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150,000 take FCC broadband speed test in first week
The FCC has had it with ISPs. For more than a decade, the agency has relied on ISP reports to get a picture of broadband speeds and availability in the US, and the results have been uniformly terrible. The ISPs don’t want to report numbers detailed enough to be useful, so the feds finally dropped a pile of cash on the table last year to do some proper broadband mapping.
Continue reading »Feds: TSA Worker Tried to Sabotage Terror Database
A former Transportation Security Administration contractor is being charged in Colorado for allegedly injecting malicious code into a government network used for screening airport security workers and others. The malicious code, a logic bomb installed last October, was designed to cause damage and disrupt data on servers on an undisclosed date but was caught by other workers before it delivered its payload. Douglas James Duchak, 46, had worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, or CSOC, since 2004.
Continue reading »Classmates.com’s Facebook Mimicking Prompts Privacy Suit
The site set up to locate long lost pals, Classmates.com, has been hit with a class action privacy lawsuit. It alleges the company violated the law when it decided to make user profiles public to compete with Facebook. The suit says Classmates.com duped its paying customers in late January when it sent them an e-mail telling members they’d have to opt out of new Facebook and iPhone apps to keep their data private.
Continue reading »Why Google keeps your data forever, tracks you with ads
Not many companies could get away with defending controversial data retention practices by saying that the data is needed to “learn from good guys, fight off bad guys, and invent the future.” But that’s how Google sees itself and its practices—not surprising from a company that would give itself an unofficial motto like “don’t be evil.” I had the chance recently to sit down with two of Google’s top privacy people: deputy general counsel Nicole Wong and security/privacy engineer Alma Whitten. While the “good guy/bad guy” and “don’t be evil” quotes may seem too cute by half to some, Wong and Whitten made a strong pitch for the truth of both slogans. In their view, Google really is fighting the good fight when it comes to your online privacy.
Continue reading »etc: Wyndham Hotels has revealed that hackers broke into its computer systems and made off with some credit card data.
Wyndham Hotels has revealed that hackers broke into its computer systems and made off with some credit card data. Read More: Wyndham Hotels , Wyndham FAQ
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