Personally, I can't wait for these to become commonplace. I use whole disk encryption not because I don't want my partner/friends accessing my data (my computer's on all the time anyway in an unencrypted state any business documents and porn are tucked away using TrueCrypt), not because I'm scared of LEOs or G-men (they're welcome to my files), but because I don't want some prick burgling my house, plugging in my hard drive to their computer, and posting my photographs and poking around looking for passwords to sell. So bring on the back doors, I can remember my passwords, and anyone with the knowledge to hack the hard drive to get at the data is doing it for more than my photos and old university papers. I can change my passwords faster than they can sell them.
Very much so because Microsoft decided to name their browser Internet Explorer while their OS GUI is called Windows Explorer. As much as we, in this crowd, may consider that a clear separation of utility, the layman finds it of utmost confusion and usually defaults to the idea that because they're both "Explorers" that they must in fact be tied one and together for the computer to work at all. That is, the "internet" will only work through the Internet Explorer because their "documents and stuff" only works through the Windows Explorer...
Somewhat anecdotally, I developed a little something for London's Metropolitan Police that would've been a lot easier if their nearly 52,000 employees had access to Flash. Met systems don't use it; I'd speculate that most government systems here don't and won't.
To be honest, although going off at a tangent (or completely OT if you want to see it that way), I am MUCH more concerned (with apps in general on Facebook) with this little gem:
II. Consent Regarding Use of Facebook Site Information
(a) Information That May Be Provided to Developers. In order to allow you to use and participate in Platform Applications created by Developers ("Developer Applications"), Facebook may from time to time provide Developers access to the following information (collectively, the "Facebook Site Information"):
(i) any information provided by you and visible to you on the Facebook Site, excluding any of your Contact Information, and
(ii) the user ID associated with your Facebook Site profile.
(b) Examples of Facebook Site Information. The Facebook Site Information may include, without limitation, the following information, to the extent visible on the Facebook Site: your name, your profile picture, your gender, your birthday, your hometown location (city/state/country), your current location (city/state/country), your political view, your activities, your interests, your musical preferences, television shows in which you are interested, movies in which you are interested, books in which you are interested, your favorite quotes, the text of your "About Me" section, your relationship status, your dating interests, your relationship interests, your summer plans, your Facebook user network affiliations, your education history, your work history, your course information, copies of photos in your Facebook Site photo albums, metadata associated with your Facebook Site photo albums (e.g., time of upload, album name, comments on your photos, etc.), the total number of messages sent and/or received by you, the total number of unread messages in your Facebook in-box, the total number of "pokes" you have sent and/or received, the total number of wall posts on your Wall, a list of user IDs mapped to your Facebook friends, your social timeline, and events associated with your Facebook profile.
When one tries to add any application to their profile, it says, from which the above was quoted (emphasis mine):
(No financial incentive for referral, I'm just a stats junkie) Project Honey Pot is a collaborative project that you can install to a web server or just stick some links into web pages, like:
Yummy Email Addresses! - They include examples to try to keep it hidden from regular users (like setting display:none).
A web bot would parse it and find a bunch of hoax email addresses (check the source and scroll to the end of the code) that, when emails are sent to them, are collected in the "project." You can also donate MXs (e.g. mail2.yourdomain.com) to give them a wider spectrum of emails to play with.
They filed a lawsuit recently and the info also goes toward a publicly available database. Interesting stuff. I joined a couple of weeks ago and my stats are already building.
The relevant thing here is that they're including forms now to catch comment spammers, not just email addresses.
The past few days alone have exhibited an increase in this sort of problem exactly (re: encryption). Why large companies aren't using encryption as a standard is something that needs to be answered. Consider the eBay case where on the 4 May 2007:
Sensitive case notes on vulnerable children in Essex have been found on a computer sold on eBay's auction site. and the NHS case where on the 2 May 2007:
About 10,000 health workers in Cornwall have been warned that they could be the victims of fraud after their bank details were stolen.
The latter being more prevalent in my opinion as a critique of the NHS computer systems is revealed only weeks (16 April 2007) before the breach.
Let's not forget the Los Alamos hard drive scandal, and the countless dozens of other thefts/breaches/losses etc.
