You probably don't want this going public just as the Class Action lawsuits start rolling in. The responsibility is senior management's, but the manager of Computer Security clearly didn't make the risks clear – even with examples like Target!.

Ex-Employees Say Home Depot Left Data Vulnerable

Julie Creswell and Nicole Perlroth report:

The risks were clear to computer experts inside Home Depot: The home improvement chain, they warned for years, might be easy prey for hackers.

But despite alarms as far back as 2008, Home Depot was slow to raise its defenses, according to former employees.

Read more on NY Times. One of the more startling revelations in the piece, I think:

Then, in 2012, Home Depot hired a computer engineer to help oversee security at its 2,200 stores. But this year, as hacks struck other retailers, that engineer was sentenced to four years in prison for deliberately disabling computers at the company where he previously worked.

Where does this come from? If they see this as a way to make gathering content for their websites and newsletters easier, does the thinking stop there? No need to consider anything beyond the single issue of what makes their life easier?

Privacy fears in AU: Parents being asked to sign blanket permission forms allowing schools to publish online photos of their children

From the really-horrible-idea dept.

Ian Walker reports:

Schools are asking parents for blanket permission to publish online photographs and videos of their children taken in class, the playground and on excursions.

The updated enrolment forms have sparked fears children’s information put onto websites and social media, on top of the usual school newsletter and magazine, could end up in the hands of predators or come back to embarrass a child years later.

The new Department of Education and Communities (DEC) guidelines warn parents the information “can be linked to by third parties and may be discoverable online for a number of years, if not permanently”.

Read more on Daily Telegraph.

So my students will consider giving away the razor in order to sell the blades.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/understanding-how-open-source-software-developers-make-money/

Understanding How Open Source Software Developers Make Money

There are many myths about open source software (OSS) and perhaps the most common is this: open source and profit are mutually exclusive. Surely there are those who believe that all software should be open and free, but they are a minority (not dissimilar to art purists).

The truth is: many OSS developers and projects do generate revenue. Some earn just enough money to survive while others produce so much money that they put proprietary alternatives to shame. How’s that for irony?

That being said, profiting as an OSS developer does require a slight paradigm shift. Rather than seeing your software as the product itself, the trick is to see your software as a platform or catalyst that paves the way for other revenue streams.

My website students might like this.

Palette Town

http://palette.town/

– is a site in which you can find out all of the colours of a picture, simply by dragging and dropping that picture onto the page. You can choose whether or not you want the HEX code for the colours, or the RGB code. When the picture lands on the page, the palette opens, with all the colours. Just click one to get the code.

Because...

My Story Book

https://www.mystorybook.com/

– is an interactive site where kids can make and publish their own online digital storybook. The stories can be about whatever you want, and you can turn the end product into a high quality digital download or a paperback book. It’s free, so why not give it a go? The site gives you everything you need.