Datamining
Malware Proliferation and Botfarming
By cdharris at January 17, 2006 | 2:43 pm | 0 Comment
Several companies specializing in antivirus and spyware solutions say that they can no longer keep up with the proliferation of malware,? and that the industry must move to a more proactive "defensive solution."? The well-known Kaspersky Lab said they are receiving up to 300 new malware samples per day.? It is estimated that more than 10,000 new bots were released online more...
Blog , Datamining , Emerging Science and Technology , Media and Markets , Technology and Privacy
Privacy and Information Theft in 2005
By cdharris at January 17, 2006 | 2:34 pm | 0 Comment
The nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center says that 125 security breeches were disclosed last year alone, affecting more than 57 million people in the U.S. The magazine Consumer Reports also shared the results of its "WebWatch" study from Fall 2005 that showed that more than half of those surveyed said they had stopped giving out personal more...
Spoofing Biometrics
By cdharris at January 17, 2006 | 2:18 pm | 0 Comment
Researchers have spoofed biometric readers using materials as simple as scotch tape and saran wrap.? Recently,? yet another team reported a 90% success rate in fooling biometric fingerprint readers using just Play-Doh. They also reported getting similar results using fingers from cadavers.?? The problem is that biometric scans look for visual?patterns made known to the more...
Bioreactive Media , Blog , Datamining , Emerging Science and Technology , Technology and Privacy
WhiteHouse.gov Uses Cookies, Bugs
By cdharris at January 4, 2006 | 5:33 pm | 0 Comment
The Bush administration says it did not know that an an outside contractor, Web Trends,? has been using internet tracking technologies such as web bugs on the whitehouse.gov site.?? A 2003 policy from the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) banned the use of most such technologies at government sites. The acknowledgment came a day after the National more...
Sony’s Spyware
By cdharris at January 4, 2006 | 2:29 pm | 0 Comment
Florida's Attorney General has begun an investigation of Sony's Digital Rights Managment (DRM) software on its commercial music Compact Discs.?? The DRM software installs itself without on the user's computer without informing the user, spies on the user's actions (apparently reporting back to Sony when a live internet connection is detected), and can't be readily more...
Blog , Datamining , Media and Markets , Technology and Privacy
RFID, Privacy, and Jammers
By cdharris at January 4, 2006 | 1:44 pm | 0 Comment
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an item-tagging technology with profound societal implications. Used improperly, RFID has the potential to jeopardize consumer privacy, reduce or eliminate purchasing anonymity, and threaten civil liberties. RFID tags are tiny computer chips connected to miniature antennae that can be affixed to physical objects. In the most more...
Blog , Datamining , Geolocation and Psychogeography , Media and Markets , Technology and Privacy
Anti-spyware software may be spyware after all — DRATS — just as we suspected!
By cdharris at January 3, 2006 | 11:15 pm | 0 Comment
Be careful whenever you download software -- even if it promises to be the good guys and solve all your problems.?? As it turns out,? some opportunistic companies are disguising themselves as "anit-spyware solutions" but are really spyware in disguise.? Your basic Trojan horse.?? Not the fun kind, either. Mark Russinovich recently noted that:? "Last week when I was more...
Blog , Datamining , Emerging Science and Technology , Media and Markets , TechnoActivism , Technology and Privacy
Virtual Product Placement
By cdharris at January 3, 2006 | 8:18 pm | 0 Comment
Actually having a physical product or package for actors to handle is so over. Paid product placement on TV shows is now utilizing advanced digital bluescreen or "greenscreen" capabilities, similar to high-end animated films,? and virtually inserting an image of the product into the mise en scene. In a recent episode of the CBS show "Yes, Dear", a package of more...
Blog , Datamining , Emerging Science and Technology , Media and Markets
Mapping Companies asking users to contribute data
By cdharris at December 30, 2005 | 12:39 pm | 0 Comment
Online mapping is extremely competitive and popular with users. Nielsen/NetRatings recorded a 28% rise in visitors this year, with one-third of Web users visiting at least one mapping site in November 2005. Microsoft, Yahoo, MapQuest and Google Inc. get their primary data from only two companies, Navteq Corp. and Tele Atlas NV.? These companies are typically paid for more...
Blog , Data Visualization , Datamining , Emerging Science and Technology , Geolocation and Psychogeography , Technology and Privacy
Microsoft Online Ads To Offer Demographic Filtering in 2006
By cdharris at November 18, 2005 | 1:22 pm | 0 Comment
Microsoft announced in March 2005 it planned to release a technology that neither Google nor Yahoo can yet offer: the ability for advertisers to precisely filter the people exposed to their search ads by demographic information.? For example,? advertisers will be able to target one ad to men, another to women, and use additional information such as age and geographic more...
Blog , Datamining , Media and Markets , Technology and Privacy
Cookie Wars
By cdharris at November 7, 2005 | 1:16 pm | 0 Comment
The technology company United Virtualities has escalated the war between marketers, who want to know how their ads effect Web surfers, and consumers, who want to keep information to themselves. The company proclaimed it has developed a new technology to bypass cookie deletions by consumers. The new method, dubbed the "persistent identification element," or PIE, more...
Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems for Federal Surveillance
By cdharris at October 25, 2005 | 1:57 pm | 0 Comment
The New York Times reported on October 23rd that the federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications. The action, which the more...