Taking into account that I'm a/. user, I am also a professional photographer, and out of simple courtesy to the models that I photograph in revealing states, and also to any other client who has publishing rights to my photographs, I use whole disk encryption (PGP) which cost me (if memory recalls correctly) £85 or so, now up to £114 according to the site. A little expensive, yes, but certainly worth it considering site license discount (I'm ignoring admin, I know)? How many other breaches of data have been kept quiet because they didn't involve employees who could snitch to the press?
The corporations pay big money for licenses to Office, and their proprietary software systems. Why can't they invest in encryption?
Perhaps these PR blunders and the cost of repairing them (e.g. the NHS is paying for credit reports for all affected employees) just doesn't offset the cost of the licenses...
I would like to point out that it is a common misconception that bands earn their wages from live concerts. It is quite to the contrary!
Most bands play local gigs for free, when they're small because they have to, when they're big because local gigs then become "secret gigs."
Move on to much larger venues, yes, they may get paid (after the manager, producer, venue itself, etc. etc.) enough for the drinks they go for after the set, but by no means is this their primary income, merely because it's damned expensive to run a large gig, whether it be at a mainstream venue, and even less likely at a festival as the bands are usually invited and go for the free booze/food/fun/promotion.
No, their primary income is from CD sales. Why do you think some bands are trying to ride at the forefront of the digital downloads? Because they feel that that's going to be their cash cow. i.e. they get a bigger commission as they're cutting out people in the middle.
Secondly, their money comes from endorsements and advertising.
So, these bands earn a living from their CD/Vinyl/Download sales through the pennies that they earn per sale until they gain enough clout to grab the serious cash in advertising.
Remember that every rung on the ladder is harder to get to than the previous. Free gigs, CDs start to sell (usually self-produced), larger gigs, CDs sell, but contract bites them in the ass on commission, popularity increases, larger gigs, still don't pay well, but now they can live easily off of their heavy-selling CDs, finally, advertising, and they end up on "MTV Cribs."
Slashdot Mirror
Bitch.
Every once in a while, editors get to approve the best things...
Personally, I can't wait for these to become commonplace. I use whole disk encryption not because I don't want my partner/friends accessing my data (my computer's on all the time anyway in an unencrypted state any business documents and porn are tucked away using TrueCrypt), not because I'm scared of LEOs or G-men (they're welcome to my files), but because I don't want some prick burgling my house, plugging in my hard drive to their computer, and posting my photographs and poking around looking for passwords to sell. So bring on the back doors, I can remember my passwords, and anyone with the knowledge to hack the hard drive to get at the data is doing it for more than my photos and old university papers. I can change my passwords faster than they can sell them.
Very much so because Microsoft decided to name their browser Internet Explorer while their OS GUI is called Windows Explorer. As much as we, in this crowd, may consider that a clear separation of utility, the layman finds it of utmost confusion and usually defaults to the idea that because they're both "Explorers" that they must in fact be tied one and together for the computer to work at all. That is, the "internet" will only work through the Internet Explorer because their "documents and stuff" only works through the Windows Explorer...
Somewhat anecdotally, I developed a little something for London's Metropolitan Police that would've been a lot easier if their nearly 52,000 employees had access to Flash. Met systems don't use it; I'd speculate that most government systems here don't and won't.
If these goons can't work it out between them then it's going to be hard to track down.
It's already in use...
No, really! It's been slashdotted!
:)
Gotcha
II. Consent Regarding Use of Facebook Site Information
(a) Information That May Be Provided to Developers. In order to allow you to use and participate in Platform Applications created by Developers ("Developer Applications"), Facebook may from time to time provide Developers access to the following information (collectively, the "Facebook Site Information"):
(i) any information provided by you and visible to you on the Facebook Site, excluding any of your Contact Information, and
(ii) the user ID associated with your Facebook Site profile.
(b) Examples of Facebook Site Information. The Facebook Site Information may include, without limitation, the following information, to the extent visible on the Facebook Site: your name, your profile picture, your gender, your birthday, your hometown location (city/state/country), your current location (city/state/country), your political view, your activities, your interests, your musical preferences, television shows in which you are interested, movies in which you are interested, books in which you are interested, your favorite quotes, the text of your "About Me" section, your relationship status, your dating interests, your relationship interests, your summer plans, your Facebook user network affiliations, your education history, your work history, your course information, copies of photos in your Facebook Site photo albums, metadata associated with your Facebook Site photo albums (e.g., time of upload, album name, comments on your photos, etc.), the total number of messages sent and/or received by you, the total number of unread messages in your Facebook in-box, the total number of "pokes" you have sent and/or received, the total number of wall posts on your Wall, a list of user IDs mapped to your Facebook friends, your social timeline, and events associated with your Facebook profile.
