Does it make
a difference how or where fingerprints are stored? What are the
rules for accessing the database?
Martin Gijzemijter
reports an important update to a case launched by Privacy First that
I’ve followed
on
this
blog
since
2009:
Dutch
authorities have been prevented from storing citizens’ fingerprints
in a central database following a ruling this week by the Court of
Justice in the Hague.
In
the Netherlands, individuals’ fingerprints are gathered by the
local municipality when they apply for a new passport. The
government had proposed gathering those different sets of
fingerprints into a central database, which could then be accessed by
police for the purposes of matching fingerprints found in criminal
investigations.
Read more on ZDNet.
For my
Computer Security students.
Molly Woods describes a
number of smartphone apps that can help protect your privacy in this
New York Times article. Here are two snippets from her comments:
Android
currently has the best options available for secure messaging. My
favorite is the free TextSecure from WhisperSystems.
It encrypts text messages between users, as long as you both have
the app installed and you use it for texting instead of your regular
app. The texts are encrypted as they’re sent back and forth and
stay encrypted when they are stored on your phone.
And
If
you want encrypted messaging across iOS and Android, try ChatSecure,
created by the Guardian Project, a collection of developers,
activists and hackers who create tools for more secure
communications. This free app doesn’t replace texting; instead, it
lets you send encrypted messages over a number of existing chat
services like Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Google Hangouts, Jabber and
some others.
You must have an
account with one of those, and your recipient must also install
ChatSecure. But since the app is free and available on virtually any
device, it’s a good way to encrypt messaging across some common
chat services. ChatSecure is also open source.
Read the full article
on
NYT.
Perspective.
Some of the things banks are doing to stay competitive are
interesting. (See, this works both ways) “Change, the only
constant!”
It took computer
company Apple
only five years to become America’s largest music retailer, and
just seven to become the world’s largest. In 18 short months,
search engine Google
erased 85 percent of the market cap of the top GPS companies after
launching its mobile maps app. Alibaba,
China’s equivalent to Amazon, became a $16 billion lender in less
than three years, and China’s largest seller of money market funds
in only seven months.
Companies are venturing
into other industries for growth with increasing regularity. In an
Accenture
survey released at Davos this year, 60 percent of executives said
their company intends to make these types of moves over the next five
years based on alliances, joint ventures and acquisitions.
This represents a major
challenge to the banking sector where, in developed markets, growth
and profitability are still at about half of pre-crisis levels. As
banks recover from the downturn, non-banks are taking advantage by
proceeding aggressively with digital innovations and capturing more
and more of the banking value chain. Accenture estimates that
competition from non-banks could erode one-third of traditional bank
revenues by 2020.
Perspective, but only
that? It is useful to look at problems from several viewpoints.
Welcome
to Algorithmic Prison
Corporations and
government are using information about us in a new – and newly
insidious – way. Employing massive data files, much of the
information taken from the Internet, they profile us, predict our
good or bad character, credit worthiness, behavior, tastes, and
spending habits – and take actions accordingly.
As a result, millions
of Americans are now virtually incarcerated in algorithmic prisons.
Some can no longer get
loans or cash checks. Others are being offered only usurious credit
card interest rates. Many have trouble finding employment because of
their Internet profiles. Others may have trouble purchasing
property, life, and automobile insurance because of algorithmic
predictions. Algorithms may select some people for government
audits, while leaving others to find themselves undergoing gratuitous
and degrading airport screening.
For my Ethical Hackers.
Steven Aftergood
writes:
For
the first time the U.S. Army has produced official doctrine on
military activities in cyberspace, including offensive, defensive and
network operations.
A
new Army field manual “provides overarching doctrinal guidance and
direction for conducting cyber electromagnetic activities (CEMA)….
It provides enough guidance for commanders and their staffs to
develop innovative approaches to seize, retain, and exploit
advantages throughout an operational environment.”
It
is “the first doctrinal field manual of its kind.” See FM 3-38,
Cyber
Electromagnetic Activities, February 2014.
The
manual introduces the fundamentals of cyber operations, or “cyber
electromagnetic activities” (CEMA), defining terms and identifying
important operational factors and constraints.
Read more on FAS’s
Secrecy
News.
For my Android toting
students... Keep up with your spreadsheets.
Android
Apps on Sale for 20 February 2014: OfficeSuite Pro, ROM Toolbox Pro,
and Ultimate Backup (Yes, Pro)
Each
week we scour current Google Play promotions and
cherry-pick the best of the best. This week we have a crazy price
drop on OfficeSuite Pro 7, as well as nice sales on ROM Toolbox and
other utilities.
OfficeSuite
Pro 7($14.99, now $1)
Looking for an awesome
office suite for Android for free? Well, QuickOffice
is entirely free. [and works on iOS, too Bob]
OfficeSuite Pro, its competitor, still costs money – but this week
we’re seeing a steep, steep discount. It comes with a font pack,
supports Open Office, integrates with the Box app, and more.
There is motivation and
then there is MOTIVATION!
Tomorrow
is Canada vs. USA in the Men's Hockey Semifinal. This is a Billboard
in Chicago.
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