joy runs a program that surreptitiously records every keystroke on his machine, including user names, passwords, and credit-card numbers. And Thomas Fynan floods a bulletin board with huge messages from fake users. Yet Joy and Fynan aren't hackers—they're students in a computer-security class at Sonoma State University. And their professor, George Ledin, has showed them how to penetrate even the best antivirus software.
... Ledin insists that his students mean no harm, and can't cause any because they work in the computer equivalent of biohazard suits: closed networks from which viruses can't escape.
... That doesn't mean Ledin isn't trying to create a little mischief. His syllabus is partly a veiled attack on McAfee, Symantec and their ilk, whose $100 consumer products he sees as mostly useless. If college students can beat these antivirus programs, he argues, what good are they for the people and businesses spending nearly $5 billion a year on them?
I'll pass this along to the children of people who annoy me...
http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/infinitube-net-watch-youtube-forever
InfiniTube.net - Watch YouTube Forever
Are you one of those people for whom YouTube has replaced the television? If you want to keep YouTube going on forever, then you should take a look at what Infinitube.net has for you. Just type in a key word for the type of videos you want to watch and the site will create a seemingly endless play list of videos from YouTube. This will allow you to leave your computer on and enjoy the background noise of having YouTube running with your favorite videos, much like you would with your TV. The service is completely free and easy to use, so even grandma will be able to enjoy an endless play list of YouTube videos. This should be of great use to people who like to get their music from YouTube. Just type in your favorite band’s name and you’ll be on your way to listening to all the music they have on the popular video sharing site.
For my Website class...
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/textfixer-com-text-and-html-changing
TextFixer.com - Text And HTML Changing
If you are thinking of putting together a website, and need a little bit of help with the programming, then you should check out Textfixer.com. On this very resourceful site, you’ll be able to find online text and html editing tools. These tools are very easy to use and should provide you with everything you need to quickly put a website together from scratch. Apart from the aforementioned resources, the site has many other resources. If you are having a hard time understanding the terminology of web design, then you’ll find the glossary found on the site very useful. This will allow you to quickly look up the words you might not understand. The Online Text Tools include a line breaks remover, putting text in alphabetical order, a white space remover, and a sentence capitalizer. All of these tools will allow you to make sense of those emails that sometimes loose their format due to different email clients.
Ditto (for those considering making money with a website) I want to research their algorithm – must be interesting. Just for fun, start with google...
http://www.killerstartups.com/Marketing/cubestat-com-check-your-site-s-worth
CubeStat.com - Check Your Site’s Worth
So you have a website for your business and you want to know how much it’s worth. If that is the case, then you might want to consider taking a look at Cubestat.com. On the site, you ‘ll be able to check the estimated net worth for any site on the internet. Just type in the URL you want to check, and in a manner of minutes, you’ll be able to find out how many visits per day your site gets, how much it’s worth, and many other things of that nature. The site allows anyone to check how much their site (or the competition’s, for that matter) is worth. This is a great way for people to see how much their online assets would bring them in if they were to sell them. The site takes its information from other traffic measuring sites, such as QuantCast. On the whole, the site will provide anyone with the basic stats for any site they might want to inquire about.
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