http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202101748264
Ca: Breach affects bank cards
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 10:17 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
A debit-card security breach, including a compromised PIN pad at Bayfield Mall, has affected an untold number customers in the Barrie area.
Jim Pottage was told his TD Canada Trust debit card had been cancelled for security reasons, but he was lucky that criminals weren't able to tap into his account and clean him out.
.... Although it's unknown where and when crooks got a hold of Pottage's bank information, Barrie police Sgt. Robert Allan said a PIN pad has been compromised at Bayfield Mall.
"At this point, it's one business we know of in the mall, but this could happen to anyone, anywhere," Allan said. "It's not necessarily one bank, but a PIN pad that was being used to collect information from any number of banks."
Investigators know which PIN pad was compromised, but the business's name isn't being released. [Do they have a duty to notify their customers or is it the PIN pad manufacturer's job? Bob] More information is expected to be released today.
Authorities say the local frauds date back several months, but the transactions are only being made now.
Source - sunnybananas Thanks to Rob Douglas of InsideIDTheft.info for sending us this link
Probably not devastating, but definitely a concern to Mom & Pop operations in hard times... (Golden Chick is a chain...)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202180038462
TX: Bank links over 400 identity theft cases to Gainesville restaurant
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 06:00 PM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Record breaking identity theft numbers have hit Texoma, and the city of Gainesville has seen a drastic increase, where bank officials say one restaurant, Golden Chick, has over 400 people left without debit cards.
... First State Bank in Gainesville received a number of phone calls from their customers about transactions they never made. It turned out they were victims of fraud.
Source - kxii.com
[From the article:
It’s the rumor going around town.
"I heard that some guy used his debit card at Golden Chick and supposedly about $400 was taken out of his account," Maegan Puetz told us.
So instead of going to Golden Chick, Maegan and her friend, Ellanie, went somewhere else to eat...
Small, local, but may be “connected”
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081203063121868
CO: Similar ID thefts in other cities (Longmont update)
Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 06:31 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Detectives are working with restaurant owners and managers whose customers might have been victimized as part of an identity theft ring that has led to 133 reports to police through Tuesday.
Longmont Police Cmdr. Tim Lewis said detectives have analyzed 90 of the 133 reports and that 85 percent of the victims used their credit cards at East Moon Bistro before unauthorized charges started to hit accounts.
Source - TimesCall.com
[From the article:
Residents about two weeks ago began reporting that their credit card numbers were being stolen and used out of state.
... Theft reports started in November, but police believe the credit card numbers were taken between early August and late October.
The Greeley and Grand Junction police departments have received similar reports.
More questions than facts... (First time I've see a newspaper present their article with additional tabs for related information. Expaet to see more of this!)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081203053647449
PA: Payroll records stolen, firm says
Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 05:36 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Computer hard drives and backup tapes containing the payroll records of more than 20,000 people and businesses were stolen from a Manheim Township accounting firm, police said.
A Walz, Deihm, Geisenberger, Bucklen & Tennis official said Tuesday that the equipment — taken from an employee's vehicle in West Lampeter Township last month — contains the names, tax information, Social Security numbers and other information of its clients' employees and workers at the firm.
Michael W. Lambert, a spokesman for Walz, Deihm, Geisenberger, Bucklen & Tennis, said the data-storage units were stolen while they were being "taken off-site as part of the firm's disaster recovery plan." [The backup site is the employee's home? Bob]
The stolen information includes bank account numbers of people with direct deposit, but the company doesn't believe the thief or thieves were searching for the hard drives and tapes.
... The theft occurred Nov. 5, police said. West Lampeter Township police Chief James Walsh said the firm didn't report it until Nov. 10.
Source - LancasterOnline.com
[From the article:
Lambert said the "bulk" of the missing data is password-protected and used in "fairly unusual" applications that are specific to the accounting industry.
"They're not the sort of thing that would be accessible through most home computer software," Lambert said. [Bull! Bob]
He said the company has been closely monitoring its employees' accounts and "nothing has come up; it does not look like the information was accessed." [See the timing in the first article. Bob]
The theft occurred Nov. 5, police said. West Lampeter Township police Chief James Walsh said the firm didn't report it until Nov. 10.
New laws on Privacy – how much is too much?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081203052140715
OH: GOP would restrict, punish data snooping
Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 05:21 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Citizens could sue and nonunion employees would be fired ['cause unions are not 'second class citizens?' Bob] if government computer databases are mined without just cause for confidential information under a pair of identical bills unveiled yesterday.
... The bills would require governments to establish policies for when confidential personal information under their care may be accessed and would require those conducting such a search to state the reason for the search.
Government agencies would be required to track who conducts such searches and would require notification to any private citizen whose data is improperly accessed.
