Insect-Sized Drones as Catalysts of Tough Privacy Law

Frankly, I find the reasoning tenuous. Their thesis is that the appearance of tiny flying vehicles bearing cameras that could peek at you when you are naked in the bathroom will cause enough outrage that tougher privacy laws will be passed.


The Drone as Privacy Catalyst
http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/drone-privacy-catalyst

Could Domestic Surveillance Drones Spur Tougher Privacy Laws? 
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/could-domestic-surveillance-drones-spur-tougher-privacy-laws

Typically, there are enough people who want to see information on other people that legislation prohibiting violations of privacy could have a difficult time being passed. "The intent of such surveillance is to catch criminals," they say. It would also be a difficult law to enforce.

Still, what will celebrities do in such a world? When the paparazzi get their pictures from swarms of tiny cameras, what defense will a public figure have? It would seem nearly impossible to hide from all such cameras.   

Robots and Swimsuit Models

http://www.botjunkie.com/2010/11/15/robots-and-swimsuit-models/

N.C. Officials Believe Skill Should be Punished

The logic seems very tenuous:  Kevin Lacy of North Carolina believes that someone should be prosecuted for practicing engineering without a license, even though no representation was made that would require license credentials.

N.C. Official Sics License Police On Computer Scientist For Too Good a Complaint
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/03/2044211/nc-official-sics-license-police-on-computer-scientist-for-too-good-a-complaint

Citizen Activist Grates on State
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/03/964781/citizen-activist-grates-on-state.html

In other words, Lacy is saying that the creator of the traffic report should be prosecuted because his work was too good.

Stolen Credit Card Markets; Passwords; Usernames

Stolen Credit Cards Go for $3.50 at Amazon-like Online Bazaar
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-20/stolen-credit-cards-go-for-3-50-each-at-online-bazaar-that-mimics-amazon.html

The science of password selection 
http://www.troyhunt.com/2011/07/science-of-password-selection.html

How Your Username May Betray You
http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32326/?p1=A4&a=f

RIAA Says "It wasn't us! Somebody hacked our IP address!"

TorrentFreak reports that RIAA is using the same excuse that people it prosecuted used to claim that they didn't download copyrighted movies from Torrent.
https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-someone-else-is-pirating-through-out-ip-addresses-111221/

Previously, TorrentFreak found that Homeland Security, Fox, Sony, and Universal had downloaded material.
http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-and-homeland-security-caught-downloading-torrents-111217/

The irony, hypocrisy, outrage is all clear and obvious. If you would like to check the results yourself, you can always try You Have Downloaded.

Everyone is Watching Your Torrents
https://thunked.org/general/everyone-is-watching-your-torrents-t189.html

Major media companies discovered pirating. See below.

Amazon Granted Location Tracking Patent
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/14/1354245/amazon-granted-location-tracking-patent
Amazon Big Brother patent knows where you'll go
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_162-57342567/amazon-big-brother-patent-knows-where-youll-go/
Sony, Universal and Fox Caught Pirating Through BitTorrent
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/14/0632236/sony-universal-and-fox-caught-pirating-through-bittorrent
Judge Orders Man To Delete Revenge Blog
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/14/0439226/judge-orders-man-to-delete-revenge-blog
Wikipedia Debates Strike Over SOPA
http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/14/0615207/wikipedia-debates-strike-over-sopa
Carrier IQ Responds To FBI Drama, EFF Wants More Information
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/13/2347241/carrier-iq-responds-to-fbi-drama-eff-wants-more-information
24-Year-Old Asks Facebook For His Data, Gets 1,200 PDFs
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/13/2321224/24-year-old-asks-facebook-for-his-data-gets-1200-pdfs

Note to Sony, Universal, Fox, and other media companies:  The concept and name "I Own All Information" are protected under copyright, design, and trademark law. Re-posting, copying this blog in part or in concept, or otherwise misusing this original creative material will be considered theft and will be prosecuted under U.S. Federal law and international laws, including the DMCA as applicable.

The Worst Passwords

Don't use 'monkey', 'Lovely', or 'princess'.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/top-20-most-common-passwords-of-all-time-revealed-8216123456-8216princess-8216qwerty/4519

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/how-to-avoid-the-8220500-worst-passwords-of-all-time-8221/908

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/imperva-rockyou-most-common-passwords,9486.html

A Grab Bag

Scammers Work Around Two-Factor Authentication With Social Engineering

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/12/06/0321250/scammers-work-around-two-factor-authentication-with-social-engineering

Download.com Bundling Adware With Free Software

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/06/014244/downloadcom-bundling-adware-with-free-software

Apple to Samsung: Don't Make Thin or Rectangular Tablets or Smartphones

Apple says, essentially, that you can't make a smartphone or tablet.

