http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081007165001187
Laptop stolen containing UND Alumni info of 75,000-plus alums, donors, others
Tuesday, October 07 2008 @ 04:50 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
A laptop computer containing sensitive personal and financial information on more than 75,000 UND alumni, donors and others was stolen last month from a vehicle belonging to a software vendor retained by the UND Alumni Association.
The laptop has not been recovered, but the sensitive information, including individuals’ credit card and Social Security numbers, was protected by a data encryption system and other security controls, according to the Alumni Association.
Source - G randForksHerald.com
Privacy and Buggy Whips. Symbols of a bygone age?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081007131939481
'Overplayed' privacy concerns rile Symantec boss
Tuesday, October 07 2008 @ 01:19 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Consumers ought to accept that loss of privacy is the price they pay for using internet service, according to Symantec chief exec John Thompson.
Echoing Scott McNealy's opinion that "you have no privacy, get over it," the Symantec boss expressed surprise that information such as IP addresses is regarded as sensitive.
"Some people think of everything as private, including information such as IP addresses. I don't get that," Thompson told El Reg.
Source - The Register
If X plus Y plus Z then Terrorist! (But we don't know what X, Y and Z are...)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081007165436458
Counterterrorist Data Mining Needs Privacy Protection
Tuesday, October 07 2008 @ 04:54 PM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews
In a sweeping new report that examines the balance between security and privacy, The National Research Council (NRC) recommends that the U.S. government rethink its approach to counterterrorism in light of the privacy risks posed by unchecked data mining and behavioral surveillance.
The NRC report, "Protecting Individual Privacy In The Struggle Against Terrorists," is the culmination of three years of discussions and research aimed at providing the government with a framework for thinking about existing and future information-based counterterrorism programs. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry co-chaired the study committee.
Source - InformationWeek
[From the article:
A live audio Webcast should be available at the National Academies site. [Now a downloadable Podcast Bob]
A foretaste of things to come. “It's Ron Paul, with 2,056 of the 1400 votes cast!”
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/florida-countys.html
Florida Primary Recount Reveals Grave Voting Problems One Month Before Presidential Election
By Kim Zetter October 07, 2008 | 8:00:00 PM
A month of primary recounts in the election battleground of Palm Beach County, Florida, has twice flipped the winner in a local judicial race and revealed grave problems in the county's election infrastructure, including thousands of misplaced ballots and vote tabulation machines that are literally unable to produce the same results twice.
You be the Spin Doctor: Does this suggest that people are more curious about Obama than McCain? Are McCain supporters less likely to own/use a computer? Are Obama supporters more gullible? Are McCain supporters trying for a “can of Spam in every pot?”
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/08/1231223&from=rss
Obama Beats McCain In Spam Landslide
Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 08, @08:50AM from the well-isn't-that-unfortunate dept.
Spam
An anonymous reader writes
"The New York Times runs an article about the spammers' choice of presidential candidate. From the article: "According to Secure Computing Corp., spammers were nearly seven times more likely to slap Obama's name in the subject line than McCain's during September. The bulk of Obama's lead in the spam wars came from a massive blitz early in the month." Secure Computing released additonal numbers for the past weeks, and McCain was able to close the gap in the latest spammers' poll."
Tools & Techniques: One component of a small business model for computer leasing & support. (There are several tools like this one.)
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/instanthousecall-com-remote-access-support-software
InstantHousecall.com - Remote Access & Support Software
http://www.instanthousecall.com
Instant Housecall is a software solution geared toward corporations and individuals that lets I.T. helpdesks provide remote support by viewing and controlling personal computers, regardless of where the user is located.
They offer three versions of their software:
- Free Edition - free for personal use: www.FreeRemoteSupport.com
- Express Edition - full featured remote support for small businesses and one-man I.T. shops
- Professional Edition - full featured remote support and unattended remote access with full branding capability
... Remote access for customers is implemented by invitation only. This means that the company’s representative leaves his calling card on the customer’s desktop in order to make it simpler for them to get remote access from the corporation.
Perhaps we should outsource?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/intel-report-us.html
Report Warns U.S. Could Lose Space-Spy Dominance
By Noah Shachtman October 07, 2008 | 6:42:00 PM
America has become so lousy at building spy satellites that "the United States is losing its preeminence in space," a Congressional intelligence report declares. What's worse, this decline comes as "emerging space powers such as Russia, India and China" are getting better and better at snooping from above.
The gloomy report, approved last Friday by the House's technical and tactical intelligence subcommittee, was originally obtained by CQ scoopster Tim Starks. "A once robust partnership between the U.S. Government and the American space industry has been weakened by years of demanding space programs, the exponential complexity of technology, and an inattention to acquisition discipline," the document states.
NASA's woes get most of the headlines — especially since the U.S. civilian space program may be forced to depend on Russia to get into orbit. But the American military space effort has been a wreck for quite some time, too. Misty, a super-secret satellite program had to be canceled last year. Since 1999, the military has spent nearly $10 billion to produce a set of so-called "Future Imagery Architecture" eyes in orbit. When they finally managed to launch one in 2006, it died instantly — and then had to be shot down, before it plummeted to Earth. Earlier this year, the once-secretive, once-proud Pentagon agency that oversees spy satellites, the National Reconnaissance Agency, had some of its authority stripped away. More recently, a high-level military commission recommended shuttering the office entirely.
Part of the problem is that the United States has "no comprehensive space architecture or strategic plan [for] current and future national security priorities," the report states.
Golbal Warming! Global Warming! The definition of an “Ice Age” is: “There be glaciers!” So we are coming out of an Ice Age and moving into an “Inter Glacial Period” (there is no catchy name for a non-Ice Age, but we have had them before...) If you asked the average citizen if he would prefer living in a Ice Age or not, my guess is he would say “Not!” So is global warming bad?
http://digg.com/environment/99_of_Alaska_s_Glaciers_Are_Melting
99% of Alaska's Glaciers Are Melting
greenopolis.com — Most of Alaska's glaciers are retreating or thinning or both, a new book by the U.S. Geological Survey reports. About 5 percent of Alaska's area is covered by more than 100,000 glaciers — that's about 29,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometers), or more than the entire state of West Virginia.
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