http://www.databreaches.net/?p=12214
UK: Credit card fraudster hits 35,000 motorists in petrol station scam
June 21, 2010 by admin
Colin Fernandez reports:
A computer wizard branded ‘the most prolific chip and pin fraudster in the UK’ was jailed yesterday for four years.
Theogones De Montford, 29, stole the details of at least 35,000 motorists during a £725,000 scam targeting petrol stations.
He designed tiny circuit boards which he fitted inside chip and pin machines at checkouts at Shell and Texaco garages.
The bugs broadcast the PIN code and credit card details up to 20 miles away via bluetooth for De Montford to pick up using a laptop computer.
The software engineering student then sold them to credit card fraudsters in Britain and across the globe.
Read more in the Daily Mail.
As hard as it might be to believe, I learned something here.
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/06/contracts-and-privacy.html
Contracts and Privacy
posted by Dave Hoffman
What is the relationship between public policy and contract damages? A few days back, I blogged about the curious case of Canadian Gabriella Nagy. Nagy, as you may recall, has sued her cellphone company Rogers Communications for $600,000 (Canadian), alleging “invasion of privacy and breach of contract.” According to Nagy, Rogers consolidated her cellphone bill into a global family statement without notifying her. This consolidation led her spouse to see she was calling another man with inordinate frequency, and she was forced to confess an affair. The marriage dissolved, and Nagy blamed the cellphone company.
I think the breach of contract lawsuit, if filed in an American court applying fairly ordinary domestic contract principles, would be a loser. Here are some reasons why.
This is the evil variation of “Opt In” called “Opt In or Else!”
Apple Wants To Share Your Location With Others
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 22, @05:17AM
"In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified 'partners and licensees' may collect and store user location data. When users attempt to download apps or media from the iTunes store, they are prompted to agree to the new terms and conditions. Until they agree, they cannot download anything through the store. The company says the data is anonymous and does not personally identify users. Analysts have shown, however, that large, specific data sets can be used to identify people based on behavior patterns."
Mashable and The Consumerist have picked up on this collection and sharing of "precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."
A peek at Behavioral Advertising and a potential “Do Not Entice Me” option?
Targeted Ads Will Let You Spy on Them for a Change
Advertisers have grown much more sophisticated since the early days of the web and can now target us with increasing precision using a wider range of behavioral data than ever before. In spite of that – or perhaps because of it – the advertising industry plans to start including a transparent mechanism this summer that can give you a hint as to why particular advertisements found you and provide unprecedented controls to control or even stop them.
The solution dictates that ad networks include a standard icon within web-based ads that lets users access their behavioral profile on the ad network in question. Users will also be able to opt out from being targeted by ads that rely on their profiles.
… If advertisers fail to do so, they could face harsher rules, such as limitations on what sorts of data they can collect in the first place (including health and financial), regardless of how they use it.
… Was it those airplane tickets to Costa Rica, your twice-daily coffee habit, your hyper-caffeinated web surfing style, or nothing in particular that caused a coffee ad to target you? This initiative won’t tell you — but it will tell you that advertisers know you love coffee, and let you force them to stop using that information to target you with ads, assuming that’s what you want.
Of course, once you’ve also told an ad network that you’re suspicious of targeted advertising, you’ve also identified yourself as the perfect recipient of identity theft prevention advertisements. (They wouldn’t… would they?)
Apparently there will be a limit to the security I can employ. This is a variation of “People are too stupid to know what's good for them,” so we (bureaucracies) must force them to do it our way. If they can not read my search terms, how can they “protect” me from all the evil I might (inadvertently, of course) bring down upon my head? I might even be exposed to (gasp!) Republicans!
Schools, Filtering Companies Blocking Google SSL
Posted by kdawson on Monday June 21, @09:49PM
"Over the past several weeks we've discussed the rolling out of Google SSL search. Now an obstacle to the rollout has arisen, much to the frustration of school students and teachers alike. Content filter vendors have decided to block all Google SSL traffic — which also blocks access to Google Apps for Education. Google is working to appease these vendors. The questions at the heart of this situation are: Does a company (school, government) have a right to restrict SSL traffic so it can snoop your data, or does an individual have a right to encrypted Internet facilities? And, is the search data you create your data, or is it your employer's (school's)? IANAL but blocking SSL search seems at odds with the UK Data Protection Act, because some local governments here may be using the very same filtering service for their employees. It would also seem to go against the spirit of FIPS in the US (though I appreciate that federal standards are separate from schools in the States)."
For my geeks...
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201025/5772/Dell-in-talks-with-Google-regarding-Chrome-OS
Dell in talks with Google regarding Chrome OS
by Stevie Smith - Jun 22 2010, 07:12
As tech heavyweight Google prepares to launch its cloud-based Chrome operating system (OS) against the market dominance of Microsoft Windows, it would appear yet more leading hardware vendors are considering the possibility of embracing the upstart platform.
I rarely mention services that aren't free, but this one looks too interesting to ignore.
http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/criticalpast-com-videos-going-as-far-back-as-1890
CriticalPast.com - Videos Going As Far Back as 1890
In theory, this is a site that will be appealing to historians most of all, but I frankly see no reason why the average Joe wouldn’t get anything out of it. To put it in very simple words, Critical Past is like YouTube for videos going way back in history up to 1890. Every decade from that until 1990 is touched upon, and the idea is that you can search the site much like you can search YouTube and do research (in case you are a historian) or learn more about the way the world looked way back (if you are an average internaut).
The one and only drawback (and the most ineluctable argument if we were to veto the general appeal that a site like this one could have) is that you necessarily have to pay to use it. There are two different plans that you could go for: “Pro” and “Consumer”, and while the price of the latter is absolutely negligible (less than $ 2) we know how reluctant people are to spend money. But I hope I am wrong, and that people are not deterred by such a fact - the site is really professional and the content is a true source of amazement.
Remember to add a proper citation...
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-downloaded-clipboard-apps-movers-shakers/
10 Most Downloaded Clipboard Apps [Movers & Shakers]
… This week we will be covering clipboard software. These applications help us work with or enhance using the Windows clipboard. This clipboard is normally activated by highlighting something and pressing CTRL + C or choosing copy from the right click context menu. We can then paste what we copied elsewhere.
But we also have applications that allow us to add multiple items to the clipboard or strip the formatting of what you are copying. Check the applications out below and if something that you use is not on the list hit us up in the comments.
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