Friday, March 16, 2012


Why can't the feds (notably the FBI) win settlements for their screwed up, never worked, over budget and years late projects? Note that the original budget here was $63 million...
"Science Applications International Corp. said that it will pay $500.4 million in restitution and penalties under a settlement over its CityTime program with New York City. From the article: 'Two former SAIC employees have been charged with conspiring to defraud New York, and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) has called on the company to reimburse the city for the more than $600 million it spent on the program over an 11-year period.'"


We can do this because Second Class Citizens (and terrorists?) can't afford $100.
"Catching a flight in the U.S. isn't a great experience anymore due to the security checks involved. You have to remove your shoes, your belt, get your laptop out, be scanned and subjected to radiation in the process. Hundreds of other people are doing the same thing, meaning it takes 40 minutes instead of four. Now, the TSA has come up with a clever, money-making alternative. Instead of scaling back security or speeding it up, you can instead pay $100 and bypass it completely!"
[from the article:
To qualify, frequent fliers must meet undisclosed TSA criteria and get invited in by the airlines. There is also a backdoor in. Approved travelers who are in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "Global Entry" program can transfer into Precheck using their Global Entry number.


Let's hope this idea doesn't spread...
Hydro-Québec proposes smart-meter opt-out clause, but it will really really cost you
March 15, 2012 by Dissent
If your privacy is only worth 65 cents, what are Canadians likely to do in response to Hydro-Québec’s proposal to charge $302 the first year and $204 each year thereafter to opt-out of using a smart meter?
How much do meter readers up there earn, anyway?
And why can’t they use a simple system like we used to have here: homeowners circle numbers on a card and mail it in to report usage, and the utility only sends out a reader once or twice a year to verify? Or are they saying they charge $200 just to have your meter read once a year? If so, yikes!
Protecting privacy shouldn’t be so expensive. Hydro-Québec should be encouraged to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better offering.
Offering opt-out is A Good Thing. Making it prohibitively expense is not.

(Related)
The Value Of Data Privacy To Consumers? About 65 Cents.
March 15, 2012 by Dissent
Paul Roberts writes:
What is the value of data privacy to online shoppers? About 65 cents, according to a new study of by researchers in Britain and Germany.
The report: “Study on Monetising Privacy: An Economic Model for Pricing Personal Information” was released in February and presents the results of work by researchers from DIW Berlin, the German Institute for Economic Research, and the University of Cambridge in the UK. The study was sponsored and released by ENISA, the European Network and Information Sharing Agency. In it, researchers found that consumers consistently prefer companies that protect the privacy of their data over companies that don’t. Unfortunately, that preference for privacy wasn’t very strong.
Read more on ThreatPost.


How can you be on Double Secret Probation if we tell you what the rules are? It's a matter of national security – if we tell the terrorists we're looking for them they won't come!
Senators Demand DOJ Release Secret Spy Court Rulings
Two Democratic senators urged the Obama administration Thursday to declassify secret court rulings that give the government far wider domestic spying powers under the Patriot Act than intended.
The 10-year-old measure, hastily adopted in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks, grants the government broad surveillance powers with little oversight that can be used domestically.
While much has been written and debated about the bill’s powers and efficacy, there’s evidently much more going on than the public knows.
A secret tribunal known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court has issued classified rulings about the Patriot Act that U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado) say expand the government’s surveillance powers even more.
At issue, the lawmakers said, is section 215 of the Patriot Act. The sweeping power, one of the most controversial in the law, allows the secret FISA court to authorize broad warrants for most any type of record, including those held by banks, internet companies, libraries and doctors. The government does not have to show a connection between the items sought under a section 215 warrant and a suspected terrorist or spy: the authorities must assert the documents would be relevant to an investigation.

(Related) Note the value of phoney (not stolen) identities. So if I know someone who knows someone who might have created a few back in the 1960s, what might they be worth?
CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher
… Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an “Internet of Things” — that is, wired devices — at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm. “‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”
All those new online devices are a treasure trove of data if you’re a “person of interest” to the spy community. Once upon a time, spies had to place a bug in your chandelier to hear your conversation. With the rise of the “smart home,” you’d be sending tagged, geolocated data that a spy agency can intercept in real time when you use the lighting app on your phone to adjust your living room’s ambiance.
… That’s not the only data exploit intriguing Petraeus. He’s interested in creating new online identities for his undercover spies — and sweeping away the “digital footprints” of agents who suddenly need to vanish.
“Proud parents document the arrival and growth of their future CIA officer in all forms of social media that the world can access for decades to come,” Petraeus observed. “Moreover, we have to figure out how to create the digital footprint for new identities for some officers.”
It’s hard to argue with that. Online cache is not a spy’s friend. But Petraeus has an inadvertent pal in Facebook.
Why? With the arrival of Timeline, Facebook made it super-easy to backdate your online history. Barack Obama, for instance, hasn’t been on Facebook since his birth in 1961. Creating new identities for CIA non-official cover operatives has arguably never been easier. Thank Zuck, spies. Thank Zuck.


