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Give the Gift of Computer Security

Why not give the gift of safer computing habits this year? This articles outlines how you can give someone the gift of secure computing with very little effort:

“Internet use can be far safer for most home computer users through the use of free tools and services that help protect computers from malicious code that can lead to identity theft and fraud.”

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Free Firewalls Outclass Commercial Firewalls

“Free firewalls are better than their paid-for cousins. That is the surprising conclusion of a test of desktop firewalls by security researchers.

Researchers at David Matousec’s matousec.com carried out tests on 21 leading products using 26 assessment programs known as “leak” testers. These simulated a total of 77 test attacks on firewalls, configured using both out-of-the-box and optimal security settings. Each firewall was then awarded points based on its ability to pass each leak test in both modes. “

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DMCA Led to Sony Rootkit

ArsTechnica is reporting that Sony’s lack of regard for its customers as well as the DMCA lead it to developing the now infamous CD rootkit.

“In a new paper examining the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, a pair of lawyers argue that the music company didn’t just damage itself—it unwittingly struck a blow against DRM in general.

Deirdre Mulligan and Aaron Perzanowski are the authors of “The Magnificence of the Disaster,” which looks at the entire chronology of Sony BMG’s problems with CD copy protection technology in an attempt to understand just how the label could have made a blunder of this magnitude. The paper, published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, argues that the rootkit was the result of more than “utter disregard, or even contempt, for user security and privacy.” It was a product of market, technology, and legal factors that all encouraged Sony BMG to go forward with its ill-advised plan. “

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Computer Hackers Will Always be One Step Ahead

Gunslot is carrying an interesting article on why computer hackers will always be one step ahead of the government:

“The United States Government, Playboy, Western Union, Creditcards.com and CD Universe are just a few of thousands of businesses and government departments that have been hacked into resulting in over a billion dollars of damages per year and climbing. The number of hackings will continue to climb because finance to hackers and organization by hackers will keep hackers ahead of the law.

Playboy’s nightmare began when a hacker broke into the company’s database and stole the company’s customer credit card and personal information. Playboy was then extorted over a period of months with the thief brazenly taunting law enforcement officials and company executives. The thief unfortunately could not be traced. “

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My ISP Gave NBC My Packet History, and They’re Abusing It.

Talk about a chilling effect. This blows “privacy” right out of the water, shoots it a few dozen times, then chops it into itty bitty pieces and uses the pieces to make fish food.

“People of the Internet, I have a story to tell. A story with a few morals to it and a dire warning to all of you.

Last week, due to poor weather and a massive overreaction of my parents, I lost the ability to drive my car for a week or so. I don’t really care, and it’s not really relevant to most of the story, but it’s how it all began, more or less.

Today (Wednesday, December 12th, 2007), I got into my dad’s truck when he came to get me from school. We had driven for about ten seconds when suddenly turned to me as said, in a very serious voice: “Son, what does ‘Shaun of the Dead’ mean to you?”

I had no idea what he was talking talking about. Well, of course I knew of the Dawn of the Dead semi-parody film; a few days ago, while at work (I work at our local F.Y.E. (music/movie store) in the mall here), I had contemplated buying it after seeing how much it was on sale. I told him this, and he was silent for a second. Slowly, he replied “y’know, lying’s not going to get you anywhere.”

Again, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. When I told him this, and he thrust a printed-out paper into my hands, saying “read this” with disgust.

I, having the ability to read extremely fast, digested the page in around fifteen seconds. It was an e-mail, printed off with today’s date on it. I will transcribe it below, using asterisks to hide the parts I don’t wish to reveal.”

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Why Anonymous Data Isn’t Anonymous

Sometimes we take for granted that “anonymous data” is actually anonymous, but is it really anonymous? According to this article from Wired, no:

“Last year, Netflix published 10 million movie rankings by 500,000 customers, as part of a challenge for people to come up with better recommendation systems than the one the company was using. The data was anonymized by removing personal details and replacing names with random numbers, to protect the privacy of the recommenders.

Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, de-anonymized some of the Netflix data by comparing rankings and timestamps with public information in the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb.

Their research (.pdf) illustrates some inherent security problems with anonymous data, but first it’s important to explain what they did and did not do. “

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Top US Government Research Lab Hacked

File this one under “really frickin’ scary” -

“Hackers successfully infiltrated Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the nation’s leading government-run research facilities. The attackers gained access by sending e-mails infected with trojan horses to ORNL employees. The lab claims that no classified information was retrieved, but admits that the perpetrators managed to acquire a database containing personal information about ORNL visitors and employees, including Social Security numbers.

“A hacker illegally gained access to ORNL computers by sending staff e-mails that appeared to be official legitimate communications. When the employees opened the attachment or accessed an embedded link, the hacker planted a program on the employees’ computers that enabled the hacker to copy and retrieve information,” ORNL revealed in a statement. “No classified information was lost; However, visitor personal information may have been stolen. If you visited ORNL between the years 1990 and 2004, your name and other personal information, such as your Social Security number or date of birth, may have been part of the stolen information.” “

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Don’t Copy That Floppy

Don’t copy that floppy, otherwise you might lose your computer, router, and any equipment that may have assisted in some kind of file sharing. The wording of the bill is scary as hell - the proposed group can seize your assets and auction them off before you are ever accused of or found guilty of a crime. Yikes.

“In the aftermath of the $222,000 jury verdict that the Recording Industry Association of America recently won against a Minnesota woman who shared 24 songs on Kazaa, the U.S. Congress is preparing to amend copyright law.

Politicians want to increase penalties for copyright infringement.

It’s no joke. Top Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced a sweeping 69-page bill that ratchets up civil penalties for copyright infringement, boosts criminal enforcement, and even creates a new federal agency charged with bringing about a national and international copyright crackdown. “

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Wikipedia Sued for being Nazi Sympathizers?