When one tries to add any application to their profile, it says, from which the above was quoted (emphasis mine):
Brief blurb. By clicking 'add', you agree to the Platform Application Terms of Use.(No financial incentive for referral, I'm just a stats junkie)
Project Honey Pot is a collaborative project that you can install to a web server or just stick some links into web pages, like:
Yummy Email Addresses! - They include examples to try to keep it hidden from regular users (like setting display:none).
A web bot would parse it and find a bunch of hoax email addresses (check the source and scroll to the end of the code) that, when emails are sent to them, are collected in the "project." You can also donate MXs (e.g. mail2.yourdomain.com) to give them a wider spectrum of emails to play with.
They filed a lawsuit recently and the info also goes toward a publicly available database. Interesting stuff. I joined a couple of weeks ago and my stats are already building.
The relevant thing here is that they're including forms now to catch comment spammers, not just email addresses.
The past few days alone have exhibited an increase in this sort of problem exactly (re: encryption). Why large companies aren't using encryption as a standard is something that needs to be answered. Consider the eBay case where on the 4 May 2007:
Sensitive case notes on vulnerable children in Essex have been found on a computer sold on eBay's auction site. and the NHS case where on the 2 May 2007:About 10,000 health workers in Cornwall have been warned that they could be the victims of fraud after their bank details were stolen.
The latter being more prevalent in my opinion as a critique of the NHS computer systems is revealed only weeks (16 April 2007) before the breach.
Let's not forget the Los Alamos hard drive scandal, and the countless dozens of other thefts/breaches/losses etc.
Taking into account that I'm a /. user, I am also a professional photographer, and out of simple courtesy to the models that I photograph in revealing states, and also to any other client who has publishing rights to my photographs, I use whole disk encryption (PGP) which cost me (if memory recalls correctly) £85 or so, now up to £114 according to the site. A little expensive, yes, but certainly worth it considering site license discount (I'm ignoring admin, I know)? How many other breaches of data have been kept quiet because they didn't involve employees who could snitch to the press?
The corporations pay big money for licenses to Office, and their proprietary software systems. Why can't they invest in encryption?
Perhaps these PR blunders and the cost of repairing them (e.g. the NHS is paying for credit reports for all affected employees) just doesn't offset the cost of the licenses...Oh yeah...
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
*ducks*
The other useful 100bpm sing-along is: aNOTHer one BITES the DUST... aNOTHer one BITES the DUST...
Sorry for being an idiot and not HTMLing that post...
I would like to point out that it is a common misconception that bands earn their wages from live concerts. It is quite to the contrary! Most bands play local gigs for free, when they're small because they have to, when they're big because local gigs then become "secret gigs." Move on to much larger venues, yes, they may get paid (after the manager, producer, venue itself, etc. etc.) enough for the drinks they go for after the set, but by no means is this their primary income, merely because it's damned expensive to run a large gig, whether it be at a mainstream venue, and even less likely at a festival as the bands are usually invited and go for the free booze/food/fun/promotion. No, their primary income is from CD sales. Why do you think some bands are trying to ride at the forefront of the digital downloads? Because they feel that that's going to be their cash cow. i.e. they get a bigger commission as they're cutting out people in the middle. Secondly, their money comes from endorsements and advertising. So, these bands earn a living from their CD/Vinyl/Download sales through the pennies that they earn per sale until they gain enough clout to grab the serious cash in advertising. Remember that every rung on the ladder is harder to get to than the previous. Free gigs, CDs start to sell (usually self-produced), larger gigs, CDs sell, but contract bites them in the ass on commission, popularity increases, larger gigs, still don't pay well, but now they can live easily off of their heavy-selling CDs, finally, advertising, and they end up on "MTV Cribs."
There is no such thing as bad publicity (except your own obituary.)
-Brendan Behan, Irish author & dramatist (1923 - 1964)
...must get invited to parties all the time.