Google is Most Popular – From the “Well Duh!” Department
Recent polls show that Google is the most popular search engine by far. Depending on the rater, Google served between 50 and 70 percent of all web searches with Yahoo running from 15 to 30 and MSN at around 6 percent. The Microsoft number is the one that interests me.
Overall, the rankings have to be .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]RFID Manufacturer Tries to Hide Vulnerability Instead of Fix It
You already know that RFID chips can be easily cloned (which is really embarrassing when a company has implanted one into you because it's supposed to be more secure that way…). Now, one company is trying to silence a researcher from presenting his demonstration of how it's done at the upcoming Black Hat conference. Fortunately, an ACLU lawyer .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Accountability, RFIDMicrosoft “Dirty Tricks” Archive
The Register has been following the story of a massive archive of "dirty tricks" that Microsoft performed during a lawsuit. Recently, the archive disappeared from the Internet, but now it's back in the form of torrents.
.... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Tags: Big Business, Microsoft, RegulationSmart Cameras Spell Privacy Disaster
So now they're using smart cameras to analyze you based on your not just appearance, but the way you walk, and your actions.
A student walked into the middle of the room, dropped a laptop case, then walked away. On the laptop screen, a green box popped up around him as he moved into view, then .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
EPIC Hosts Independent Review of Citizen Trust In Government Agencies
In an independent study, Ponemon (not to be confused with Pokemon) conducted a survey of over 7000 people accross the nation as to what their trust level was for various government agencies. Specifically, do we trust the government to safeguard our personal information?
Not surprisingly, once you're out of the top 5, the trust level is in the .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: EPIC, Government, TrustIRS Looks at eBay Users’ Earnings
Ars Technica has an article about the IRS wanting eBay to turn over information on its users' earnings. This pretty much sums up the issue:
With so many people making part or all of their living through eBay, the government wants its cut. This isn't an issue of any new taxes, but an attempt to collect .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Simple Attack Against Home Routers
Schneier writes about a recent attack against home routers that takes advantage of the fact that most people never change the default passwords on their equipment.
One of his commenters said it best:
It has long been standard security practice that when logging in to a new system with a default password, the first required step .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]“Violent Games = Violence” Studies Come Under Fire
In an analysis of studies done showing violent video games leading to real world violence, Dr. Christopher Ferguson explains that current work doesn't take into account real-world situations and other violence factors such as family life.
The overall conclusion is that there does appear to be a connection between violent games and violent thoughts in a .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]TSA’s Backscatter X-Ray Goes to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport
Privacy.org points to an article explaining that the backscatter x-ray will be fielded in Phoenix. This X-ray device can penetrate clothes, but not skin making a pornographic video of them. Yes this allows the TSA to see if you're carrying bombs or guns, but it also removes your clothing.
Update 5/22/2008
It turns out that the technology can be used as described, but the .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Windows Vista Recommended RAM Size – Wrong Again
When XP came out, I noticed that the cheapies (the really skanky brands) had 256MB of RAM while all the others came with 512. This is because 256 was the minimum recommended RAM size from Microsoft so it was technically "acceptable". The fact is, just because it runs doesn't mean it runs well. Well Vista is the same, only .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista