I'm thinking this won't stand. If it is illegal to look at things in (electronic) plain sight, wouldn't that make what the police want to do illegal too?
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=23758
Judge Grants Google ‘Street View’ Wiretap Appeal
July 18, 2011 by Dissent
David Kravets reports:
A federal judge sided with Google on Monday, granting the search giant the right to appeal his ruling that packet-sniffing on non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks is illegal wiretapping.
The decision by U.S. District Judge James Ware tentatively sets aside his June 29 ruling in nearly a dozen combined lawsuits seeking damages from Google for eavesdropping on open, unencrypted Wi-Fi networks from its Street View mapping cars. The vehicles, which rolled through neighborhoods across the country, were equipped with Wi-Fi–sniffing hardware to record the names and MAC addresses of routers to improve Google location-specific services. But the cars also secretly gathered snippets of Americans’ data. [If you are looking for the return address on a postcard (i.e. an unencrypted communication) it is unlikely that you would start your recording at the exact bit at which the return address begins. Recording more data is therefore inevitable, even if not intentional. Bob]
Read more on Threat Level.
(Related) It never rains but it pours...
http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=23763
Canadian privacy watchdog takes on Google
July 19, 2011 by Dissent
Vito Pilieci reports:
Canada’s privacy commissioner is preparing to take on Google Inc. over concerns about how the firm collects, retains and uses personal data.
In a little-noticed 46-page report, Jennifer Stoddart has outlined a year-long consultation into issues about online tracking, profiling and targeting. In her review the commissioner found that Google and other Internet giants, including Facebook and FourSquare, are collecting increasing amounts of data about users and not adequately informing people about the data collection or for what it is being used.
Read more on Ottawa Citizen.
This story is referring to the consultations report released in May (accompanying press release from May).
(Related) Would Google have avoided the hassle if they had done this? Or is the the electronic version of “Conspiracy?”
BBC Crowdsources 3G Coverage Map
"The BBC is asking Android users to install an app which will upload information about 3G and 2G coverage, in order to build up a map showing where Britain has signal. The company behind the app, Epitiro, previously worked with the regulator Ofcom to measure 3G speed, and apparently found that O2 is slightly faster."
The boys are back...
http://www.databreaches.net/?p=19676
LulzSec Hacks The Times with Brutal Murdoch Death Notice
July 18, 2011 by admin
Brian Barrett reports:
Well, seems like LulzSec has returned, and moved beyond the DDOS attack! Not content to merely shut down one of Rupert Murdoch’s paper’s websites, the hacking group has instead planted a bizarro-Onionesque account of the mogul’s death-by-palladium on a Times redesign page masquerading as The Sun. Well played, #AntiSec.
Read more on Gizmodo.
As to why I’m covering this hack on my blog, well, the hackers claim to have acquired News of the World executives’ phone numbers and email logins and they’ve started leaking them, with much more promised for tomorrow.
Also on Gizmodo, Sam Biddle writes:
The fruits of today’s Sun UK hack are starting to dangle down: LulzSec (out of retirement?) and Anon are tweeting logins of some serious British media brass. Foremost? Rebekah Brooks, the epicenter of England’s voicemail hacking scandal. Update: phone numbers!
The tweet divulged the email and password info for one Rebekah Wade—Brooks’ maiden name—along with many others from Murdoch’s tabloid upper crust:
Read more on Gizmodo.
Soon, only old codgers like me will have paper books...
Closing the Borders: End of an Era in Bookselling
Borders told a federal bankruptcy court Monday that it will close its remaining 399 stores and liquidate its assets, with store closings starting as soon as Friday.
(Related) The book is not dead
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/read-hipster-3-libraries-browser/
Read Like A Hipster With These 3 Libraries For Your Browser
As a basic link list, Online Novels does not provide a sexy, decked-out, graphically-oriented website. However, it does exhibit quite a few novels with very detailed and articulate descriptions of each one.
Booksie is a community for aspiring writers to publish their work one chapter at a time. This site is a little more user-friendly than its Online Novels counterpart, and it also offers free audiobooks, PDFs, and eBooks.
As previously mentioned in MakeUseOf directory, WeBook is like the Texas cage-fighting match of online literature. The premise of the entire site is that authors submit their work, let you read it, and as it gains popularity (by your votes), it will eventually reach an agent who can get it published… and make it mainstream.
(Related) For all my students... Books are readable through the Kindle App on your PC and most other devices...
Kindle Textbook Rental service offers huge student savings
According to Amazon, the Kindle Textbook Rental platform will enable customers to save up to 80 percent off the usual purchase price of textbooks.
… Tens of thousands of textbooks for the 2011 school year are already available and the service is supported by publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier, and Taylor & Francis.
(Related) On the other hand...
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/229888/why_ebooks_are_bad_for_you.html?tk=out
Why E-Books Are Bad for You
… current e-reading technology is fundamentally bad for people, says Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement and the GNU Project. In an article entitled, "The Dangers of E-Books" (PDF), Stallman makes the case that e-books are "a step backward from printed books."
'More Restrictive Than Copyright Law'
Books printed on paper can be purchased anonymously with cash without signing any kind of license that restricts the purchaser's use of the book, Stallman notes. No proprietary technology is required, and it's sometimes even lawful under copyright to scan and copy the book.
Once it's paid, the purchaser owns the book, and no one has the power to destroy it.
Contrast that situation with Amazon e-books, where users are not only required to identify themselves to purchase an e-book, but also to accept "a restrictive license" on their use of it, Stallman notes.
"In some countries, Amazon says the user does not own the e-book," he asserts. "The format is secret, and only proprietary user-restricting software can read it all."
Copying such e-books is "impossible due to Digital Restrictions Management in the player," he adds, "and prohibited by the license, which is more restrictive than copyright law."
Dilbert explains my place in the digital world...
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