My Way News - Tighter oversight on border laptop searches
My Way News reports: "Given all the personal details that people store on digital devices, border searches of laptops and other gadgets can give law enforcement officials far more revealing pictures of travelers than suitcase inspections might yield. That has set off alarms among civil liberties groups and travelers' advocates who say the government has crossed a line by examining electronic contact lists and confidential e-mail messages, trade secrets and proprietary business files, financial and medical records and other deeply private information."
Comment: The first time the practice of searching laptops, cell phones and PDAs was revealed in the press I thought for sure the practice would be discontinued. After all, we can easily understand the need for border searches for drugs and other prohibited items, but a digital search is a search for information, it's a fishing expedition without a warrant, how can it possibly be permissible? And yet it is. You would think that fighting the war on drugs would be enough for them.
2009/08/28
2009/08/26
The New York Times reports: "Nokia to Launch Mobile Financial Service - NYTimes.com: "The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it would launch a mobile financial service next year targeting consumers, mainly in emerging markets, with a phone but no banking account. [...] Obopay, which uses text messaging and mobile internet access, charges users a fee to send money or to top up their accounts."
2009/08/24
Experts see more applications, acceptance for biometric technology - Related Stories - AIA dailyLead
Smart Brief reports: "Although biometric technology continues to be controversial with privacy activists, it is gaining an increasing role in everyday life, from airports to hospitals to schools. Experts say a move by Congress to require biometric data for immigration and employment would create a massive biometric database and further hasten acceptance of the technology."
Smart Brief reports: "Although biometric technology continues to be controversial with privacy activists, it is gaining an increasing role in everyday life, from airports to hospitals to schools. Experts say a move by Congress to require biometric data for immigration and employment would create a massive biometric database and further hasten acceptance of the technology."
2009/08/18
New Scientist - RFID tags get an intelligence upgrade
New Scientist reports: "Today's RFID tags can only broadcast fixed data back to a reader device, whether that's details of your passport or of an endangered bird. Researchers are now working to add brains to the tags in the form of microcomputers, opening the way for much smarter applications."
Comment: My usual caveat applies, this is not the mark, we are just watching the tech trends. I think the future of mark tech lies in nanotech-RFID tattoos, but this report notes some interesting advances along more conventional lines.
New Scientist reports: "Today's RFID tags can only broadcast fixed data back to a reader device, whether that's details of your passport or of an endangered bird. Researchers are now working to add brains to the tags in the form of microcomputers, opening the way for much smarter applications."
Comment: My usual caveat applies, this is not the mark, we are just watching the tech trends. I think the future of mark tech lies in nanotech-RFID tattoos, but this report notes some interesting advances along more conventional lines.
2009/08/17
My Way News - Prosecutors say man stole 130M credit card numbers: "Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a Miami man with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the United States, accusing the one-time government informant of swiping 130 million accounts on top of 40 million he stole previously."
Comment: I suspect that no matter what kind of identification we use or what commercial encryption vendors use, criminals will always find a way to steal. It's just a non-stop battle between commerce and crime that has gone on for centuries and will continue long after we are gone. I mention this only to note that one of the largest sectors of the economy that would have the most to lose in moving to a Mark of the Beast economy is the criminal sector. Nothing would kill the black market faster than commerce enabled by state mandated ID. For now though, cash is king for the global black market in data, drugs and death.
Comment: I suspect that no matter what kind of identification we use or what commercial encryption vendors use, criminals will always find a way to steal. It's just a non-stop battle between commerce and crime that has gone on for centuries and will continue long after we are gone. I mention this only to note that one of the largest sectors of the economy that would have the most to lose in moving to a Mark of the Beast economy is the criminal sector. Nothing would kill the black market faster than commerce enabled by state mandated ID. For now though, cash is king for the global black market in data, drugs and death.
2009/08/12
My Way News - Review: Password management eases with Net storage
My Way News reports: "Microsoft Corp. has tried to get sites on board with this model for more than a decade and has accumulated criticism for security flaws along the way. Now, however, there's some momentum behind a system called OpenID that just might make programs like LastPass and Roboform unnecessary. Most of the big Web companies, including Microsoft and Google Inc., support OpenID."
My Way News reports: "Microsoft Corp. has tried to get sites on board with this model for more than a decade and has accumulated criticism for security flaws along the way. Now, however, there's some momentum behind a system called OpenID that just might make programs like LastPass and Roboform unnecessary. Most of the big Web companies, including Microsoft and Google Inc., support OpenID."
2009/08/04
My Way News - Web site tracks world online censorship reports
AP reports: "Herdict users report their Web site problems anonymously - numeric Internet addresses are recorded but only general location is displayed - so people can post more freely, encouraging reports about sensitive topics [...] The site doesn't investigate reports, though, so there's no way to know for sure that an outage is related to government meddling rather than a cut cable or other problem unrelated to censorship. Although surges in reports do suggest a government role, a widespread technical glitch can also produce a similar spike."
Comment: The Herdict site is located here and looks to be a valuable tool for keeping tabs on censorship worldwide.
AP reports: "Herdict users report their Web site problems anonymously - numeric Internet addresses are recorded but only general location is displayed - so people can post more freely, encouraging reports about sensitive topics [...] The site doesn't investigate reports, though, so there's no way to know for sure that an outage is related to government meddling rather than a cut cable or other problem unrelated to censorship. Although surges in reports do suggest a government role, a widespread technical glitch can also produce a similar spike."
Comment: The Herdict site is located here and looks to be a valuable tool for keeping tabs on censorship worldwide.
2009/08/03
BBC NEWS - UK's national ID card unveiled
BBC News reports: "Ministers say the card, which follows the launch of the foreign national ID card, will provide an easy way of safely proving identity. They say this system, backed up by a national identity register, will help combat identity fraud, crime and terrorism. The card is very similar in look to a UK driving licence but holds more data, including two fingerprints and a photograph encoded on a chip."
Video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8177040.stm
Comment: My standard disclaimer for Mark posts: don't panic, this is not the mark. If you live in Manchester, have no fear of getting your new ID card. We are just keeping up with trends in identification technology and mandatory government ID schemes.
BBC News reports: "Ministers say the card, which follows the launch of the foreign national ID card, will provide an easy way of safely proving identity. They say this system, backed up by a national identity register, will help combat identity fraud, crime and terrorism. The card is very similar in look to a UK driving licence but holds more data, including two fingerprints and a photograph encoded on a chip."
Video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8177040.stm
Comment: My standard disclaimer for Mark posts: don't panic, this is not the mark. If you live in Manchester, have no fear of getting your new ID card. We are just keeping up with trends in identification technology and mandatory government ID schemes.
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