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/12/05/2143245/how-to-avoid-infringing-on-apples-patents

http://www.pcworld.com/article/245493/apple_to_samsung_dont_make_thin_or_rectangular_tablets_or_smartphones.html

Digital Face-Swapping Getting Cheaper

In other words, get ready for photographic evidence that can be fabricated to suit any thesis.

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~dale/docs/faceReplace_sa2011.pdf

Multi-Target Photo-Radar System To Make Speeding Riskier

Watches four lanes at once, 32 vehicles at once, records speed and license plate.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/10/31/1846223/multi-target-photo-radar-system-to-make-speeding-riskier

http://www.peakgainsystems.com/en/cordon.html

DARPA to detail program that radically alters security authentication techniques

Going beyond passwords.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/darpa-detail-program-radically-alters-securit

FBI takes out $14M DNS malware operation

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/fbi-takes-out-14m-dns-malware-operation

DARPA gets serious with Internet security, schmoozes the dark side

Describes the DARPA Cyber Analytic Framework, and points out that most exploits average only about 125 lines of code.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/110811-darpa-internet-security-252896.html?hpg1=bn

State-Sponsored Info Control and Hacking

Tunisia Can Alter E-Mails With Big Brother Software

Reporters say that Tunisia's was a kind of test and the technology, sold by European companies, could show up "in other places."

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/82660810/

China-Based Hacking of 760 Companies Reflects Undeclared Global Cyber War

Long article, goes into some depth, and covers a lot of the industrial espionage conducted by China.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/china-based-hacking-of-760-companies-reflects-undeclared-global-cyber-war.html

Indian Minister Seeks To Censor User-Generated Content Online

His demand is for worldwide censorship.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/06/1328220/indian-minister-seeks-to-censor-user-generated-content-online

"I prefer my photos better than reality, please"

I missed this when it emerged in March, but it is still amusing. Panasonic is introducing a camera that makes you more beautiful than you actually were. According to the Slashdot article:

Panasonic Launches Beautifying Camera

...'According to data we've acquired, around 50 percent of our digital camera clients are not satisfied with the way their faces look in a photograph,' she said. 'So we came up with the idea so our clients can fix parts they don't like about their faces after they've taken the picture.'

Holy smokes, only 50 percent!? I wonder if there is any variance between the genders in those statistics...

Creepy Keepers of the Keys

The arguments for surveillance generally are about catching more crooks. The arguments against are that the practitioners of surveillance cannot be trusted; that they will break the laws themselves, and then use their privileged access to avoid punishment. At this point, I'd almost write "well, duh!" But then I can't count the number of times I've seen some comment posted on an article where the writer is voting for more surveillance without a whisper of concern for the "who watches the watchers" problem.

IT Pros Can't Resist Peeking At Privileged Info

26% of IT staff admit to using their privileges to view confidential data. That is the percentage that would admit to it.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/05/1530240/it-pros-cant-resist-peeking-at-privileged-info

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=12048

GCreep: Google Engineer Stalked Teens, Spied on Chats

A Google staffer, no less, with the mission to "not be evil" was nevertheless. Quote: "...SREs are given unfettered access to users' accounts for the services they oversee..."

http://gawker.com/5637234/

Government Spying on Itself

Usually this kind of article (if found on someplace other than IOAI) would have a link about some nefarious Government plot to read our emails. And maybe that will show up in the future, but this time, the paranoids out there in media land goofed(!):

New US Government Project To Monitor Electronic Communication

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/05/1511239/new-us-government-project-to-monitor-electronic-communication

COULD THE U.S. GOVERNMENT START READING YOUR EMAILS?

http://news.discovery.com/tech/government-reading-emails-privacy-111203.html

These articles are reporting on PRODIGAL, which is created by Georgia Tech for the U.S. Government. What's lost during the fireworks and outrage, however, is that PRODIGAL is designed to spy on internal Government computer networks. This is an actual case, if the story is correct, of an informational organization seeking to reinforce probity through active surveillance of itself. In other words, this is a mole-catcher. And the media reports are badly inaccurate in tone.

