http://www.databreaches.net/?p=5827
Coffman on the Heartland Lawsuits
June 29, 2009 by admin Filed under Breach Incidents, Commentaries and Analyses, Financial Sector, Hack, U.S.
Tom Field of BankInfoSecurity.com has an interesting interview with Richard Coffman, the Texas attorney who filed the first class action lawsuit against Heartland Payment Systems (HPY). Coffman represents banks and financial institutions suing HPY.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the interview has to do with why Coffman thinks that banks and financial institutions will fare any better against HPY than they did when they sued TJX and were denied class action status. Coffman didn’t really explain how he sees the HPY situation as being different than the TJX case, but says:
I can say that the banks initially did not fair well in that case [TJX]for several reasons, none of which exist in this case in my opinion.
Although I have been following the bank’s side of that TJX litigation closely, it is interesting to note that the First Circuit Court of Appeals just breathed new life into the bank’s side of the case with a ruling in March of this year, and has now sent the bank case back down to the federal district court in Boston with the directive to look at class certification all over again.
The district court initially denied class certification for the financial institutions in that litigation, again for reasons that I don’t believe exist in the Heartland case, but even with that denial the district court has now been directed to look at it one more time.
Undoubtedly, there’s a long way to go on these lawsuits.
Good hack or bad hack?
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=1027
Hotmail hack exposed Sanford’s affair
June 30, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Breaches
Emails from the Argentine mistress of married South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford were leaked to the press by a hacker, according to the Latin American siren at the centre of a political scandal in the US Deep South.
The emails were obtained by South Carolina newspaper The State back in December but kept on ice while the paper investigated their authenticity. Last week Sanford’s political aides confirmed that the emails were authentic, allowing the paper to publish the intimate exchange of correspondence between Sanford and the mother of two, initially identified only as Maria.
[...]
Maria further claims that her Hotmail account was hacked through an older Argentinian account, which she has since closed. She reckons she knows who broken into her account, but isn’t saying anything just now.
Read more in The Register.
Perhaps they needed the cash to live well in Brazil? If this isn't an April Fool joke, there will be a lot of angry users out there...
http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-sold-to-software-company-goes-legal-090630/
The Pirate Bay Sold To Software Company, Goes Legal
Written by enigmax on June 30, 2009
According to gaming company Global Gaming Factory X, it is in the the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay for $7.8m (SEK 60 million). The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by August and will see the site launch new business models to compensate content providers and copyright owners.
“How to run a Privacy Office on zero dollars” – should be a huge hit.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=1004
Gartner: Firms still playing privacy catch-up
June 30, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Businesses, U.S.
Even though most enterprises have created a position to oversee privacy in their IT operations, many of those programs miss the target, often owing to budget shortfalls, according to an industry analyst.
"Privacy programs tend to be underfunded," Gartner's Arabella Hallawell said here at the research firm's annual Information Security Summit.
[...]
Privacy issues, concerning data relating to both employees and clients, are complicated by a patchwork regulatory environment affecting firms that operate overseas. In Europe, for instance, many members of the EU have adopted privacy guidelines that are far more stringent than markets like China and India, where the collection and use of personal information is largely unregulated.
The United States falls somewhere in between.
Read more on InternetNews.com.
[From the article:
In a 2008 survey, 65 percent of businesses reported that they had a dedicated individual or office to promoting privacy, which Hallawell admitted was higher than she expected. In the same survey, however, only 40 percent of businesses said they have distinct privacy funding provisions in their budgets.
… Hallawell said that security auditors increasingly advise firms in all industries that their privacy policies are too weak.
From the horse's mouth...
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/mark-zuckerberg-speaks/
The Wired Interview: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
By Fred Vogelstein * June 29, 2009 | * 3:29 pm
Not much money for 360 man-years of research. Might be simpler to have them start a joint blog and post anything that amuses them.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=986
Snooping on the snoopers
June 29, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Non-U.S., Surveillance
Can you see your data shadow? A University of Stirling expert is to turn the tables and put surveillance under scrutiny.
Dr William Webster of the Stirling Management School has secured over half a million Euros of funding from the European Science Foundation to study the impact of surveillance on individuals and society over the next four years.
The Living in Surveillance Societies programme sees Webster head up a new Europe-wide network of academics. More than 90 researchers from 15 countries have signed up to the network, which Dr Webster will chair.
He said: “The programme is about facilitating a better understanding of what it is like to live in a society where technologically mediated surveillance is so prevalent - both for the surveyor and the surveyed. It will look at our experiences of the impact of surveillance on people, businesses, technology and governance.”
Read more in The Herald.
Big does not equal monopoly. Does it?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/021701.html
June 28, 2009
Is Google Really in a Competitive Space?
New York Times: "Google handles roughly two-thirds of all Internet searches. It owns the largest online video site, YouTube, which is more than 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. And last year, Google sold nearly $22 billion in advertising, more than any media company in the world."
See also via ZDNet and ConsumerWatchdog.org: "With Justice Department scrutiny over the Google Books Settlement only the the leading edge of antitrust regulators’ attention to Google, the company has launched a dog-and-pony show dedicated to combating the impression that more control is needed. In a presentation (PDF) acquired by Consumer Watchdog, Google public affairs lead Adam Kovacevich argued that Google is anything but anti-competitive. Its success comes from “learning by doing,” the presentation says."
