| Warning on search engine safety ; BBC NEWS | Technology

~~`This blog , before i moved to Blogger here , got "spammed" last year.
Some web camera dealers copied my whole blog into their spam-virus-adware-filled website to lure folks to their pages through web search results.. I have found this has stoped since i moved to Blogger. ~~~ TP
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BBC NEWS | Technology | Warning on search engine safety: "Some net searches are leading users to websites that expose them to spam, spyware and other dangerous downloads, reveals a report."

Non-Microsoft Patches Issued for IE Flaw

~~ Microsoft ain't known for its rapid response work,
but this is a first. ~~~ TP
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Security Fix - Brian Krebs on Computer and Internet Security - (washingtonpost.com):
"Brian Krebs on Computer Security
Non-Microsoft Patches Issued for IE Flaw

"A couple of computer-security companies have separately released free patches to plug a critical security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser that hacker groups have been exploiting to steal passwords from Windows users.

The third-party fixes from Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based eEye Digital Security and Determina of Redwood City, Calif., came after Microsoft said it did not plan to issue its own update until April 11, the next date in its regular monthly security-update cycle."

When the law chases the Internet | csmonitor.com

~~~ Cybercrime in Cyberspace.
The Internet will never be a totally safe place.
Just be careful out there !! ~~ TP

When the law chases the Internet | csmonitor.com: "And yet cybercrime is now considered a greater worry than physical crime among US businesses, according to a new IBM survey. Nearly 9 out of 10 companies experienced a computer security incident in 2005, the FBI has found, with viruses, computer theft, and other such crimes costing US firms more than $67 billion a year. And the latest worry to individual PC owners is a type of 'spyware' that can remotely follow a person's keystrokes to steal a password or other vital information.

Google itself is quite aware of potential abuse by new software, and how much governments, from Washington to Beijing, want to control or snoop on Google users.

It is primarily up to Congress to pass new laws that can provide the tools to fight cybercrime while also balancing privacy concerns.

One pending bill would provide national standards for companies to notify customers if personal data on their computers has been breached. About half the states have such laws. Another bill would provide protection against spyware intrusion on PCs."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Locking down our digital future

BBC NEWS | Technology | Locking down our digital future: "A two-tier internet?

NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers |

~ I personally now will delete my cookies after visiting any Government website. ~` `TP

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InformationWeek | Privacy | NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers | December 29, 2005: " By Anick Jesdanun , NEW YORK (AP)--The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them. These files, known as 'cookies,' disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States. 'Considering the surveillance power the NSA has, cookies are not exactly a major concern,' said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. 'But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government's very basic rules for Web privacy.'"

"US warns of fake net domain data" / BBC NEWS | Technology |

BBC NEWS | Technology | US warns of fake net domain data: "More than 5% of the net's most popular domains have been registered using 'patently false' data, research shows."

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~~~ But the USA also went to war in Iraq using " 'patently false' data."
So I guess that evens it all out, huh ?
{While I do not directly put my real name and etc, here at technopolitical.com ,
a few clicks around my profile will lead you to my ID if you really care to know. ] ~~~ TP

Next-Gen "Analog Hole" Legislation Proposed

~~ Mixed fellings here.
I believe copyrights should be honored. People do not honor them.
If everyone on the internet acted nice & honest this law would not be needed.

But then there is the Libertarian in me sayin' ,,
"Whaooh,, here !! Hold on a sec...." ~`
~~ tp
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Next-Gen "Analog Hole" Legislation Proposed: "The bill would essentially require all analog devices, such as televisions, to either re-encode a signal into a digital form, complete with rights restrictions, or to encode the rights restrictions into the analog stream itself.

Manufacturers would also be forbidden to develop a product that would remove those restrictions. Exectives at Veil Interactive, the developer of the VRAM technology at the heart of the legislation, described the technology as one that would not be noticeable by consumers."
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EU optimistic over wider governance of Internet

Internet News Article | Reuters.com: "By Huw Jones

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission hopes a meeting next week will come up with an agreement to allow governments more direct influence over the domain name system that guides traffic around the Internet.

A U.N. report has put forward a more multi-national approach to running the Internet which serves a billion users worldwide, saying this would be more democratic and transparent, a view the 25-nation European Union shares.

Day-to-day handling of domain names is done by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based non-profit organization created by the U.S. Commerce Department.

ICANN's governments committee has only an advisory role."

Techdirt:Should Banks Be Liable For Online Banking Losses?

Techdirt:Should Banks Be Liable For Online Banking Losses?:

"The real issue is that, if banks knew they would be liable for such losses, then you can bet they'd make their systems a lot more secure" ~` EXACTLY

