LMSD approves new computer software
… This summer the district will begin replacing the LANrev system in thousands of computers with Casper Suite by JAMF Software. The new software will cost the district $28,050 annually and is expected to be in the district computers by the fall as the district continues its one-on-one computer program.
Board President David Ebby said the Casper Suite program will allow the district to continue to have the ability to upgrade the computers in the field as needed but it does not contain any of tracking features that have brought the district into a federal lawsuit.
How to shift the blame. Step 1: Find a victim
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=12192
Computer network breach at Virginia Beach Schools
June 18, 2010 by admin
From WVEC/13 News:
A computer network security breach on May 6th allowed a student access to confidential student information. School officials say that a glitch [Translation: we screwed up. Bob] in the system allowed the access, and it’s been fixed.
Officials say the student accessed names, addresses, birthdays, social security numbers and more, all sitting at a library computer at Ocean Lakes High School.
The school says that the student did not hack into the computer, but was able to look at temporary files that should have been secure using his student ID.
[....]
The student was only caught when he tried to print the information.
Student information at 22 schools was compromised, and though officials aren’t sure why the student wanted the information, they sent a letter home to parents urging them to monitor their children’s credit reports.
Because no hacking was involved the student will not face felony charges. Police are looking into misdemeanor charges.
Misdemeanor charges? They left data exposed and they’re thinking about charging the student?
A listing of the 22 schools and a copy of the letter to parents has been posted to Virginia Beach City Public Schools web site. I noticed that the letter to parents describes the student as having engaged in unauthorized access. Were the files marked “authorized personnel only” or was a password required that he worked around? I suspect not. The letter does not inform the parents that it was a glitch in the school system’s security that seemingly allowed the students to access the sensitive information without hacking.
I hope it was at least an unmarked car...
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=12194
UK: Confidential papers stolen from policeman’s car
June 18, 2010 by admin
Police have fallen foul of the Data Protection Act after confidential paperwork was stolen from the boot of an officer’s car.
The force has now been forced to take remedial action after it emerged the officer did not have a safe at his house and did not store the documents in his secure briefcase.
A member of the public found the paperwork dumped in the street the next day and passed them on to a local police station.
[...]
Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas said : “An officer made a mistake by leaving confidential documents in a locked briefcase that was stolen from the secure boot [Clearly not secure... Bob] of his car. He has been the subject of disciplinary action and has received further training regarding data protection.
Read more on Kent News.
This indicates something, but I'm not sure what. It looks like someone trying to promote a music video. Perhaps it is the political equivalent?
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff Uses Twitter To Announce Execution
A sign of the times, although many may find it distasteful, or much worse: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used a mobile Twitter client to send out a tweet announcing the impending execution by firing squad of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner.
If you tell your employees they have no privacy when using company equipment, you're free to search.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=11378
SCOTUS holds that search of Quon’s text messages was not unreasonable (update3)
June 17, 2010 by Dissent
The Supreme Court has issued its opinion in City of Ontario v. Quon (previous coverage here).
The opinion was written by Justice Kennedy. Erin Miller of SCOTUSblog writes that the court held that
the search of the police officer’s text messages to his colleagues and to a woman with whom he was having an affair was reasonable, and therefore the officer’s 4th Amendment rights were not violated. The opinion notes that the case “touches issues of far-reaching significance,” but adds that the case could be resolved simply by apply several principles on when a search is or is not reasonable.
Before considering the reasonableness of the search, the court considered whether Quon had any reasonable expectation of privacy and concluded that he didn’t:
Before turning to the reasonableness of the search, it is instructive to note the parties’ disagreement over whether Quon had a reasonable expectation of privacy. The record does establish that OPD, at the outset, made it clear that pager messages were not considered private. The City’s Computer Policy stated that “[u]sers should have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality when using” City computers.
One of the issues that had been raised in discussing the case had to do with the privacy expectations of those who exchanged text messages with Quon, i.e., even if Quon didn’t have a reasonable expectation, did they? The court notes that the third parties did not raise the issue in a way that required the court to address it:
Petitioners and respondents disagree whether a sender of a text message can have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a message he knowingly sends to someone’s employer-provided pager. It is not necessary to resolve this question in order to dispose of the case, however. Respondents argue that because “the search was unreasonable as to Sergeant Quon, it was also unreasonable as to his correspondents.” They make no corollary argument that the search, if reasonable as to Quon, could nonetheless be unreasonable as to Quon’s correspondents. …. In light of this litigating position and the Court’s conclusion that the search was reasonable as to Jeff Quon, it necessarily follows that these other respondents cannot prevail.
