Thursday, October 11, 2012

For the answer to this and everything you ever wanted to know about drones, come to the PrivacyFoundation.org seminar next Friday.
If I Fly a UAV Over My Neighbor's House, Is It Trespassing?
… "Once upon a time, you had the rights to your property under the soil and to the sky. It went by the colorful, Latin label "ad coelum et ad inferos"---to the heavens and hell," Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor and former research director of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, told me. "But subsequent case law recognized the limits imposed by commercial aviation and other realities of the modern world. Now you own the air and soil rights you might reasonably use and enjoy."
That original dictum -- ad coelum et ad inferos -- was never part of legislation, but rather passed to us from British common law. The process by which this notion of property was limited really began in the early twentieth century, when we began to regularly reach into the heavens and nominally closer to hell. Timothy Ravich is an aviation lawyer who contributed an article to the North Dakota Law Review (UND is a major hub of civilian aerospace training) on "the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace. [Actually, several articles Bob] " I figured if anyone knew the legal status of my neighborhood flights, it would be him.


Perhaps the IRS system for refunds is a bit too automatic? How many people does it take to file 88,724 returns? One, if they can use a computer...
Feds arrests dozens in ID theft-tax fraud takedown in South Florida
October 10, 2012 by admin
How big a problem is ID theft/tax refund fraud? Well, the government says it’s to the tune of $5.2 billion.
In human terms, here’s some interesting stats:
Among major U.S. cities with the most fraud-related tax filings: Tampa (88,724 returns, with refunds of $468,382,079); Miami (74,496 returns, with refunds of $280,509,449) and Atlanta (29,787 returns, with refunds of $77,113,392).
Read more on The Miami Herald.


Do I read this correctly? They compromised not only their students, but every Florida high school student eligible for this scholarship?
Almost 280,000 to be notified of hack at Northwest Florida State College; ID theft reported
October 10, 2012 by admin
Jim Turner reports:
An information security breach has been reported involving employee and student records at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. [They should move... Bob]
[...]
According to the state Department of Education, the breach included more than 3,000 employee records and approximately 76,000 Northwest College student records containing personal identification information; and approximately 200,000 records with information including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, ethnicity, and gender for students across the state who were eligible for Bright Futures scholarships for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years.
Read more on Sunshine State News.
The college has set up a web site for the breach. According to their update today:
The NWFSC student information compromised in the security breach contains public directory information including name and address, as well as confidential student data including birth date and Social Security number. The Bright Futures scholars’ data file includes all State of Florida Bright Futures eligible students during the 2005-06 and 2006- 07 academic years. This data file contains student names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, ethnicity and gender. No student academic files have been compromised. [Because they are not students! Bob]
The college reports that the breach was discovered following an internal review conducted between October 1 – 5 after the college started receiving reports from employees of fraud. Even the college’s president became a victim.
In a memo to employee sent on October 8 via e-mail, the college informed them:
We know from May 21, 2012 until September 24, 2012 one or more hackers accessed one folder on our main server. This folder had multiple files on it. No one file had a complete set of personal information regarding individuals. However, by working between files, the hacker(s) have been able to piece together enough information to be able to engage in the theft of identity of at least 50 employees.
We know by working between files data regarding Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and Direct Deposit Account numbers were accessed. Additional directory information such as address, phone numbers, college email address, etc. was also likely compromised.
We know three specific mechanisms have been used to engage in identity theft. The first is to use PayDayMax, Inc. as a conduit for taking out a personal loan which is repaid by debiting your bank account. The second is the same process using Discount Advance Loans. The third is to apply for a Home Depot Credit Card in an employee’s name and then use that card.
We know current employees and all retirees/past employees since 2002 that have had direct deposit of their pay have the potential to have had their information compromised.
The college says that the system has now been secured.
Kudos to the college for doing a terrific job of notifying employees promptly and issuing timely updates as they learn more.


How to win friends and influence people, the online version...
Millions of PlaySpan user IDs and passwords leaked online
October 10, 2012 by admin
Craig Chapple reports:
World of Tanks, Guild Wars and Eve Online players hit by huge security breach
Hackers have breached and leaked the personal information of millions of PlaySpan Marketplace users online.
Private details compromised included user IDs, email addresses and encrypted passwords.
In a statement to Develop, a PlaySpan spokesperson insisted however that there is no evidence that credit, debit or pre-paid card data had been accessed. [Not the same as “There is evidence that they did not access the data.” Just suggests they didn't keep logs. Bob]
Read more on Develop.


