One of the biggest sides to cyber crime continues to be privacy problems. A political blog recently began discussing the issue and more specifically, how easy it is to acquire cell phone records for a nominal fee. At this time, federal regulations are minimal regarding cell phones and even finding unpublished landline numbers.
A day after the attorney general criticized the state's efforts at preventing identity theft, Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday proposed a series of measures -- including facial recognition technology on driver's licenses -- that he said would make state-held private data more secure.
When the Austrian government passed a law this year allowing police to install closed-circuit surveillance cameras in public spaces without a court order, the Austrian civil liberties group Quintessenz vowed to watch the watchers.
Members of the organization worked out a way to intercept the camera images with an inexpensive, 1-GHz satellite receiver. The signal could then be descrambled using hardware designed to enhance copy-protected video as it's transferred from DVD to VHS tape.
Computer tapes have gone missing from Marriott Vacation Club International's Orlando headquarters, the company said Tuesday, with information on 206,000 employees, time-share owners and customers that could be misused by credit thieves. "We regret this situation has occurred and realize this may cause concern for our associates and customers," Marriott Vacation Club President Stephen P. Weisz said in a written statement.
Ed Kinney, a spokesman for the time-share giant, said the tapes contain people's addresses, Social Security numbers "and other sensitive information."
Ford Motor Co. informed about 70,000 active and former white-collar employees that a computer with company data, including social security numbers, was stolen from a Ford facility.
In an e-mail sent to "Affected U.S. Salaried Employees," Joe Laymon, group vice president for human resources, told staffers that their personal information may have been compromised, though the company had "no evidence that there has been identity theft or misuse of employee information."
While outsourcing to India and other offshore locations from European countries as well as from the US is showing good growth, there is, however, an equal measure of concern in these countries regarding the lack of effective privacy laws in most of the low-cost destinations.
During the 9/11 hearings, administration officials asserted the "wall" between domestic and foreign intelligence agencies was in part responsible for the terrorist attack. Whether or not that was the case, that "wall" has come down in the years since, to the point where some are starting to think about rebuilding.
HONG KONG internet service providers say they will respect their users' privacy but are bound by local laws, after a group of record companies asked them to hand over information about alleged illegal downloads.
Seven record companies last week filed a writ in the High Court seeking a court order to force four local internet service providers (ISPs) to disclose the identities of 22 alleged illegal music file-sharers.
If some of the numbers being cited about identity theft are to be believed, it's just a matter of time before some unseen cyber-hustler steals your name, empties your bank account and wrecks your financial reputation. You can almost hear the maniacal laughter.
By some measures, one in five Americans has been hit. Another common statistic is that 10 million people fall victim every year.
On Monday, the clock starts ticking for broadband and Net-phone providers to make it easier for law enforcement to conduct surveillance on users of their networks.
According to a final order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in late September, all broadband Internet service providers and many Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies will have 18 months--until spring 2007--to ensure their systems have backdoors that allow police to eavesdrop on their customers' communications for investigative purposes.