Nothing startling...
March 15, 2012
FBI FAct Sheet on Internet Fraud
FBI Fact Sheet on Internet Fraud: Includes information on: Avoiding Internet Auction Fraud, Avoiding Non-Delivery of Merchandise, Avoiding Credit Card Fraud, Avoiding Investment Fraud, Avoiding Business Fraud, Avoiding the Nigerian Letter or “419” Fraud, Common Fraud Scams, Investment-Related Scams, Internet Scams, and Fraud Target: Senior Citizens.


“Copyright is so important, even the dead rise up and vote our way” RIAA lobbyists?
'These are not the crooked politicians you are looking for...” Legal Affairs Committee
"In a bizarre turn of events, the legal affairs committee of the European Parliament, voted to weaken a reform of the copyright monopoly for allowing re-publication and access to orphan works. What is surprising is that the voter turnout happened to be 113%. That there were three votes too many, and that these three votes determined the outcome, was pointed out to the committee. Unfortunately, when this was done, along with formally requesting a re-vote, the re-vote was denied."


Uh oh, I feel a minor rant coming on... Who convinces politicians (not just French politicians) that people who won't change with the times deserve to be paid to remain ignorant and innovators need to be taxed to allow it? Canada taxes blank CDs and DVDs and gives money to their version of ASCAP because everyone in Canada steals Copyrighted music.
Allez Les Books: France Suggests Amazon Tax To Help Independent Bookstores
France has developed something of a reputation in trying to tax larger companies on the Internet to use the funds to help out smaller players. The latest development in that scheme: a proposal to tax large booksellers to help French independent bookstores impacted by the rise of online giants like Amazon.

(Related) Perhaps this explains their logic?
Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod


I've blogged about this before. It's just a large (probably not large enough) data center, like those Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others are building for half a Billion dollars each, except this one costs $2 Billion. The Internet giants build where electrical power and cooling (rivers or cold climate) make it cheap to operate, government builds in the desert. (More correctly, they built in Senator Orrin Hatch's state)
The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)


You have to catch them at the right time. Best is when they are complaining about a game... Also note, there are many other development tools out there.
In this video, Brian Alspach tells you how Gamestar Mechanic helps turn kids from game players into game authors, which helps them learn a lot about programming and how computers work in easy steps while having a good time. If you're a parent, you'll especially want to read this page on their site, which will help reassure you that these folks know what they're doing, and might even (hint hint) give you the idea of suggesting that your local school should subscribe to Gamestar Mechanic, which several thousand schools already do. The price varies between free and $6 per month, which is a great deal for something that can engage children for many hours every day -- and just might keep a parent or grandparent interested, too.


I wonder if they'll let me use the big printer at school...
Trolling the Neighbors: 21 Wild Garage Posters


For my geeks. Boot from your USB drive...
How To Install Android On Your Netbook


We had a couple $4000 Smartboards, but as far as I know no one ever used them.
I have to admit that I don't always understand the appeal of SMARTBoards (or any other interactive whiteboard). That is probably because I often see them being used as nothing more than expensive LCD projectors. Then sometimes I see IWBs being used in a manner that makes me stop and say, "hmmm, now that is neat." If your thoughts about interactive whiteboards are like mine, you might benefit from reading Why Teachers Love SMARTBoards. The document was created by James Hollis who runs Teachers Love SMARTBoards a blog and training service.
Another good blog about resources for interactive whiteboards is Danny Nicholson's The Whiteboard Blog. I've mentioned Danny's blog before because I often find good IWB-specific resources in his blog posts.


Free is good
Planning for Big Data: A CIO's Handbook to the Changing Data Landscape
By Peggy Garvin Source: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
In an age where everything is measurable, understanding big data is an essential. From creating new data-driven products through to increasing operational efficiency, big data has the potential to make your organization both more competitive and more innovative.
As this emerging field transitions from the bleeding edge to enterprise infrastructure, it's vital to understand not only the technologies involved, but the organizational and cultural demands of being data-driven.
Written by O'Reilly Radar's experts on big data, this anthology describes:
  • The broad industry changes heralded by the big data era
  • What big data is, what it means to your business, and how to start solving data problems
  • The software that makes up the Hadoop big data stack, and the major enterprise vendors' Hadoop solutions
  • The landscape of NoSQL databases and their relative merits
  • How visualization plays an important part in data work
+ Link to download free book (PDF; 3.34). Also in mobi and ePub formats.
+ Register and follow order instructions to download free book.

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