http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081229185735802
NY: Security Breach Found In Child Abuse Records
Monday, December 29 2008 @ 06:57 PM EST Contributed by:PrivacyNews
New York State Inspector General Joseph Fisch says he’s uncovered serious deficiencies at the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (Register) and is recommending legislative and departmental changes to improve confidentiality.
The Register is overseen by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS).
In a 33-page report issued Monday, Fisch revealed several findings related to a breach of the Register’s confidentiality. Also known as the “Hotline,” the Register receives calls reporting alleged child abuse. Such reports are confidential under state law.
The Inspector General’s investigation revolves around a Suffolk County father whose underage daughter was wrongly listed on the Register as allegedly involved in child abuse. When the father attempted to clear his daughter’s name, he encountered bureaucratic hurdles and unexplained delays. The father’s name was withheld from the Inspector General’s report to protect his confidentiality.
The Inspector General found that the father likely violated state law by improperly obtaining a confidential list of Hotline callers directly from Verizon by claiming to be a state employee. He then threatened to release the confidential records and demanded cash payment in exchange for the return of the records from OCFS and the Governor’s Office, possibly violating additional state laws against coercion or larceny.
Source - North Country Gazette
If we are able to reduce the gas we use, tax revenues would drop. Can't have that, so we need a new way to tax (and if it lets us track our second-class citizens, so much the better.)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20081229091323330
OR: Kulongoski to pursue mileage tax
Monday, December 29 2008 @ 09:13 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work.
Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step.
Source - Democrat Herald
“Your security isn't as good as you think it is.”
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F30%2F133222&from=rss
CCC Hackers Break DECT Telephones' Security
Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 30, @08:13AM from the distibuting-dialtone dept. Security Communications Hardware Hacking
Sub Zero 992 writes
"Heise Security (article in German) is reporting that at this year's Chaos Communications Congress (25C3) researchers in Europe's dedected.org group have published an article (pdf) showing, using a PC-Card costing only EUR 23, how to eavesdrop on DECT transmissions. There are hundreds of millions of terminals, ranging from telephones, to electronic payment terminals, to door openers, using the DECT standard."
So far, the Heise article's German only, but I suspect will show up soon in English translation.
[Need a translation? Try http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ Bob]
Speaking of code breaking... Getting ready for that first encrypted wiretap?
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F29%2F2231230&from=rss
FBI Issues Code Cracking Challenge
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday December 29, @06:23PM from the test-your-skillz dept.
coondoggie writes to tell us that the FBI has issued another cracking challenge for a new cipher on their site. Tens of thousands responded to a similar challenge last year. In addition to the challenge, the FBI is also offering a few primers on the subject. There are a number of sites offering cipher challenges, but it's funny to see the FBI encouraging such behavior.
[The code is on the FBI home page (no direct link) If you need a tool, try this one: http://www.esg.montana.edu/meg/consbio/cryptogram/crypto.html Bob]
Are cellphone systems an “easy target?” What providers stayed up?
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F29%2F146227&from=rss
Storm Causes AT&T Outage Across Midwest
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 29, @09:55AM from the guess-who-this-includes dept. Networking
dstates writes
"AT&T left users across several Midwestern states without cellular phone service yesterday. The outage apparently resulted from a power failure at a Michigan switching center and spread to affect level3 Internet communications. The powerful windstorm also left 400,000 users without electricity. Interestingly, except for a few reports in Chicago and Indianapolis papers, AT&T has managed to keep this out of the mainstream media. Widespread communication failures also followed Hurricane Ike in Texas earlier this year. With the increasing trend for users to drop landlines and rely only on cell phones, this is becoming an emergency preparedness issue."
Yes this included me. Still does. At least my office still has power — maybe we'll just camp here tonight. :)
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