Wednesday, November 1, 2006

NYS CPB - Starting November 1, 2006, New Yorkers have a new weapon to use against Identity Theft: the New York State Security Freeze Law What is a Security Freeze? A Security Freeze is one of the newest ways for you to prevent someone from opening a new credit account under your name. When someone uses your name or your personal information to open a new account or to borrow money, that's called Identity Theft. Identity Theft makes it appear that you were responsible for opening these new accounts. There is no charge for a New York State resident to place a Security Freeze on their credit report if you are the victim of Identity Theft or you are making this request for the first time. For second or subsequent requests for a Security Freeze, you may be charged up to $5 for that service. 3:20:57 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

NSA Cases Face Secret Tribunal. NSA Cases Face Secret Tribunal. Congress is poised to pass a bill that could bury dozens of lawsuits over the Bush administration's warrantless spying, hiding them behind the closed doors of an intelligence court in Washington D.C. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News: Top Stories] 3:17:42 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Never Assume Text Is Private. Never Assume Text Is Private. Can you trust your chat buddies not to post your sexual conversations online or send your transcripts to the media? Are you sure? Commentary by Regina Lynn. [Wired News: Top Stories] 3:15:17 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Beaucoup Cell-Phone Security. Beaucoup Cell-Phone Security. Want a phone that can recognize you and refuse to work if you get too far away from it? A new Japanese mobile phone comes with a security card that doubles as a credit card, and has facial ID capability and password protection. [Wired News: Top Stories] 3:08:33 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

30 Years of Public Key Cryptography. 30 Years of Public Key Cryptography. An anonymous reader writes "Public key crypto turned 30 last night, and the biggest names in crypto turned out to celebrate at an event hosted at the Computer History Museum. Voltage Security teamed with RSA to bring together some of the most famous cryptographers of yesterday (Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman) and today (Dan Boneh), along with luminaries Ray Ozzie, Brian Snow, and Jim Bidzos. From the ZDNet article: 'NYT reporter John Markoff, who has covered Silicon Valley for 30 years, was master of ceremonies, and started off by saying that no technology has had a more profound impact than cryptography, and that public-key cryptography has been underappreciated for its role in the Internet. Without public key cryptography, ecommerce would be an idea as opposed to an enabler of billions of daily transactions.' You can view the podcast and pictures of the event at the Voltage Security site.."[Slashdot] 3:04:08 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Vista's hardware tolerance: one significant change before support remediation Windows Vista's licensing terms have raised eyebrows among PC enthusiasts. As previously reported, Windows Vista sports a new Software Protection Platform (SPP) aimed at curbing piracy. Among SPP's many "features" is a service that monitors PCs for evidence of significant hardware changes. New hard drive? New motherboard? Windows Vista will recognize and keep track of the hardware in your PC, much like its predecessor Windows XP did, and it will use that information to monitor licensing compliance. What has enthusiasts concerned are language changes to the retail license for Vista that restrict the number of times you may transfer Vista from one device to another. The license reads: "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time. If you reassign the license, that other device becomes the 'licensed device.'" Putting SPP and the new license together, many have wondered if Windows Vista would permit major hardware changes such as swapping out a motherboard. To make matters more confusing, reports circulated last week claiming that Microsoft's official policy allows for 10 re-activations stemming from hardware changes. We decided to contact Microsoft to get to the facts. 3:00:16 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Vista to Allow "One Significant" Hardware Upgrade. Vista to Allow "One Significant" Hardware Upgrade. fiorenza writes "Ars Technica spoke with Microsoft concerning the controversial changes in Windows Vista's licensing, and they have lerned that Vista will permit one "significant" hardware change before requiring users to either appeal to Microsoft support or purchase another license. Automatic re-activation online will fail after one use. Microsoft is using a new algorithm to monitor hardware changes and enforce licensing compliance, and the company says that it is more forgiving now than it was with Windows XP." [Slashdot] 2:57:02 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

