Nintendo to Look into “Remote Destruction”


Gamasutra reports that Nintendo is looking into possible solutions for the accidental destruction of TVs or nearby items/people when players in America get a little too excited when playing and accidentally throw the remote.
The article quotes Ninetendo execs as having considered ways to prevent people from getting so excited .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Gaming, Japan, Nintendo, Oops, WiihavaproblemNIST Recommends that E-voting Machines be De-certified


The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is recommending that the 2007 version of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) decertify direct record electronic (DRE) machines.
In the article, they explain how NIST has found that the machines have no paper trail, and that a single programmer could rig an entire election. Uh…hello? This is not news, this .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Diebold, EvotingSenate Banking Committee Member Denounces”No-Swipe” Credit Cards

From the CASPAIN newsletter:

DRM in Game Systems


I had to laugh when I read this today at Penny-Arcade:


For those who don't know, Penny-Arcade is a site that has been doing comics centered .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Defective by Design, DRM, Gaming, penny arcadeSome US Schools Fingerprint Students Like Criminals

In a recent newsletter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes:

Universal to Rip off MP3 Player customers

Reuters reports that the recent Microsoft Zune player (the competition portable MP3 player to the iPod) has a built in royalty fee that goes straight to Universal (one of the worlds largest music companies).
Slashdot's coverage quotes Universal Music's Doug Morris as saying the following:

IHOP Takes Driver’s Licenses

There was a recent case in Boston where a man was asked for his driver's license before being seated at IHOP. Apparently some gizmo thought it would be a great idea to prevent "dine and dashing". According to the article, the security person already had about 40 IDs on the desk by the time the subject of this .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Data Brokering, IHOPTommy Thompson – May Run For President


Katherine Albrecht, the world's leading RFID privacy expert and co-author of the book Spychips - How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID writes:

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is considering a run for president in 2008…
As head of Health of Health and Human .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
The British RFID passports have had their encryption broken already

New RFID passports are supposed to make identity theft more difficult and to make it easier to spot fake passports like the ones used by the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
First, making the data remotely secretly readable without every possessing or otherwise .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Cellphones, Passports, Physical Security, RFID, UKLow Chance of Bush Pushing Spying Bill Through Lame Duck Congress


The Center For Democracy and Technology recently said in their newsletter:
