Did students commit ’suicide by laptop’?

Crime doesn’t pay, but neither does video survellance.

According to BBC News, "Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year", leading some to wonder whether the £500 million (over $800 million in U.S. Dollars) the nation has spent on CCTV cameras to fight crime--over one-third of that in London alone--really pays.

While a spokesperson from the "Home Office", the United Kingdom's boarder agency, said, CCTVs "help communities feel safer", their ubiquitous presence undoubtedly make others uneasy.

A former member of the British Parliament, David Davis, told the BBC, "It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security."

Read more @ BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8219022.stm)

Even in these trying times, credit is just a few keystrokes, some malware, and a sniffer away. Right in your back door.

In what is believed to be the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, three men were charged today with stealing over 130 million credit and debit card account numbers. According to the USDOJ, the three hacked into Heartland Payment Systems, 7-Eleven, the Hannaford Brothers supermarket chain, and two unnamed corporations.

Note that this is only believed to be the largest case of its kind ever prosecuted by the USDOJ. There are still hundreds of millions of similar thefts that have not been prosecuted.

You may recall one of the men, 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez of Miami, was previously charged with stealing data related to 40 million credit cards from eight major retailers, including TJ Maxx, and possibly BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, and DSW.

Read more @ CNet News (http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10311336-245.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20)

US Judge says, IP is not ID

In a decision that has far-reaching implications for individuals implicated based on an IP address subpoenaed from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), Seattle, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled, "In order for 'personally identifiable information' to be personally identifiable, it must identify a person. But an IP address identifies a computer."

Read the full article @ Online Media Daily.

Via Slashdot.

Group Suing AT&T for Spying Will Sue Government, Too

Wired
Group Suing AT&T for Spying Will Sue Government, Too

A civil liberties group suing AT&T for allegedly spying on Americans on behalf of the government is not giving up, despite Congress' vote to give amnesty to the tlelecoms that helped. Instead, the group says it will now sue the government, too.

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http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/topheadlines/~3/372335895/rights-group-su.html
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Spies Like Us — They REALLY Like us

"WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation
against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic
lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday."

Via New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/washington/21fbi.html

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Diebold Admits Ohio Machines May Lose Votes

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