http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10469399-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Tim O'Reilly: 'Whole Web' is the OS of the future
(Related) Making the virtual real?
CloudCrowd Takes On CrowdFlower To Outsource Labor To The Cloud
by Leena Rao on Mar 19, 2010
… CrowdFlower is a labor as a service startup that helps businesses outsource mundane or repetitive tasks to the cloud. Now the startup has attracted a competitor, recently launched CloudCrowd, which also promises increase efficiency and lower costs to companies by breaking large projects into smaller tasks, and distributing them to its virtual workforce.
Most data breaches are not noticed by the “victims.” Think of those as far to the left on the bell curve. But, every now and then we have something far to the right – here is an almost “Perfect Storm!” Could it have been worse? Consider the Reporter getting the Lawyer's medical information...
http://www.phiprivacy.net/?p=2235
Hospital Makes Changes After Billing Blunder
By Dissent, March 18, 2010 11:15 am
Rafael Sanchez reports on a breach involving him:
An Indianapolis hospital system is using a new registration and billing system after the wrong Rafael Sanchez received a 6News’ reporter’s medical bill.
Rafael Sanchez, an attorney at Bingham McHale, called the station in December after he was mailed a $2,051.45 bill from Methodist Hospital intended for 6News’ reporter Rafael Sanchez, in violation of federal law.
The invoices he received were for real [vs. fictional? Bob] medical care Sanchez the reporter received after he collapsed outside court while covering a mass murder trial on Dec. 10.
Clarian Health investigated the incident, and its facilities are now using a new system intended to minimize billing errors, especially for patients with similar names.
Read more on TheIndyChannel.
I wonder if TD paid back the money stolen rather than “recovered it.” Governments (even small town governments) might have more leverage than small businesses.
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=10706
Town recovers $378,470 stolen by hackers
March 19, 2010 by admin
Michael Valkys reports:
Town of Poughkeepsie officials Thursday night announced the town has recovered more than $378,000 in town funds alleged to have been stolen by cyber thieves.
Supervisor Patricia Myers announced the recovery at a special Town Board meeting at Town Hall. She read a brief statement after the board’s approximately one-hour executive session.
“The Town of Poughkeepsie is pleased to announce that, with the assistance of TD Bank and various law enforcement authorities, the $378,470 which was diverted by cyber theft has been restored.”
[...]
Myers had been critical of TD Bank officials for not catching the theft, but praised the bank during Thursday’s announcement.
Town officials have said they implemented new security measures after the thefts were discovered. [Better late than never? What else have they failed to do? Bob]
“The town has reviewed and updated its internal computer systems and it recognizes the integrity and security of TD Bank’s online banking system,” Myers said
Read more in the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Yes we teach students “How to write a virus,” but no, this isn't one of ours.
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=10696
(update) Virus that hit Mary’s Pizza “so new it was not even in virus database”
March 19, 2010 by admin
David Bolling provides more information on a breach reported here previously:
The Plaza location of Mary’s Pizza Shack has been identified as the target of Internet hackers who penetrated the restaurant’s computer system with a “logger” virus that captured credit card numbers at the transaction terminal.
The presence of a virus was discovered by a corporate official on Feb. 10 after the family-run company received reports from friends about unauthorized credit card charges. CEO Vince Albano, grandson of Mary’s founder Mary Fazio, said the company immediately contacted the four affected credit card companies – VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, and then hired Trustwave, a Chicago-based data security firm recommended by the card companies.
Only credit card numbers were taken by the virus, Albano emphasized, no personal identification information, such as Social Security numbers or bank account records were exposed, [nor did they steal your car or gold from Fort Knox, but the PR people always look for something positive to say, even if it is totally unrelated. Bob] although VISA and MasterCard debit accounts were apparently raided. Trustwave identified and removed the virus doing the damage on Feb. 23.
Albano said he was told by Trustwave officials that the virus was so new it was not even in the company’s virus database.
[...]
Sonoma police, who have followed the case from the beginning, reported that Mary’s was not the only hacked card terminal in the Valley but they have not yet identified other company victims.
Albano told the Index-Tribune that Sheriff’s Office investigators reported there were at least 70 cases of stolen credit card number use reported, some 50 of which were traced to Mary’s.
“Can you hear me now?”
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/ftc-internet-companies-start-using-ssl
FTC to Internet Companies: Start Using SSL
Deeplink by Peter Eckersley March 18th, 2010
HTTPS is the backbone of web security. The protocol, which is also commonly known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), is what guarantees we can use the web to transmit sensitive information — financial, medical, or other — with relative confidence that it won't be intercepted or stolen. EFF has been arguing for years that best practices demand that all sensitive data be sent exclusively over SSL.
(Related) Could they be getting serious?