GPS Phone Tells Others Where You Are. GPS Phone Tells Others Where You Are. An anonymous reader writes, "According to CNet, a company called Benefon has launched a cell phone with a built in GPS receiver [~] nothing new there. However, this particular GPS cell phone, called the Twig, does something extra. It can send your GPS coordinates to another Twig owner and then that person can navigate directly to you using the preloaded navigation software. Sounds like this could save a lot of time and effort when trying to explain to the in-laws where your new apartment is." The article says that the phone will cost £330 in the UK, or about $625. [Slashdot] 2:51:27 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

FBI File of Lie Detector's Creator. FBI File of Lie Detector's Creator.   George Maschke writes,  "It appears that the FBI considered William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), who invented the lie detector and created the comic book character Wonder Woman under the pseudonym Charles Moulton, to be a 'phony' and a 'crackpot.' He is alleged to have misrepresented the result of a study he conducted for the Gillette razor company in 1938, for which he reportedly received some $30,000, a handsome sum in those days. Despite these misgivings, the FBI today uses Marston's creation (the polygraph, not the Lasso of Truth) to guide investigations as well as to screen applicants and employees. You can download Marston's FBI file here (736 KB PDF)." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 2:41:41 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Rampant Identity Theft in Ohio May Spread to Voter Records. Rampant Identity Theft in Ohio May Spread to Voter Records. Lax security and procedures open up the potential for identity theft [GT: Security and Privacy] 2:37:10 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

New York ID Theft Laws Become Active This Week. New York ID Theft Laws Become Active This Week. New Yorkers gain right to protect their identities, personal information [...] As three new laws become active Wednesday in the state of New York, residents will gain new powers to proactively safeguard themselves and family members against identity theft. New rights will allow New Yorkers to regularly "freeze" and "unfreeze" credit reports, prohibit online solicitation of personal information and prohibit companies from improperly disposing of customer and employee information. [GT: Security and Privacy] 2:35:21 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

A Different Type of October Scare -- Rootkits, Identity Theft and Cyber Predators. A Different Type of October Scare -- Rootkits, Identity Theft and Cyber Predators. Governments, grassroots come together to educate people during National Cyber Security Month [GT: Security and Privacy] 2:32:15 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Georgia Court Records Reveal Social Security Numbers. Georgia Court Records Reveal Social Security Numbers. A simple online search of a Cherokee County, Georgia, government Web site revealed Social Security numbers posted for all to... [Privacy.org - The Source for News, Information, and Action] 2:30:42 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []

EFF Defends Your Right to Vote on Election Day 2006. EFF Defends Your Right to Vote on Election Day 2006. Hoping for a quiet, orderly election day? Dream on. In recent days -- a full week before most Americans go to the polls -- election observers have already reported problems with electronic voting machines: Selections made on Diebold touchscreen voting machines in Florida have registered for the wrong candidate, evoking widespread reports of similar problems in 2004. Hart Intercivic voting machines in Virginia are truncating the names of several candidates on the summary page, including the name of Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate James H. "Jim" Webb, whose name appears as "James H. 'Jim.'" This year's election will feature hot races for no fewer than sixty House and a dozen Senate seats, along with a slew of contested state and local races. With many races likely to come down to the wire, election irregularities could lead to disaster. Along with our partners in the Election Protection Coalition and numerous volunteers, EFF will once again be on the front lines to ensure that voters' ballots are counted as cast. We will help solve technology-related problems at the polls, document voting machine-related incidents for future examination, and bring any legal action that might be required by equipment failures. EFF today released Electronic Voting Machine Information Sheets that give election observers (and the general public) a quick glimpse into how today's voting equipment works as well as the types of problems that have been reported about these systems in the past. EFF is also investigating reports of voting equipment irregularities and discussing them with on-the-ground observers as well as election officials. Finally, in case something does indeed go wrong next Tuesday, EFF and its partners are preparing legal pleadings that will allow us to go to court to keep polls open, to halt the use of malfunctioning equipment, or stop illegal or erroneous practices by election officials. If you encounter any type of problems on election day, call the Election Protection Hotline at (866) OUR-VOTE. With your help, we'll be able to help protect voters in the short term as well as continue to improve the accuracy, integrity, and transparency of voting technology over the long term. [EFF: Deep Links] 2:27:16 AM  PermaLink   / trackback []