Any person who can prove he was harmed by an intentional intrusion could sue both the state and the individual offender to recover damages and attorney fees, an unusual example of the state voluntarily opening itself up to lawsuits.
Source - Toledo Blade
You will never even know that you are being surveilled. Isn't that wonderful!
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F02%2F198258&from=rss
Replacing Metal Detectors With Brain Scans
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 02, @02:51PM from the what-is-it-you-intend dept. Privacy Technology
Zordak writes
"CNN has up a story about several Israeli firms that want to replace metal detectors at airports with biometric readings. For example, with funding from TSA and DHS, 'WeCU ([creepily] pronounced "We See You") Technologies, employs a combination of infra-red technology, remote sensors and imagers, and flashing of subliminal images, such as a photo of Osama bin Laden. Developers say the combination of these technologies can detect a person's reaction to certain stimuli by reading body temperature, heart rate and respiration — signals a terrorist unwittingly emits before he plans to commit an attack.' Sensors may be embedded in the carpet, seats, and check-in screens. The stated goal is to read a passenger's 'intention' in a manner that is 'more fair, more effective and less expensive' than traditional profiling. But not to worry! WeCU's CEO says, 'We don't want you to feel [or know Bob] that you are being interrogated.' And you may get through security in 20 to 30 seconds."
Just because it makes the job easier?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202071004787
EPIC Calls For Disclosure of Federal Domestic Surveillance Guidelines
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 07:10 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Today, EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act request to force disclosure of new guidelines governing domestic surveillance. The Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations became effective today, despite warnings from Congressional leaders that "these guidelines would permit FBI surveillance of innocent Americans with no suspicion and on the basis of their race, religion or national origin." Administration officials failed to make public the final, complete policies, which govern the conduct of field operatives while performing domestic investigations. "The guidelines grant the FBI broad authority to conduct domestic surveillance of many individuals suspected of no crime. Therefore it is necessary that the legal authority is made available to the public," EPIC said. For more information, See EPIC Attorney General's Guidelines.
Source - EPIC.org
Ditto?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202071433368
Obama's attorney general pick: Good on privacy?
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 07:14 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, drew applause from liberal Democrats earlier this year when he denounced the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
A review of Holder's public statements, speeches, and testimony when he was a top Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, however, reveals a more nuanced record on privacy. His remarks indicate support for laws mandating Internet traceability, limits on domestic use of encryption, and more restrictions on free speech online. He also called for new powers for federal prosecutors, some of which became law under President Bush as part of the USA Patriot Act.
Source - Cnet
The flip side of Privacy? (Interesting case.)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202101225608
Identifying Individuals in Internet Iniquity: ECHR rules on naming wrongdoers
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 10:12 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
The European Court of Human Rights gave an important decision today in KU v. Finland, dealing with the issue of whether states are obliged to have laws which allow for the identification of internet wrongdoers. In short, according to the court the answer is yes - national laws must "provide the framework for reconciling the various claims which compete for protection in this context" and a national law which gives an absolute guarantee of anonymity and confidentiality of communication may breach the rights of persons who are affected by online wrongdoing.
Source - IT Law in Ireland
Cloud Security
http://digg.com/programming/20_Rules_for_Amazon_Cloud_Security
20 Rules for Amazon Cloud Security
broadcast.oreilly.com — Is the Amazon Cloud secure? Anyone not asking that question is not doing their due diligence. But how do you separate the real issues you need to worry about from the fear that pundits are using to grab eyeballs for their articles and blogs? The short answer is: Yes! The Amazon Cloud is secure and you can securely deploy web applications....
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2008/11/20-rules-for-amazon-cloud-security.html
Often interesting and useful.
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081202070705132
New reports from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Tuesday, December 02 2008 @ 07:07 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
The Privacy Commissioner tabled her 2007-2008 Access to Information and Privacy Annual Reports to Parliament:
2007-2008 Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act (PDF version)
2007-2008 Annual Report to Parliament on the Privacy Act (PDF version)
“Youse gotta problem getin dat “A” from youse teacher? Call Guido – I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.”
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F02%2F1550206&from=rss
Teacher Sells Ads On Tests
Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday December 02, @01:37PM from the pay-the-bills dept.
Tom Farber, a calculus teacher at Rancho Bernardo high school in San Diego, has come up with a unique way of covering district cuts to his supplies budget. He sells ads on his tests. "Tough times call for tough actions," Tom says. The price of an ad on a Mr. Farber Calc test is as follows: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, and $30 for a semester final. Most of the ads are messages from parents but about a third of them come from local businesses. Principal Paul Robinson says reaction has been "mixed," but adds, "It's not like, 'This test is brought to you by McDonald's or Nike.'" I see his point. Being a local business whore is much better than being a multinational conglomerate whore.
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