I expect to see a lot of commentary from legal scholars on this opinion and will add links to their commentary to this post as I see them.
Update 1: Lyle Denniston has some preliminary comments on the opinion over on SCOTUSblog.
Update 2: More coverage:
Adam Liptak of the NY Times: Justices Allow Search of Work-Issued Pager;
David G. Savage in the L.A. Times: Justices rule in favor of California police chief who read employee’s texts;
W. Scott Blackmer on InformationLawGroup: Quon: US Supreme Court Rules Against Privacy on Employer-Issued Devices
Update 3:
Kevin Bankston of EFF also sees some hopeful signs in the decision: Hopeful Signs in Supreme Court’s New Text Messaging Privacy Decision, City of Ontario v. Quon.
Tony Mauro of National Law Journal covers the decision: Supreme Court Allows Search of Employee’s City-Owned Pager.
...so even if I'm not specifically communicating with someone in Florida, I could be sued for calling their Supreme Court a bunch of inbred, ignorant, redneck, cocaine snorting fools? How sad!
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=11398
Nonresidents can be sued over Florida Internet posts
June 17, 2010 by Dissent
The Associated Press reports:
Nonresidents can be sued for defamation under Florida law over their Internet postings if that information is accessible and accessed in Florida, the state Supreme Court ruled today. That applies even to bloggers such as Tabatha Marshall, who lives in Washington State and has no ties to Florida other than taking a vacation in the Sunshine State.
Previous rulings have determined phone calls and e-mails constitute “electronic communications into Florida,” but this is the first time a court has included blogs and other website postings.
Read more on MarcosIslandFlorida.com
Intriguing. The hash values (not the image itself) is matched to flag child porn. A match should result in the uploader at least coming under investigation. But it assumes that the image has been identified previously – 8,000 images is trivial compared to all the images on the Internet. So it won't be able to flag new images, and we will need to rely on the database to properly identify and hash child porn. How could this be challenged? Is a “hit” and automatic arrest and conviction?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20008079-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
N.Y. attorney general tackles child porn on social networks
The office of New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo has spearheaded the creation of a database of "digital fingerprints" to flag child pornography, an announcement Thursday explained. With the hash values of over 8,000 known child-porn images stored in the database, Cuomo said that he hopes its intended clients--social-networking, file-sharing, and photo storage sites--will start to use it "immediately."
… Here's how it works: The collection of "digital fingerprints," compiled through law enforcement efforts over the years, can be used as a filter by a partner social network so that when a photo is uploaded it can be checked against the contents of the database. If there's a match, the photo is not permitted to be uploaded. Use of the database is also available to law enforcement authorities, the announcement noted.
At least, give yourself a chance to be secure.
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=11412
Encrypt the Web with the HTTPS Everywhere Firefox Extension
June 18, 2010 by Dissent
Peter Eckersley of EFF writes:
Today EFF and the Tor Project are launching a public beta of a new Firefox extension called HTTPS Everywhere.
[...]
Firefox users can install HTTPS Everywhere by following this link.
As always, even if you’re at an HTTPS page, remember that unless Firefox displays a colored address bar and an unbroken lock icon in the bottom-right corner, the page is not completely encrypted and you may still be vulnerable to various forms of eavesdropping or hacking (in many cases, HTTPS Everywhere can’t prevent this because sites incorporate insecure third-party content).
For my Website and Presentations class
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/slideshowbox-com-creating-elegant-slideshows
SlideshowBox.com - Creating Elegant Slideshows
Slideshow Box is an application that can be used in order to create Flash and HTML photo slideshow galleries. The whole system revolves around different templates that effectively turn the whole process into something that requires no coding or programming experience at all.
,,, It is all arranged by clicking your mouse here and there - you choose the files to be displayed, the order in which they will be featured, the intervals…
For my geeks...
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/record-skype-video-calls-free-vodburner/
How To Record Skype Video Calls For Free With Vodburner
Ditto
Build Your Own Tablet for $400
Double ditto (Video explains how)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20008074-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Geeks join crusade to kill grating vuvuzela
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