Moral: Not everything about privacy and surveillance is gloom and doom. The PRODIGAL story is not exactly a lullaby that will help you sleep better, but it is a step forward and upward.

Facebook Keeps Shadow Profiles on Non-Users

This article started out as a report on the supposed shadow profiles that Facebook keeps on non-users. The arc of the story is clear: Some people choose not to have Facebook accounts because they don't trust the company or its web site, but if Facebook keeps secret data caches on non-users then it is up to something more than just providing a service. Here are some of the stories:

Facebook Is Building Shadow Profiles of Non-Users

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/18/1429223/facebook-is-building-shadow-profiles-of-non-users

and the actual document of the complaint:

http://europe-v-facebook.org/Compalint_02_Shadow_Profiles.pdf

Facebook Building 'Shadow Profiles' of Non-Members, Experts Allege

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/21/facebook-building-shadow-profiles-non-members-experts-allege/

Facebook is 'building shadow profiles of NON-users', says complaint to privacy watchdog

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2052500/Facebook-building-shadow-profiles-non-users-claims-privacy-watchdog.html

[Whoops, that was two Murdoch links back to back. Here is an independent voice.]

Facebook Ireland accused of creating 'shadow profiles' on users, nonusers

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20123919-93/facebook-ireland-accused-of-creating-shadow-profiles-on-users-nonusers/

Of course, Facebook says that it is not keeping profiles of non-users. It does admit to keeping names and emails and linking them to people who are users.

Facebook denies “Shadow Profile” claims; Risks €100k privacy fine

http://www.slashgear.com/facebook-denies-shadow-profile-claims-risks-e100k-privacy-fine-24190251/

I started thinking about Facebook's claim. If they only keep name and email, that is more than most us would like, but it could be a lot less than all the rest of these background investigation sites have:

pipl.com

www.intelius.com

www.spokeo.com

www.peoplefinders.com

www.anywho.com

www.whowhere.com

www.zabasearch.com

www.peoplesmart.com

www.beenverified.com

backgroundsearch.com

www.peoplerecords.com

www.backgroundpi.com

www.snoopstation.com

Every single one of these sites keeps a "shadow profile" on millions of people. So is Facebook any worse? Or should we be just as alarmed at spokeo or pipl or snoopstation?

One thing that is different is that Facebook keeps social network data. Spokeo may not have any links data connecting Smith with Johnson. Or they might. But we know for sure that Facebook does, and that its plans for using network data are more sophisticated than what we've seen from the public records publishers in the past.

Background on backgrounds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_check

Another Facebook Spill

The funny thing about this one is someone used the exploit and then showed photos from Mark Zuckerberg's own account to prove that the exploit worked.

Facebook Flaw Exposed Private Photos

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/06/203249/facebook-flaw-exposed-private-photos

There are dozens of news reports with this story, from CBS, Perez Hilton, Slate, Forbes, Times of India, NY Post, slashdot, The Age, PC Mag, and the list goes on and on.

Just search for "zuckerberg private photos" on Google.

CarrierIQ: The Saga So Far

What keeps this blog hopping is that there are so many violations of privacy expectations these days. That means I can barely keep up, and you can read about the details from many other sources that have better information than I do. Here is my collection of articles and links about Carrier IQ and its spat with the cell-phone-using public.

Background: Trevor Eckhart discovered a piece of software (a rootkit?) installed on many Android, Blackberry, and Nokia cell phones that records keystrokes(?) and records just about everything that happens on that phone. When this news became public, Carrier IQ issued a cease-and-desist letter to Eckhart. The tech-savvy community took this as confirmation that everything Carrier IQ was accused of doing was true.

Carrier IQ: Most Phones Ship With "Rootkit" (11/16/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/16/1517248/carrieriq-most-phones-ship-with-rootkit

Carrier IQ Tries To Silence Security Researcher (11/22/11)

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/11/23/0032233/carrieriq-tries-to-silence-security-researcher

Cease and Desist Letter Sent to Eckhart by Carrier IQ (11/16/11)

https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/eckhart_cease_desist_demand_redacted.pdf

More on Carrier IQ (11/15/11)

Analyzes and extrapolates on the emerging data, pointing out that phone company employees would then have extremely good intell that could be used for home invasions.