Apparently, there is more to the plan than “keep the data for two years” Of course, this could never happen in the US
AU: Web snooping plan suppressed by government
October 10, 2012 by Dissent
Looks like Australia’s government has decided that transparency is not as important as, say…. everything else. It’s refusing to release details of its super-secret data retention plan. Philip Dorling reports:
National security bureaucrats are keeping secret the details of a plan to store the internet history of all Australians for at least two years.
The Prime Minister’s department has rejected a Freedom of Information application by Fairfax Media for release of its file on the proposed “third tranche” of national security laws on the grounds that declassification would “substantially and unreasonably divert the Department’s resources from its other operations”. [Translation: It's a bother... Bob]
Read more on The Age.
[From the article:
However Steve McFarlane, assistant secretary heading the Defence and Intelligence Branch of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has refused to process Fairfax Media's FOI application for access to papers relating to the data retention and other proposals on the grounds that reviewing 21 documents totalling 93 pages would result in a “substantial impairment” to the operations of the Department.
Mr McFarlane further insisted that most of the material would be withheld from public access anyway owing to the “sensitive nature of the subject matter”.

(Related) …Okay, maybe it can happen here. Are there no laws covering the collection of data by government agencies?
FBI Exempts Massive Database from Privacy Act Protections
October 11, 2012 by Dissent
From EPIC.org:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has exempted the FBI Data Warehouse System, from important Privacy Act safeguards. The database ingests troves of personally identifiable information including race, birthdate, biometric information, social security numbers, and financial information from various government agencies.
The database contains information on a surprisingly broad category of individuals, including
“subjects, suspects, victims, witnesses, complainants, informants, sources, bystanders, law enforcement personnel, intelligence personnel, other responders, administrative personnel, consultants, relatives, and associates who may be relevant to the investigation or intelligence operation; individuals who are identified in open source information or commercial databases, or who are associated, related, or have a nexus to the FBI’s missions; individuals whose information is collected and maintained for information system user auditing and security purposes.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has exempted these records from the notification, access, and amendment provisions of the Privacy Act. Earlier this year, EPIC opposed the Automated Targeting System, another massive government database that the Department of Homeland Security exempted from Privacy Act provisions. For more information, see EPIC: The Privacy Act of 1974 and EPIC: Automated Targeting System.
So less transparency and the oversight and protection is …. where?


I suppose it's because it's an election year (translation: Time of wildly increased spin by politicians) but I fail to see how privacy “ensures” benefits.
President’s bioethics panel urges new privacy protection to ensure benefits from DNA decoding
October 11, 2012 by Dissent
Lauran Neergaard of Associated Press reports:
It sounds like a scene from a TV show: Someone sends a discarded coffee cup to a laboratory where the unwitting drinker’s DNA is decoded, predicting what diseases lurk in his or her future.
A presidential commission found that’s legally possible in about half the states — and says new protections to ensure the privacy of people’s genetic information are critical if the nation is to realize the enormous medical potential of gene-mapping.
Such whole genome sequencing costs too much now for that extreme coffee-cup scenario to be likely. But the report being released Thursday says the price is dropping so rapidly that the technology could become common in doctors’ offices very soon — and there are lots of ethical issues surrounding how, when and with whom the results may be shared.
Read more on Chicago Tribune.


It's a start...
Government of Malta proposes inclusion of digital rights in Constitution
October 11, 2012 by Dissent
Francesca Vella reports:
The government has presented a White Paper proposing the inclusion of digital rights in the Constitution as a means of introducing new rights to internet access, accessing information online, online freedom of expression, and the right to informational self-determination
[...]
On the right to privacy, the White Paper refers to the introduction of a specific digital civil right to informational self-determination, which would remove any perceived doubts that the state would become a ‘Big Brother’ through online monitoring of its citizens’ participation in the information society.
Wow. Read more on The Malta Independent Online.
The White Paper can be accessed here (pdf). The government is seeking comments to be submitted to consultations.mitc@gov.mt by November 30, 2012. From the White Paper:
The introduction of a specific digital civil right to informational self-determination would remove any perceived doubts that the State would become a Big Brother through online monitoring of its citizens’ participation in the information society.
A new digital right must confirm that the right to privacy refers both to: a) directly personally identifying information as well as to b) indirectly personally identifying information (such as cookies, users’ online behaviour and site visiting patterns).
Amongst others, Internet privacy involves the right to decide how personal information is being processed, stored, communicated and transmitted over the Internet by third parties including private entities as well as governments.
It is proposed that:
(i) The State should recognise, promote and safeguard a citizen’s right to Informational Self-Determination and Privacy, that is, the right of an individual to decide what information about himself should be communicated to others and under what circumstances, through any media, including on the Internet, regardless of frontiers.
(i) The State should undertake not to introduce restrictions which would hinder the right to Informational Self-Determination and Privacy and which are unjustifiable or unnecessary in a democratic society.


It must be irritating to discover that your lawyers didn't follow Best Practices but rather Mal Practices...
How Zappos’ User Agreement Failed In Court and Left Zappos Legally Naked
October 10, 2012 by admin
Eric Goldman writes:
In January, Zappos (part of $AMZN) announced a massive data security breach affecting 24 million consumers. As typically happens in these situations, plaintiffs’ class action lawyers swarmed over Zappos for the breach, filing dozens of lawsuits. Zappos tried to send the lawsuits to arbitration based on an arbitration clause in its user agreement. Recently, a federal court struck down Zappos.com’s user agreement, denying Zappos’ arbitration request. This is an unfortunate ruling for Zappos, because its contract–now dead–would have been quite helpful in combating this high-profile and potentially very expensive data security breach lawsuit. More importantly, the mistakes Zappos made in its user agreement–though common throughout the Internet–are completely and easily avoidable. This post will make some suggestions for how to avoid Zappos’ fate.
Read more on Forbes.


