Tuesday, September 5, 2006

LiveScience.com - Garbage Cans Pack Spy Chips Electronic devices (passive RFID tags) about the size of a one-pence piece are screwed into a hole in the lip of the bin. As the bin is hoisted up for emptying, an RFID reader on the refuse truck interrogates the chip, which divulges a serial number identifying the property owner. The weight of the bin is recorded by the truck's sensors and is registered in a database entry along with the serial number. The database entries for the day are downloaded at the dump (now, that's a data dump!) and stored in a vast central databank of property owner behavior. I can smell a new "garbage tax" on people with overly-heavy cans--how about you? 11:29:59 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Your Garbage Can Could Be Spying On You. Your Garbage Can Could Be Spying On You. macs4all writes "Garbage cans all over England are under surveillance tonight. And not by sleepy, fallible humans. This article in Live Science claims that at least 500,000 'wheelie bins' are now using RFID technology." Though that doesn't sound very dire, the article points out the ease with which your consumer spending habits could be tracked. "Although this is frankly a story that is difficult to take seriously, please note the following. You should remember that many of the articles you buy (and sooner or later throw away) are now also equipped with passive RFID tags that detail the item's brand name and product name. If it's possible to scan the tag on the trash can with an ID, it's possible to use similar equipment to quickly scan your can to uncover your purchasing habits." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 11:25:40 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Google to Use PC Microphones to Listen In? Google to Use PC Microphones to Listen In? seriv writes "The Register reports that Google plans to use PC microphones to collect statistics on a user's environment. Peter Norvig, who directs research at Google, told Technology Review that this software would start to show up in Google software 'sooner rather than later'. The software collects short sound clips and removes background noise. Google then targets its ads based on the statistics collected. With the current level of online privacy, this new level of invasion would seem to have frightening possibilities." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 11:20:20 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

toledoblade.com - Plan gains to publicly identify accused COLUMBUS - An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they've never been charged with a crime. No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro's office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate. The committee's decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a "civil registry." The concept was offered by Roman Catholic bishops as an alternative to opening a one-time window for the filing of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that occurred as long as 35 years ago. A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit. The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law. The person's name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live. A civilly declared offender, however, could petition the court to have the person's name removed from the new list after six years if there have been no new problems and the judge believes the person is unlikely to abuse again. 11:15:43 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

State of Ohio Establishes "Pre-Crime" Registry State of Ohio Establishes "Pre-Crime" Registry. I*Love*Green*Olives writes to tell us the Toledo Blade is reporting that State officials have rubber-stamped a "civil-registry" that would allow accused sex offenders to be tracked with the sex offender registry even if they have never been convicted of a crime. From the article: "A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit. The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 11:10:47 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Amazon Snooping Your Surfing For Targeted Ads? Amazon Snooping Your Surfing For Targeted Ads?  Jewfro_Macabbi writes, "Recently after browsing major online retailers for Bluetooth adapters, I went to Amazon.com to find front-page ads for, you guessed it, Bluetooth adapters. Disable cookies, the ads go away; re-enable cookies and the ads re-appear. The EULA is ambiguous as usual. Try it for yourself and see." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 10:22:11 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

California Passes Wi-Fi Guidance Law. California Passes Wi-Fi Guidance Law. MrNonchalant writes, "California's legislature has passed a law requiring Wi-Fi device manufacturers to include warnings about security. From the article: 'From 1 October 2007, manufacturers must place warning labels on all equipment capable of receiving Wi-Fi signals, according to the new state law. These can take the form of box stickers, special notification in setup software, notification during the router setup, or through automatic securing of the connection. One warning sticker must be positioned so that it must be removed by a consumer before the product can be used.'" [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 10:19:38 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Google to Give Data To Brazilian Court Google Inc., which refused in the past year to hand over user search data to U.S. authorities fighting children's access to pornography, said yesterday that it was complying with a Brazilian court's orders to turn over data that could help identify users accused of taking part in online communities that encourage racism, pedophilia and homophobia. The difference, it says, is scale and purpose. The Justice Department wanted Google's entire search index, billions of pages and two months' worth of queries, for a broad civil case. Brazil, by contrast, is looking for information in specific cases involving Google's social networking site, Orkut. "What they're asking for is not billions of pages," said Nicole Wong, Google associate general counsel. "In most cases, it's relatively discrete -- small and narrow." 10:17:19 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Google to Give Data To Brazilian Court. Google to Give Data To Brazilian Court. Edu writes to mention a Washington Post article about Google's olive branch to the Brazilian courts. Despite previously refusing to reveal search information to the U.S. government, the company has announced they'll be releasing information on hate groups to the Brazilian courts. The move is intended to allow the Brazilian government to identify users associated with homophobic and racist groups. From the article: "Orkut pulls objectionable words and pictures from user sites, but Google stores content it feels could be useful in a lawsuit. Orkut is especially popular in Brazil, which accounts for 75 percent of its 17 million users. Legal and privacy experts said that Google had no choice but to comply with the court order. 'From the law enforcement perspective, if the records are in the possession of the business, the business can be compelled to produce them,' said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 10:14:40 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Who Says When Biometrics Data Is Wrong? Who Says When Biometrics Data Is Wrong? An article over at Technokrati called Biometric data integrity and error correction brings up the point of getting the information in a database corrected when humans get labeled wrong. How does an African male prove that he isn't the Swedish female that his passport claims he is? It is something worth keeping in mind. [LinuxBiometrics.com] 10:10:14 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Amateur Data Mining in Google Calendar. Amateur Data Mining in Google Calendar. The Dumb Little Man blog reveals how easy it can be to figure out who a person is, where they live, and what their daily routine & activities are by simply searching through public online calendars (like Google Calendar) and some simple searches or 411 calls. [via Slashdot]] [michaelzimmer.org] 10:07:00 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Fighting Spam. Fighting Spam. Benny Rayner submits this work on the study of spam, where it comes from, what it usually is and etc. By Benny C. Rayner. [Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers] 10:04:38 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

NYPD Launches Third Phase Of Data Warehouse Project. NYPD Launches Third Phase Of Data Warehouse Project. The New York City Police Department is about to start work on the third phase of a massive data-warehouse project that is creating a single repository for most of the city's crime records and crime data. [Computerworld Data Mining News] Editor: I just hope that unlike the feds they have some mandate to actually try confirm the data and make sure that the data is  accurate. 10:03:00 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []