http://www.databreaches.net/?p=471
Mysterious credit card charge may have hit millions of users
Posted January 11th, 2009 by admin
Mitch Lipka reports:
Several Internet complaint boards are filled with comments from credit card customers from coast to coast who have noticed a mysterious charge for about 25 cents on their statements.
The charge shows up on statements as coming from “Adele Services” in Melville, N.Y. There is no business by that name listed in Melville, or registered to any business anywhere in New York, for that matter.
Two theories of what is going on have advanced on message boards and among consumer advocates: Someone is trying to find out whether an illegally obtained credit card number will work before making a bigger charge, or they’re trying to rip off tiny amounts from tons of people.
The latter theory has more credibility at the moment. The Better Business Bureau in Louisville reports that, at least so far, those who have been hit with the small charge have yet to get slammed with a bigger charge. The bureau speculates that the number of possible victims could be in the millions.
Read more in the Boston Globe
...but how do they differ? (More interesting is a brief mention of 'exceptions' to the rule.)
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20090110200247496
Identity Cards and Identity Romanticism
Sunday, January 11 2009 @ 05:32 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Abstract:
This book chapter for "Lessons from the Identity Trail: Anonymity, Privacy and Identity in a Networked Society" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) - a forthcoming comparative examination of approaches to the regulation of anonymity edited by Ian Kerr - discusses the sources of hostility to National ID Cards in common law countries. It traces that hostility in the United States to a romantic vision of free movement and in England to an equally romantic vision of the 'rights of Englishmen'.
Governments in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and other countries are responding to perceived security threats by introducing various forms of mandatory or nearly mandatory domestic civilian national identity documents. This chapter argues that these ID cards pose threats to privacy and freedom, especially in countries without strong data protection rules. The threats created by weak data protection in these new identification schemes differ significantly from previous threats, making the romantic vision a poor basis from which to critique (highly flawed) contemporary proposals.
Free full-text article available via SSRN
Related?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20090110200716617
International Differences in Information Privacy Concerns: A Global Survey of Consumers
Sunday, January 11 2009 @ 05:34 AM EST Contributed by: PrivacyNews
Abstract:
We examine three possible explanations for differences in Internet privacy concerns revealed by national regulation: (1) These differences reflect and are related to differences in cultural values described by other research; (2) these differences reflect differences in Internet experience; or (3) they reflect differences in the desires of political institutions without reflecting underlying differences in privacy preferences. Using a sample of Internet users from 38 countries matched against the Internet population of the United States, we find support for (1) and (2), suggesting the need for localized privacy policies. Privacy concerns decline with Internet experience. Controlling for experience, cultural values were associated with differences in privacy concerns. These cultural differences are mediated by regulatory differences, although new cultural differences emerge when differences in regulation are harmonized. Differences in regulation reflect but also shape country differences. Consumers in countries with sectoral regulation have less desire for more privacy regulation.
Free full-text article available via SSRN
Is this an overreaction? Would DHS want unencrypted Wi-Fi with analysis of each message?
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F10%2F175227&from=rss
Mumbai Police To Enforce Wi-Fi Security
Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 10, @01:22PM from the taking-a-stand-against-e-loitering dept. Privacy Government Networking Security
caffeinemessiah writes
"In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, the local police are going to be sniffing out unsecured wi-fi access points and ordering the owners to secure them. The article notes that 'terror mails were sent through unsecured Wi-Fi connections' before bomb blasts in other Indian cities. No word on if they'll be walking around using Kismet, or if people who use pathetically weak WEP encryption will be ordered to switch to more advanced protocols. Unfortunately, a gesture like this does not take into account the insidious scenario of walking into a cafe, buying a coffee and then (legally) using the cafe's wi-fi. Or the fact that terrorists might actually be able to pay to use a cybercafe, and know what VPNs are."
On the other hand, the Mumbai police may still be keeping track of the mandatory keyloggers that went into the area's cybercafes in 2007.
If they were smart, they'd be politicians.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10139693-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Text messages nab carjacking suspects
Posted by Steven Musil January 10, 2009 10:25 AM PST
If texting is dangerous while driving a car, it's downright idiotic while stealing one.
An Ohio man used a friend's cell phone to get back his car, cell phone, and cash, all of which were stolen in a car jacking, according to a local TV report. Alan Heuss was sitting in his running BMW in Columbus on Wednesday when an armed man opened a passenger door, stuck a gun in his face, and made off with his stuff.
After filing a police report, Heuss was meeting with some friends to drown his sorrows when one suggested that they try to contact the thieves by texting Heuss' stolen cell phone.
"He said, 'I'm going to text these guys, I'm going to blow some smoke their way,'" Heuss told the station. "He said, 'I'm going to tell them I've got a bunch of hot chicks, as if I'm texting you, and that we've got some drugs, too.'"
The carjacking suspects fell for the rouse and went to an address sent to them by Heuss' friend just seven hours after the carjacking. But instead of the "hot chick with drugs" they were expecting, they were met with by cops with cuffs.
And to make things easier for the officers, the suspects showed up in the stolen car.
For my (future) Robotics class.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F10%2F1843239&from=rss
A Robotic Bartender, and How To Build One
Posted by timothy on Saturday January 10, @02:27PM from the why-not-a-bender dept. Robotics Toys Technology
Jamie Price writes with a nice tutorial on putting technology to use in the service of mankind, with one of his latest projects — BaR2D2.
"BaR2D2 is a radio-controlled, mobile bar that features a motorized beer elevator, motorized ice/mixer drawer, six-bottle shot dispenser, and sound activated neon lighting. The robot is driveable so you can take the party on the road! It was created in my garage using standard hand/power tools and readily available parts and materials. Here is a video of it in action. To see the full how-to with tons of pictures, check out the build.
Lots of free tutorial videos. From Adobe to XML
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modListing.asp#titleListing
Training from lynda.com
[Including this one: http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=481 for my Access Class
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