Not “Hackers” exactly, but “potential Identity Thieves”

http://www.databreaches.net/?p=20234

FTC Approves Final Orders Settling Charges that Credit Report Resellers Allowed Hackers to Access Consumers’ Personal Information

August 22, 2011 by admin

From the FTC:

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved final orders settling charges against three credit report resellers, SettlementOne Credit Corporation; ACRAnet, Inc.; and Fajilan and Associates, Inc., also doing business as Statewide Credit Services. The FTC alleged the companies did not take reasonable information security steps to protect consumers’ data, allowing hackers to access more than 1,800 credit reports without authorization. The FTC’s orders settling the charges require the companies to strengthen their data security procedures and submit to audits for 20 years.

Related: Statement of Commissioner Brill

Related:

In the Matter of SettlementOne Credit Corporation, a corporation, and Sackett National Holdings, Inc., a corporation File No. 082 3208

In the Matter of ACRAnet, Inc., a corporation File No. 092 3088

In the Matter of Fajilan and Associates, Inc., also doing business as Statewide Credit Services, a corporation, and Robert Fajilan, individually and as an officer of the corporation File No. 092 3089

Sound familiar? “I can't define 'esthetic,' but I know it when I see it.”

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/08/photog_illegal_long_beach.php

Taking Random Photos in Long Beach Can Put You in Handcuffs (Really)

... detaining people who are snapping pictures "with no apparent esthetic value" is within department policy, according to the Long Beach Post.

Chris confirms the obvious?

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=24106

Chris Hoofnagle discusses online privacy

August 21, 2011 by Dissent

James Temple writes:

Despite widening criticism of online tracking, marketers are going to greater lengths than ever to ensure they can monitor online behavior even when consumers take steps to opt out.

That’s the finding of a research paper written by academics at UC Berkeley and elsewhere. It comes at a critical time, when the marketing industry is fighting proposed do-not-track rules that it claims are unnecessary and harmful.

Chris Hoofnagle, a lecturer at UC Berkeley Law School who oversaw the research, said the marketing sector has continually demonstrated the inability to police itself.

Read Temple’s interview of Chris on SFGate.com.

Now you too can have a Congressman in your pocket!

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/028083.html

August 21, 2011

A pocket Congress – track elected officials, read the latest bills and laws

"The government apps and mobile sites allow you to access official information on various topics from the palm of your hand. Learn more about apps."

• Congress – A Pocket Directory - Sunlight Labs - "track elected officials, read the latest bills and laws. Want to know more about Congress?: Find your representatives by your location; See how they vote, read up on bills; Stay on top of floor activity, committee hearings; Be notified of new events

So how do we change this?

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/028078.html

August 19, 2011

Commentary - Print vs. Online -The ways in which old-fashioned newspapers still trump online newspapers

The ways in which old-fashioned newspapers still trump online newspapers, by Jack Shafer

• "My anecdotal findings about print's superiority were seconded earlier this month by an academic study presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The paper, Medium Matters: Newsreaders' Recall and Engagement With Online and Print Newspapers, by Arthur D. Santana, Randall Livingstone, and Yoon Cho of the University of Oregon, pit a group of readers of the print edition of the New York Times against Web-Times readers. Each group was given 20 minutes reading time and asked to complete a short survey. The researchers found that the print folks "remember significantly more news stories than online news readers"; that print readers "remembered significantly more topics than online newsreaders"; and that print readers remembered "more main points of news stories." When it came to recalling headlines, print and online readers finished in a draw."