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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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I-Worm/Mytob Clogging the E-mail System
EULA-based Deep Root Spying On Blizzard Entertainment Customers
How Do We Know When the Police State Arrives
$107 Billion and Counting
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Feds demand more security for online banking
It's become apparent that US banks are simply not going to act on their own to increase security in online banking. Despite the absurdity of using nothing more than a 7-character pasword to protect a person's entire asset base, that's all BankofAmerica has in place. Even though I've written several letters to them complaining about the dangerous lack of security I've never gotten so much as a "how do you do" in response. It's about time regulators actually did something for us instead of to us. [via Freedom News Daily]HoustonChronicle.com - Feds demand more security for online banking
Associated Press BOSTON Federal regulators will require banks to strengthen security for Internet customers through authentication that goes beyond mere user names and passwords, which have become too easy for criminals to exploit.
Bank Web sites are expected to adopt some form of "two-factor" authentication by the end of 2006, regulators with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council said in a letter to banks last week.
Terry Frazier at 7:05 PM
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I-Worm/Mytob Clogging the E-mail System
I-Worm/Mytob is running rampant today. I've gotten about 100 infected e-mails from customers, even my travel agent. Thankfully I keep my AVG Anti-virus package and firewalls updated. This is such a hassle, and windoze is so crappy. When am I going to get a Mac? Terry Frazier at 10:08 AM
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Friday, October 14, 2005
EULA-based Deep Root Spying On Blizzard Entertainment Customers
If you play Warcraft, World of Warcraft, or any other Blizzard Entertainment game you need to read this. You probably have no idea how much personal info the cretins at Blizzard are collecting from you. [via Copyfight]I Spy With My Little EULA (Donna Wentworth)
You may recall that Blizzard is the videogame company that sued three software programmers for creating BnetD, a free, open source program that allowed gamers to play games they purchased with others on the platform of their choice. Blizzard claimed that the programmers violated several parts of the company's End User Licensing Agreement (EULA), including a provision on reverse-engineering. But it turns out that's not all that Blizzard's lawyers have inserted in the fine print. As Bruce Schneier reports, the company is also using its Terms of Use agreements to justify spying on gamers' computers.
Writes Greg Hoglund, co-author of Exploiting Software, How to Break Code:
I watched the [software] warden sniff down the email addresses of people I was communicating with on MSN, the URL of several websites that I had open at the time, and the names of all my running programs, including those that were minimized or in the toolbar. These strings can easily contain social security numbers or credit card numbers, for example, if I have Microsoft Excel or Quickbooks open w/ my personal finances at the time. ...[The scanning] certainly will result in warden reporting you as a cheater. I really believe that reading these window titles violates privacy, considering window titles contain alot of personal data. But, we already know Blizzard Entertainment is fierce from a legal perspective. Look at what they have done to people who tried to make BNetD, freecraft, or third party WoW servers.
As Schneier says, this is truly scary stuff. Yet even a few of the security-savvy readers at Schneier's weblog are downplaying its significance. Why? Annalee Newitz has a theory that rings true to me: people think of routine spying as normal. […]
Terry Frazier at 11:11 PM
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How Do We Know When the Police State Arrives
This quote from |Matt| on the state of Great Britain’s police state:Followed by this from the 18.35 issue of EFF’s EFFector:You get the police state you deserve
Paul Craig Roberts writes:Police states are easier to acquire than Americans appreciate.Here in Britain I hope we're not as far down the track but I think we kid ourselves if we think there's no risk. Just ask Benyam Mohammed.
[…] But the most interesting part of the Government's response is what it reveals about the DOJ's expansive use of the All Writs Act in other cases. Without citation to any cases supporting the invasive surveillance of credit cards without probable cause, the Government notes:When the government claims telling you what it’s doing to protect you will prevent it from protecting you, the main thing you need protection from is the government.Currently, the government routinely applies for and upon a showing of relevance to an ongoing investigation receives "hotwatch" orders issued pursuant to the All Writs Act. Such orders direct a credit card issuer to disclose to law enforcement each subsequent credit card transaction effected by a subject of investigation immediately after the issuer records that transaction.
This is a revelation, and a disturbing one at that, since these so-called "hotwatch" orders have not been previously mentioned in court cases, law review articles, or DOJ materials. While the cell phone tracking case is still ongoing, our litigation has unveiled yet another step taken towards the surveillance society.[…]
Terry Frazier at 8:05 PM
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Saturday, September 10, 2005
$107 Billion and Counting
According to the 2005 Dept. of Homeland Security Budget in Brief, the total expenditures for 2003-2005 exceed $107 billion. Let me repeat that:$107 billion
This does not include the special appropriations made for Katrina. It is just the operating funds for the largest bureaucracy in American history. If we were to demand that the governemnt calculate a Return on Investment (ROI), which is how most businesses determine if something is worth doing, I suspect we would be able to identify precisely one piece of tangible evidence for this massive expenditure - the Disney-like Homeland Security Advisory System.
But we do see enormous burdens on travelers, citizens, airlines, and airports, as well as enormous profit opportunities for bureaucrats, technology companies, and people with hare-brained ideas to sell to the government.
It is amazing what we have come to accept from our elected representatives.
Terry Frazier at 7:48 PM
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