Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Ithaca Journal - Enhanced federal IDs could spark biometrics boom The technology has been the stuff of movies for years: A secret agent runs his fingertip and an encrypted ID card over a pair of sensors. There's a match, and the door swings open. In the coming months, a wave of government initiatives could start making such high-tech methods of identification commonplace -- beginning with the replacement this fall of federal employee IDs. Similar cards are planned for transportation workers, first responders and visitors to the United States.      Packed with biometric data such as fingerprints and containing a computer chip with room to expand the amount of information stored, the new IDs represent a potential boon to technology companies eyeing an estimated $8 billion in identity-related contracts. Firms such as BearingPoint Inc. and Lockheed Martin Corp. have set up showcase identity labs, pulling technology from different companies into turnkey operations. Hundreds of smaller companies, down to manufacturers of plastic cards, are vying for part of the market. The biggest business opportunity still looms: Driver's licenses, which are due for a retooling under new federal laws. 5:51:44 PM

E-Health Gaffe Exposes Hospital. E-Health Gaffe Exposes Hospital. An Indiana computer consultant finds a password hard-coded into a popular medical office application, and that leads to patient data from a hospital in Washington, D.C. By Kevin Poulsen. [Wired News: Security Blanket] 5:48:42 PM

Pay By Touch puts its finger on ID verification system. Pay By Touch puts its finger on ID verification system. Pay By Touch, a credit card processing and in-store biometrics vendor, has launched an identity verification service that allows online shoppers to make purchases by using their fingerprint to verify their identity. [Computerworld Privacy News] 5:41:13 PM

Microsoft revokes MVP status of adware distributor. Microsoft revokes MVP status of adware distributor. Microsoft has revoked one of its Most Valued Professional awards after learning that the recipient distributes adware. [Computerworld Privacy News] 5:39:40 PM

BBC NEWS | Technology | Internet privacy 'sacrificed' by Icann Internet law professor Michael Geist argues that the internet oversight body has sacrificed the issue of privacy for a shot at independence. For the past five years, privacy has lingered as one of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (Icann) most contentious policy issues. Information on tens of millions of domain name registrants is contained in the "WHOIS database", which is readily available to anyone with internet access. Pre-dating Icann, the database identifies the name, address and other personal information of domain name registrants. Privacy groups, including European data protection commissioners, have expressed misgivings about the mandatory collection and disclosure of this personal information. 5:11:17 PM

Congress Wades Into HP Probe. Congress Wades Into HP Probe. A Congressional committee, federal prosecutors and the FBI all join California's Attorney General to investigate the legalities of Hewlett Packard's questionable information-gathering methods. [Wired News: Security Blanket] 5:07:21 PM

Private investigators plead not guilty in HP pretexting case. Private investigators plead not guilty in HP pretexting case. Arraignment dates have been set for the three investigators in HP's pretexting case. [Computerworld Privacy News] 5:03:25 PM

Survey: High-tech firms dissing online customers. Survey: High-tech firms dissing online customers. High-tech and computer companies aren't as good as retailers and telecoms when it comes to communicating with their online customers. But they're getting better at respecting private data, according to a new survey by The Customer Respect Group. [Computerworld Privacy News] 5:01:41 PM

ICANN: We can't shut down Spamhaus. ICANN: We can't shut down Spamhaus. ICANN said it does not have the authority to legally shut down Spamhaus, a U.K.-based antispam service, despite a court order calling for it to do so. [Computerworld Privacy News] 5:00:21 PM

Macrovision DRM Still Screws TiVo Users. Macrovision DRM Still Screws TiVo Users. Last year, TiVo users experienced glitches that auto-erased recorded content. The culprit was Macrovision DRM, and it's back and as bad as ever in TiVo Series 3 for HD. CNet documents brand new errors that prevented viewing and recording content. (Link via BoingBoing.) Unfortunately, glitches like this are only part of Series 3 users' worries. Hollywood and cable providers have forced TiVo to remove TiVoToGo and implement a host of DRM restrictions in this device. If a program is marked as "copy never" or "copy once," your TiVo must obey -- it doesn't matter whether the copy limit was put there on purpose by the cable provider or was a technical error, as in CNet's case. Learn more about these restrictions in our new white paper, "Who Killed TiVoToGo?" [EFF: Deep Links] 4:53:39 PM

Best Privacy Policy Ever? Best Privacy Policy Ever? Cory over at Boing Boing blogged last week about an online service that helps you manage bills and informal cash flows with your roommates and friends. The service, called BillMonk, is interesting, but what's even more interesting is BillMonk's privacy policy, which is the shortest, clearest, and most substantively protective policy we've read in a long while. [EFF: Deep Links] 1:59:17 AM

Creating Business Through Virtual Trust. Creating Business Through Virtual Trust. In this paper, Kenneth Belva and Sam DeKay examine how information security can be actively involved in the creation of business and that the skills required to create commercial activity must be added to the information security professional's intellectual tool set. They also present evidence to demonstrate that the capability of security to create business, which they designate by the term "virtual trust", may become a dominant paradigm for how to think about information security. By Kenneth F. Belva. [Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers] 1:44:18 AM

Bugging offices is not a crime (in UK). Bugging offices is not a crime (in UK). Pretexting is for kids Bugging offices in the UK is not a criminal offence, according to surveillance and legal experts speaking to OUT-LAW radio. While recording a phone conversation is a criminal offence, someone could place a recording device in an office legally, they said. [The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs] 1:28:35 AM

Micro pretexter makes micro payment to FTC Micro pretexter makes micro payment to FTC. One down, four to go A tiny business that sold consumers phone records and records of credit card accounts over the Internet is very sorry and promises not to do it again. And no more pretexting, either. [The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs] 1:26:53 AM

© Copyright 2006 Paul Hardwick. Last update: 11/10/06; 2:09:57 AM.