150,000 take FCC broadband speed test in first week
I wonder if California will use this as a revenue generator? They have to balance the budget somehow...
1st Trial Under California Spam Law Slams Spammer
Posted by timothy on Thursday March 18, @05:42PM
www.sorehands.com writes
"In the first case brought by a spam recipient to actually go to trial in California, the Superior Court of California held that people who receive false and deceptive spam emails are entitled to liquidated damages of $1,000 per email under California Business & Professions Code Section 17529.5. In the California Superior Court ruling (PDF), Judge Marie S. Weiner made many references to the fact that Defendants used anonymous domain name registration and used unregistered business names in her ruling. This is different from the Gordon case, where one only had to perform a simple whois lookup to identify the sender; here, Defendants used 'from' lines of 'Paid Survey' and 'Your Promotion' with anonymously registered domain names. Judge Weiner's decision makes it clear that the California law is not preempted by the I CAN-SPAM Act. This has been determined in a few prior cases, including my own. (See http://www.barbieslapp.com/spam for some of those cases.)"
Does a Social Network have “Community Values?” Could a case be made that this IS the community norm and we're just a bunch of old fuddy-duddies?
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=8441
Court bars charges against teen who posed semi-nude
March 19, 2010 by Dissent
Dan Goodin reports:
A federal appeals court rebuked a Pennsylvania district attorney who threatened to file felony child pornography charges against teens who were photographed semi-nude unless they attended an “education program”.
In a unanimous decision issued Wednesday by the appeals court in Philadelphia, a three-judge panel said the threat amounted to a “Hobson’s Choice” that would retaliate against one of the girls and her family for exercising their constitutional right to free speech. A rare dose of government-issued sanity in the prosecutorial crusade against teenage ’sexting’, the ruling upheld a lower-court order issued last year in the case.
Read more in The Register.
Ashby Jones of the Wall Strreet Journal also covers the decision:
Do teens, tweens or anyone else under 18 have a First Amendment right to send sexually explicit messages or photos through their cell phones? …. The Third Circuit, in this opinion, decided to punt on the First Amendment issue. But the ruling was a win for the girl, a then 16-year-old from a town near Scranton, Pa. The three judges said a prosecutor could not charge her merely for appearing in a photograph without evidence she had engaged in distributing it.
(Related)
Court: Cyberbullying Threats Are Not Protected Speech
“We can arrest you AND the horse you rode in on...”
Killer Convicted, Using Dog DNA Database
Posted by timothy on Thursday March 18, @02:04PM
lee1 writes
"It turns out that the UK has a DNA database — for dogs. And this database was recently used to apprehend a South London gang member who used his dog to catch a 16-year-old rival and hold him while he stabbed him to death. The dog was also accidentally stabbed, [..causing dog lovers to demand immediate execution! Bob] and left blood at the scene. The creation of human DNA databases has led to widespread debates on privacy; but what about the collation of DNA from dogs or other animals?"
“Plus ca change plus la meme chose”
Obama Administration Withholds FoIA Requests More Often Than Bush's
Posted by timothy on Thursday March 18, @02:31PM
bonch writes
"Agencies under the Obama administration cite security provisions to withhold information more often than they did under the Bush administration. For example, the 'deliberative process' exemption of the Freedom of Information Act was used 70,779 times in 2009, up from the 47,395 of 2008. Amusingly, the Associated Press has been waiting three months for the government to deliver records on its own Open Government Directive."
(Ditto) but perhaps now we can see the relationships more easily?
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/023785.html
March 18, 2010
MAPLight.org - New Web Site Reveals Money and Politics Links in New Ways
"MAPLight.org, the award-winning nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization dedicated to illuminating the connection between money and politics, has launched a new web site which shines the light of transparency and accountability in powerful ways as never before. The new site is being launched during Sunshine Week, a nonpartisan, national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. MAPLight.org users will find on the new site robust tools to
illuminate how money aligns with votes
reveal data on individual legislators and how much money they have received from industry and organizations
expose specific contributions to persons, by parties, by committee, and within date ranges and important and vital features including
a new U.S. Congress research blog
a powerful search engine"
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Check Out the New Pages
I've recently added some new pages to Free Technology for Teachers. These pages, located just below the header banner, contain some presentations, how-to instructions, and resources for teaching with technology. The pages are a work in progress so check back from time to time for more content on the pages.
If you don't want to, would you mind if I did?
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/feelhome-remotely-access-files/
FeelHome: Remotely Access All Your Files From Anywhere
… You can install this free program on any Linux, Mac or Windows computer and access your computer files remotely from anywhere.
This might make a good quiz for my Computer Security students. “Recover the data on this drive – you have 15 minutes.”
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/completely-securely-erase-hard-drive-windows/
How To Completely & Securely Erase Your Hard Drive [Windows]
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