While Wikipedia has been under fire for its internal policies, the encyclopedia that (almost) anyone can edit is coming under fire in Germany for … being Nazi Sympathizers?

“There’s been no shortage of stories lately alleging that Wikipedia moderators have fascist tendencies, but a new case goes one step further. A German politician has filed charges against Wikipedia alleging that the worlds most famous UGC site promotes Nazism.”

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House Passes SAFE Act

The House has passed the SAFE - Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online - act with only two dissenting votes. According to engadget, the bill is a bad thing because it’s a harsh rule that requires strict monitoring of Internet connections that borders on gestapo-esque:

“The new bill requires everyone (that includes you and Starbucks) offering an open WiFi connection to the public to be on the lookout for report known “illegal images” and “obscene” cartoons and drawings. The reporting requirement extends to cover social networking sites, ISPs, and email providers. Failing to dutifully report what you’ve seen (or haven’t seen but are unwittingly complicit in) could leave your data seized and in debt from fines of up to $300,000.”

View the SAFE act here.
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DoJ Says Damages in RIAA Case Not Unconstitutional

In a move that will surely pique the interest of Ron Paul, the Department of justice has chimed in the Capitol v. Thomas case that the $222,000 damages sought by Capitol is not unconstitutional:

“The US government has weighed in on the constitutionality of the $222,000 damage award in Capitol v. Thomas with a brief filed yesterday. The government suggests that the court avoid ruling on the constitutionality of the statutory damages clause of the Copyright Act. Should the court feel the need to rule on the constitutionality, it should find that the damages award does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.
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After a three-day trial, single mother Jammie Thomas was found to have willfully infringed on the record label’s copyrights. The jury awarded the RIAA statutory damages of $9,250 per song, for a total of $222,000, out of a maximum of $150,000 per track.”

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How to Track Down Anyone Online, Anywhere

LifeHacker has an interesting piece on how you can track anyone down anywhere, without using Google. this goes from simply finding out someone’s name, to their phone number, where they live, and even where they work. Yikes.

For those of you with short attention spans, here are the services they recommend:

  • ZabaSearch - for finding names, phone numbers, and addresses.
  • Pipl - for bringing up information that Google might miss. Pipl indexes pages that the Googlebots have decided are not worth visiting.
  • Wink - for searching several social networking websites at once. It’s amazing what you can find on these sites.
  • Zoominfo - will give you the employment results on the person you’re stalk-er-searching.

“When you’re trying to find someone online, Google’s not the only game in town. In the last two years, a handful of new people search engines have come onto the scene that offer better ways to pinpoint people info by name, handle, location, or place of employment. While there’s still no killer, one-stop people search, there are more ways than ever to track down a long-lost friend, stalk an ex, or screen a potential date or employee. The next time you wonder, “What ever happened to so-and-so?” you’ve got a few power people search tools to turn to.

Note: Stalking is serious business. When we say ’stalk,’ we’re exaggerating, not recommending.

Reach the rest of the article here.

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Find, Identify, Track And Monitor Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

UFOs (ubiquitous-findable-objects) are coming.

The term ‘ambient findability’ describes a world at the crossroads of ubiquitous computing and the internet, in which we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at any time. It’s not necessarily a goal, and we’ll never achieve perfect findability, but we’re surely headed in the right direction.

A clear sign of progress is the emergence of ubiquitous findable objects (UFOs). GPS, RFID, UWB, and cellular triangulation enable us, for the first time in history, to tag and track products, possessions, pets, and people as they wander through space and time.

Of course, not everyone is happy about this brave new world of UFOs.

While Bruce Sterling raves about spime, Katherine Albrecht rants about spychips.

This debate focuses our attention on the UFO subclass of, ‘ubiquitous findable organisms’ that includes wild animals, pets, friends, suspects, shoppers, patients, prisoners, employees, kids, and ourselves.

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Structured Settlements Explained

Structured settlements, unlike the lump sum payment of typical personal injury settlements, are paid to the plaintiff (you) over the course of time. Often the period of time is equivalent to the duration of the plaintiff’s life, with the payments taking the form of a lifetime annuity.

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Lawsuit Settlement Funding

There are two types of settlement funding, pre-settlement funding, and post-settlement funding. Pre-settlement funding is when a person who has been injured and filed a personal injury lawsuit receives advance funds to help fund the suit or their living expenses, in anticipation of the settlement of their lawsuit.

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Mesothelioma Cancer Law

Mesothelioma cancer law is really personal injury law applied to people who have contracted mesothelioma cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is an otherwise very rare form of cancer which invades the mesothelial cells in the membranes in the chest and abdominal cavity.

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Asbestos Removal Laws and You

Asbestos removal laws regulate the removal of asbestos because asbestos has turned out to be such a terribly toxic substance. Thousands of people have come down with horrifying, painful cancers as a result of asbestos exposure.

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Admiralty Law and Maritime Law and Personal Injury

Maritime law and admiralty law govern what happens on the seas (offshore), including accidents leading to personal injury cases, such as a boat accident injury. The terms ‘admiralty law’ and ‘maritime law’ are usually used interchangeably.

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Class Action Lawsuits

Class action lawsuits are a way for the court, and everybody involved, to streamline the process when many people have legal claims arising from the same event.

For example, a medication may injure many people, such as Vioxx, which has recently been in the news for causing heart problems.

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Ads At Bottom Of Internet Patrol Web Site? Chitika eMiniMall!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about those new ads with the pictures that are at the bottom of the page on the Internet Patrol Web site.

These ads are suggestions made by me personally, using the new Chitika “eMiniMall” program.

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