Local. I want to assure you that this
has absolutely, positively nothing to do with our new campus in
Aurora. (probably)
CO:
Aurora City Council members become victims of ID fraud
September 16, 2011 by admin
Carlos Illescas reports:
At least five
Aurora City Council members have had their identities stolen over the
past few weeks, and police have opened an investigation to determine
whether the cases are linked.
Someone — armed
only with the council members’ basic personal information —
opened accounts in their names at a billing service for PayPal and
ordered items at retail online sites.
Read more on Denver
Post.
Update: Make that at least seven
known victims.
[From the Post article:
The bills came from a company called
Bill Me Later, a service of PayPal, the online site where people can
order items and send money securely.
A Bill Me Later account, which doesn't
require a credit card, is easy to open. Basic personal
information, such as name, phone number, date of birth and the last
four digits of a Social Security number, is all that is needed.
[Think of it as making ID Theft really, really
simple! Bob]
It's nearly impossible to kill a
government program/boondoggle. There's a story about a Hollywood
mogul who kept tons of obsolete and useless paperwork. When asked if
it could be tossed out, he replied, “Okay. But make a copy of it
first.”
U.S.
Representative John Mica (R-Florida), the sponsor of the original
House bill that helped create the TSA, has become an outspoken
opponent of the agency. In a recent interview, "Mica said
screeners
should be privatized and the agency dismantled." Mica seems
to agree with other TSA critics that the agency 'failed to actually
detect any threat in 10 years.' Mica is the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman and receives classified briefings
on TSA. Perhaps we should trust him more than most people on this
topic.
In an older ABC news article (ignore
the unrelated video) Mica describes how he deals with security
checkpoints. "He won't go through a full body scanner at an
airport because 'I don't want them circulating pictures of my
beautiful body' all over. He said he opts for a pat-down, and just
'closes his eyes and imagines a beautiful female.'"
(Related) Fortunately, there is (at
least seasonal) work for terminated TSA employees. Makes you wonder
what risks they are addressing... Killer Calves? Aggressive Ankles?
Note that they skip “Thunder Thighs” and all the “politically
incorrect” search areas – could be difficult to retrain TSA
agents.
NFL
wants pat-downs from ankles up at all stadiums
September 16, 2011 by Dissent
Michael McCarthy reports:
The NFL wants all
fans patted down from the ankles up this season to improve fan
safety.
Under the new
“enhanced” pat-down procedures, the NFL wants all 32 clubs to
search fans from the ankles to the knees as well as the waist up.
Previously, security guards only patted down fans from the waist up
while looking for booze, weapons or other banned items.
Read more on USA
Today.
[From the article:
The NFL suffered
damage to its family-friendly image when a South Carolina man was
arrested
for using an illegal stun gun on other fans at a New York
Jets-Dallas Cowboys game Sunday night. [Note that
the new pat-down procedure was “recommended” well before this
incident. Bob]
That didn't take long to undo. I
wonder what got through to the law makers? Was there a Facebook
Frenzy? A Twitter “Outing of Twits?” Nah, just a lawsuit.
"The Missouri State Teachers
Association (MSTA) has managed
to secure another win in its battle against a new law regarding
social networking with students. A repeal of the recently passed law
has
unanimously passed the Missouri state Senate."
Not sure if were narrowing toward a
common definition or
raising more issues to debate.
UK:
Privacy watchdog publishes e-privacy laws compliance guidance
September 15, 2011 by Dissent
The UK’s data
protection watchdog’s guidance includes amendments made to the
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) in May. The
changes transposed an EU Directive into national law.
The amendments
included changes to rules on email marketing and for gaining internet
users’ consent to ‘cookies’ – small text files that websites
store about users’ online activity. It also introduced a
requirement for organisations to inform the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about all personal data breaches.
Read more on Out-Law.com
[From Out-Law:
[About Cookies:
Interesting vision of the future. With
the growth of Cloud computing, I suspect this is true. And we need
to bring more Smartphones into our computing classes...
"The build-out of 3G networks
in developing countries, plus ultra-low prices from the likes of
Samsung, will make the smartphone the sole computer of millions of
citizens worldwide. And by 2016, 97
percent of smartphones are expected to use touchscreens. Now,
don't get me wrong — I carry an iPad and an iPod Touch in my
backpack and love touchscreens — but I still like a phone that fits
in my pocket. However, I'm going to be in the minority five years
from now, when the majority of wireless communicators will be
smartphones."
Geeky stuff...
(Related) Will we be able to run
Smartphone Apps on our desktop PC?
Forget
Apps, Carbyn Has Built A HTML5 OS
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