Towards a greater emptiness?
"Futurist and author Ray Kurzweil predicts the cloud will eventually do more than store our emails or feed us streaming movies on demand: it's going to help expand our brain capacity beyond its current limits. In a question-and-answer session following a speech to the DEMO technology conference in Santa Clara, California last week, Kurzweil described the human brain as impressive but limited in its capacity to hold information. 'By the time we're even 20, we've filled it up,' he said, adding that the only way to add information after that point is to 'repurpose our neocortex to learn something new.' (Computerworld has posted up the full video of the talk.) The solution to overcoming the brain's limitations, he added, involves 'basically expanding our brains into the cloud.'"
[The video:


Perspective
According to a study released today by the research firm Gartner, Lenovo has overtaken HP (Hewlett-Packard) as the number one seller of PCs worldwide. This move comes at a time when overall PC sales have faltered due to the economy and competition from mobile gadgets. Still, Lenovo managed to grow during this downturn, increasing its sales by nearly 10%.


This was a bit of a kerfuffle until the school reconsidered their rethink...
Judge Says Fair Use Protects Universities in Book-Scanning Project
A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a copyright infringement lawsuit against universities that participated in a massive book-digitization project in conjunction with Google without permission from rights holders.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer of New York dismissed an infringement lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild and other writers’ guilds, saying the universities had a fair use defense. The guild accused the University of California, University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Cornell University and University of Michigan of wanton copyright infringement for scanning and placing the books into the so-called HathiTrust Digital Library.
The trust consists of 10 million digital volumes, 73 percent of which are protected by copyright. The trust provides full-text searches only with a rights holder’s permission, and gives full-text access for readers with “certified print disabilities,” Baer said.


Perspective
You probably already know this by now, but there are a lot of people using Twitter. A new study conducted by Beevolve gives us an insane amount of statistics on these users, gauging everything from how many followers the average user has to which background color is used the most by females and males. The study – which surveyed a total of 36 million Twitter profiles – may confirm a lot of the stuff you already assumed about Twitter, but there are some surprises to be found in the results.


Perspective (for my Disaster Recovery students)
Europe suffered 51 'severe' communications outages in 2011, study shows
… The report, released today by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), said that 11 EU member states reported 51 "severe outages" in their countries' communications networks and services during 2011.
The report said that 60 percent of the incidents affected cellular networks or mobile Internet, with the remainder involving services such as fixed phone and internet, messaging and e-mail.
Only 6 percent of all reported incidents that led to outages were a result of malicious attacks. [But you have to approach each one as potential terrorist or cyberwar attacks until proven otherwise... Bob] The malicious attacks were often low-tech, such as vandalism or cable theft, rather than cybercrime, ENISA said.

(Related) If most of my students have SmartPhones...
$13 E-Reader Could Be Your Next Smartphone Accessory
It seems you can’t finish a book without a new e-reader being announced. The newest way to read books without killing a tree comes from Germany, and if the company, txtr, can get carriers on-board, it’ll cost as little at $13, or less that J.K. Rowling’s latest book.
… Engadget reports that txtr is currently in talks with AT&T and Sprint.
We’re waiting to hear back from txtr on how much the beagle would cost without a subsidy. Maybe a wallet-busting $25?


I have a few Artsie type students...
CreativeLIVE Is a Free Online School for Artists and Entrepreneurs
… If you’re looking for creative or entrepreneurial courses, you can turn to CreativeLIVE. The two-year-old startup just raised $7.5 million to live-stream workshops on how to start a business, photography basics, and web design, to name a few.
… Every course is live-streamed in real time and completely free.
What’s the catch? The courses are offered on a scheduled basis and last about two to three days. If you miss a class, you can’t watch again for free, but you can get your hands on the videos and lessons if you pay. Prices range from $50 to $300, and courses are often discounted. You can also pre-order a class that you know you want to take, but won’t have time to sit down and watch the live lecture.
The premise of free, live-streamed workshops has worked well for CreativeLIVE. The company says that since its launch in April 2010, more than 1 million students from 200 countries have taken a course. CreativeLIVE also isn’t having a hard time getting people to pay an average of $100 for a class.


For the Swiss Army folder...
Screenr
A web based screen recorder.

(Ditto)
RefSeek
Currently in public beta, RefSeek is a web search engine for students and researchers that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. RefSeek searches more than one billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers.
[Check the Directory Bob]

(Ditto) Run it before your PC crashes and store it with your backups...
MyKeyFinder -- Finding Serial Numbers of Installed Apps in Windows Easily
… instead of buying the app again you can always use a user-friendly tool named MyKeyFinder which can help you find the serial numbers of all the apps installed in your PC! This handy tool for Windows is free of cost but can prove to be a blessing in such cases.

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