Microsoft patches may break Web sites | CNET News.com

Microsoft patches may break Web sites | CNET News.com: "Two Microsoft security updates for Internet Explorer can break the functionality of Web sites that use certain custom applications." ~

~ I was a victim here of the Microsoft patch messing with my website builder at www.networksolutions.com .
It took several calls to their help line to get to the root of it. If you are getting "C+ + runtime errors" at some websites today, that you did not get before, it is not you,,, it that patch that your computer auto-downloaded from Microsoft.
It also seems that if you have Google and Yahoo toolbars and even Yahoo Messenger running ,, they can also mix poorly with new Microsoft patch. So for now,, no toolbars in IE for me. Either way I like Mozzilla
much better these days ~
~` TP
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Web of Crime: Zombie PC Armies Designed to Suck Your Wallet Dry - Yahoo! News

~~ Well written article on the Zombie PC thing.
Explains it better than anything else I 've read. Worth a click to read the whole thing , especially if you are a wanna-be-geek like me . ~~
~~ TP

"Web of Crime: Zombie PC Armies Designed to Suck Your Wallet Dry"

Erik Larkin, special to PC World

Tue Aug 23, 3:00 AM ET


"..... harmful bots, when installed on the PCs of unspecting users, connect to IRC, or to a Web site, or even to a peer-to-peer network and await commands from their controllers. When the commands arrive, the bots execute them on their unwitting hosts--which might include your personal computer--enabling malicious hackers to gain complete control over those machines; the infected PCs are then called "zombies."

For instance, a July 2005 study by antivirus vendor McAfee reported that the number of systems infected with malicious software that allows a PC to be used for unauthorized purposes jumped by 303 percent during the second quarter of 2005 from the previous quarter.

The primary purpose of these infiltrations is to make money, says Larry Johnson, special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigative Division of the U.S. Secret Service. And in some respects, the operations function just like a legitimate business.

Organized criminals are emerging as a new and increasingly effective source of sophisticated attacks with botnets, according to Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee's Anti-virus and Vulnerability Emergency Response Team. "There's a whole new ballgame that's being played," he adds.

Copyright © 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

"On the Net, Unseen Eyes" NY Times :By PATRICK DI JUSTO

If you own a webcam be careful. ~~ tp

"On the Net, Unseen Eyes"
NY Times :By PATRICK DI JUSTO
Published: February 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/technology/circuits/24camm.html

With the proliferation of surveillance cameras in everyday life and Webcams at home computers, the ease with which unsecured cameras can be detected on the Internet has become an increasner's permission.

The Yankee Group, a market research firm, estimates that as many as 13 percent of American households have a Webcam attached to one of their computers, often sitting on top of a monitor in a living room or a bedroom.

It is illegal to gain access to a secured computer without the proper authorization, even if the computer's password is publicly known. But is it legal to look at unsecured Webcams discovered as a result of a Google search, through the back door, so to speak? "It's probably not illegal, but you never know," said Annalee Newitz, policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group. "That would be the court case - would a reasonable person consider these cameras to be public?"

Jennifer Stisa Granick, executive director of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, agrees that it is a gray area. "The law states you have to know that you're not authorized to look at this information," she said. "But if it's available through Google, most people would reasonably think that it was all right. But what if a person didn't realize that their Webcam image was going out over the Internet? Do they have an expectation of privacy?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/technology/circuits/24camm.html

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Associated Press : Microsoft Corp. offered Wednesday to begin alerting the world's governments early to CyberThreats....."l

Microsoft Corp is big , very big. ~~tp

Microsoft Offering Gov'ts Early Warnings
02.02.2005, 04:25 PM

Associated Press : Microsoft Corp. offered Wednesday to begin alerting the world's governments early to cyberthreats and security flaws in its attack-prone software.

So far three countries, Canada, Chile and Norway, as well as the U.S. state of Delaware, have been engaged in the new project, Vanzini said.
"Prevention of cyberdisruptions and improving our capacity to respond to incidents are critical to securing both our economy and public safety," Anne McLellan, Canada's Minister of Public Security and Emergency Preparedness, said in a statement.

Microsoft said it is currently in discussions with a number of countries about their possible participation in the program.
Governments currently under a trade embargo with the United States are not eligible to sign up to the program, which is provided free of charge.

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"Bulk e-mail providers will send a company's ad to one million e-mail addresses for as little as $200,

Innocent 'Hello' Sells Hot Sex on the Internet
Sat Apr 27,12:13 PM ET

By Andrea Orr

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=581&e=2&cid=581&u=/nm/20020427/tc_nm/column_nettrends_dc_26

"Bulk e-mail providers will send a company's ad to one million e-mail addresses for as little as $200,

and consumers have to date been mildly annoyed but not really outraged. Regulators, meanwhile, have gone after only the most egregious forms of e-mail deception."

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