Think of it as a step toward “Any movie, any time”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_bi_ge/us_supreme_court_cablevision_dvrs
High court won't block remote storage DVR
WASHINGTON – Hollywood studios and television networks have lost a Supreme Court bid to block the use of a new digital video recorder system that could make it cheaper and easier for viewers to record shows and watch them when they want, without commercials.
The justices, in an order Monday, say they will not disturb a federal appeals court ruling that Cablevision Systems Corp.'s remote-storage DVR does not violate copyright laws.
For consumers, the action means that Cablevision and perhaps other cable system operators soon will be able to offer DVR service without need for a box in their homes. The remote storage unit exists on computer servers maintained by a cable provider.
Research tools. Not Google killers, but they might fill a niche for you. (and the comments list a bunch more!)
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/coolsearchengines
Cool Search Engines That Are Not Google
By Ryan Singel June 30, 2009 12:00 am
… The variety of search startups is mind-boggling, and hints at the challenges Google may face staying on the bleeding edge of search innovation in the coming years. (There’s even something for micro-philanthropists: Good Search donates a penny to the charity of your choice for each search you run.) [Interesting business model for the “Save the Whales” set? Bob]
… Take mobile. Google works fine on the iPhone, but for quick searches on the go, ChaCha can’t be beat. Simply text your question to 242242 and you’ll get an answer sent back to you.
In the age of Twitter, there’s fierce competition to be the quickest indexer on the net — a feature even Google co-founder Sergey Brin admits his company can improve upon. IceRocket, OneRiot and Scoopler are typical of the trend.
The smartest one we found is Collecta. It scours the net for the most recent blog posts, news stories, tweets and comments and displays them in a continuous waterfall.
Keeping tabs on local news and events isn’t easy — even in the days of news aggregators. Enter Trackle.
… Want to learn about a general topic such as the Iranian revolution or paella? Try Kosmix.com, which relies on services around the web — like Wikipedia and Flickr — to compile web pages stocked with useful and relevant information.
Some of the most interesting search engines we found are those that focus on a narrow niche and deliver in-depth targeted results on very narrow topics. Familiar examples are travel sites like Orbitz and Kayak, which search multiple databases to find cheap airfares and hotel rooms.
… Try Indeed.com, a meta-search engine for job hunters. When you get to the interview, fire up Parkingspots.com to find the best place to put your car.
Want to see a concert to celebrate your new job? Pick up a ticket using meta-search eninges FanSnap.com or ZebraTickets.com.
Some search innovators are tackling interface design to help take some of the guesswork out of search links. If you’re looking for something visual — say Michael Jackson moon walking — try Searchme.com, which shows entire web pages in its results as if they were album art in iTunes.
For music, try Fizy.com or head to video search engine Blinkx.com to navigate your way to streaming songs you can’t find anywhere else.
(Related) It's not enough to be “better than” another search engine or software package, you have to be seen as “significantly” better – as defined by each individual user... It's not just “learning a new tool” it's “unlearning the old tool while learning the new tool”
The biggest problem facing Bing? Loyalty to Google.
By Matthew Shaer | 06.26.09
We’ve written a lot about Bing in recent months, because let’s face it – any legitimate challenge to Google is worth watching very closely. But a new focus group study released yesterday by Catalyst Group shows exactly how steep the climb will be for Microsoft’s new search tool.
… Interestingly, most of the users preferred the visual design and feel of Bing. One test subject said Bing was “warmer and more inviting.” Another opined that “Bing’s search refining features were more helpful than Google’s.” So far, so good – Microsoft has obviously put a lot of thought into the layout of their newest engine, from the glossy opening photos to the structure of the results page.
One more piece of good news for Bing: When users embarked on their search for a new digital camera, they spent 150 percent more time viewing the ad space at the top of the page. A plus, obviously, for Microsoft’s sales teams.
But we’ll stay with Google
In the end, 8 out of the 12 users said they planned on sticking with Google, despite a positive experience with Bing. Some users cited the fact that the engines were producing essentially identical results. Others pointed out that since they already used a lot of Google applications, such as Google Docs, that it wouldn’t make sense to switch to Bing. The biggest sticking point, though, was loyalty: users were familiar with how Google worked, and saw no reason to ditch their favorite search engine.
“Bing generates interest,” one user wrote, “but it’s hard to take me away from Google because I’m so comfortable with it.”
Unfortunately, this is for my math students.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-cool-games-to-get-your-kids-interested-in-mathematics/
5 Cool Free Internet Games for Kids That’ll Make them Love Math
Jun. 29th, 2009 By Tina
… Here are five cool free Internet games for kids that will get your own kid interested and motivated in Mathematics.
On Math Goodies students will find more tools and games like this to practice algebra, integers, percent, geometry, probability and more.
Need more online resources for your kids?
Ryan wrote about Top Educational Websites For Children That Are Fun,
Dave covered Sporcle - Cool Games That Make Learning Fun Again and
I wrote about Websites For Students: 10 Online Learning Tools.
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