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/more-on-carrier-iq/

Carrier IQ Relents, Apologizes (11/24/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/24/1852213/carrier-iq-relents-apologizes

Their press release (11/23/11):

http://www.carrieriq.com/company/PR.EckhartStatement.pdf

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/23/2583862/carrier-iq-retracts-cease-and-desist-letter-sent-to-xda-developers

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging (12/2/11)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57335715-281/how-carrier-iq-was-wrongly-accused-of-keylogging/

Carrier IQ Drama Continues (12/3/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/03/2112220/carrier-iq-drama-continues

So what's going on? Carrier IQ has pointed out that if anyone is recording anything, it is the carriers, who have control over the data stream.

Interestingly, in the CNET article above, they say "...AT&T's statement, which merely says that Carrier IQ is used in accordance with the company's privacy policies." To me, this sounds like a paper wall between the public and spooky surveillance. What AT&T is really saying is, "we don't look at unless the Federal government shows up and tells us to give your data to them."

Just Plain Spooky - A Links Collection

Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans’ Credit Cards in Real Time

This is about a year old. The Wired site has a full DOJ PowerPoint presentation. Aside from being spooky, this is a problem when fitted together with the "all data spills" concept. That is, if we assume that Fed personnel are human, and therefore subject to little side deals and payments, then this data leaks out to "unnamed third parties" continually.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/realtime/

Canon blocks copy jobs by keyword

Using OCR, plus I assume other means, Canon's Uniflow 5 system can read the content of documents being scanned, printed, and copied and record the existence of trigger words or even block specific functions.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/235047,canon-blocks-copy-jobs-by-keyword.aspx

Cookies on Your Computer That Last Forever

Hackers have been working on making tracking cookies that cannot be deleted. This is a holy grail goal for both marketeers and spy agencies. (No difference!) Warning: If you go to this URL, they may place a tracking cookie on your browser (and computer) that you may not be able to get rid of.

http://samy.pl/evercookie/

'Pre-crime' Comes to the HR Dept

A company called Social Intelligence is scraping your Facebook, MySpace, Google+, LinkedIn and other posts and building a case file that will be sold to companies that want to judge whether you will be a fit employee.

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/features/article.php/3905931/Pre-crime-Comes-to-the-HR-Dept.htm

Black duck eggs and other secrets of Chinese hackers

Plain old industrial espionage, yum yum. I think this is pretty much the epitome of the undeniable tell. China, you can't deny that black duck eggs would be available in that tiny town! Dead give away!

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/black-duck-eggs-and-other-secrets-chinese-hac

Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans

American Science & Engineering, based in Billerica, Massachusetts, makes the Z Backscatter Vans ("ZBV") that can be used on any road and used to peer through building walls. (I wonder what the medically-indicated maximum dose of X-ray radiation from these things is? How long until the surveillance is so regular that cancer rates go up?)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2010/08/24/full-body-scan-technology-deployed-in-street-roving-vans/

Intellectual Property Conflicts - A Links Collection

Nintendo's 3DS Terms of Services seizes ownership (copyright) of all things you write.

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/nintendo

Some doctors and dentists are requiring that you assign your copyrights to them.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/all-your-reviews-are-belong-to-us-medical-justice-vs-patient-free-speech.ars

Dropbox officially stated that information you uploaded could not be read by them, but actually, it can.

http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2011/04/how-dropbox-sacrifices-user-privacy-for.html

Slashdot reports that California thinks it can copyright its laws. (Sorry, I know this is old. But it is still a great candidate for this category.)

"Don't Share That Law! It's Copyrighted"

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/09/03/181251/dont-share-that-law-its-copyrighted

CarrierIQ is deserving of an article all by itself, but in the meantime I'll tide myself over with pointing out this: If keylogging is occurring, then CarrierIQ is violating copyright law, because the text typed by a user is automatically copyrighted upon creation. Further, any text that is "interesting" to CarrierIQ or its clients would, by virtue of being "interesting," have value; by having value it automatically self-strengthens its copyright.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/03/2112220/carrier-iq-drama-continues

Today's Perspectives

From TechDirt, an interview about SOPA et al

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111121/03340416853/best-selling-author-barry-eisler-copyright-piracy-why-sopapipa-are-extremely-disturbing.shtml

China Newspaper Says Cyber Hotline Needed

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/2135254/china-wants-cyber-crisis-hotline

News Corp Hacked U.K. Govt?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/183218/news-corp-hacking-scandal-spreads-to-government

DuQu Team Stayed a Step Ahead of Investigators

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/1610228/duqu-attackers-managed-to-wipe-cc-servers

Thomas Jefferson on the Ubiquity of Ideas

Today's thought is lifted from a May 2007 TechDirt piece, and is a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.