Our Own World

TSA Lied About Protecting Passenger Data

The Transportation Security Administration misled the public about its role in obtaining personal information about 12 million airline passengers to test a new computerized system that screens for terrorists, according to a government investigation.

The report, released Friday by Homeland Security Department Acting Inspector General Richard Skinner, said the agency misinformed individuals, the press and Congress in 2003 and 2004. It stopped short of saying TSA lied.

Filed by Krishna at 12:45 am under Governance
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publius_ovidius: Credit card fraud

A 100% write off means the fraud doesn’t cost them(cc company) a cent in outlay, just hassle of changing entries in databases & cost of plastic & postage of sending out cards created, pressed & packaged for mailing through an automated system. The 100% write off means you & I & everyone reading pays for fraud because that couple grand in charges is a couple grand less in taxes they remit to the govt at end of their weekly tax payment period.

Want to see real action on cc fraud & identity theft? Remove the 100% write off over a 5 year period. Year 1, 80% write off instead of 100%. year 2 60% write off instead of 100%, year 3 40% write off instead of 100%, etc. Watch how fast banks & credit card companies suddenly become interested & cooperative in pursuing cc & identity fraud even on the smallest level. Watch how fast laws change to increase penalties & jail time for identity fraud & cc fraud thieves.

Want to see a perfect example? See what is happening with companies suddenly admitting their databases were hacked, like Choicepoint & Bank of America’s data tapes loss? That’s a direct result of California law that went into effect in January requiring disclosure to Calif residents if their data including identifying info like drivers license, ss # or cc # were compromised. News today, US banking dept, or similar agency regulating banks made it mandatory to disclose to banking customers if their info is compromised. This includes banks covered by FDIC, S & Ls & other categories of banks & financial institutions. Of course, the bank lobby worked in some exclusions that benefits them, but the new rule goes into effect immediately iirc, & will trigger many new disclosures about banking customer details being compromised. This will make big headlines in the months to come and will spur the banks to change practices & methods to more tightly control their data so they (very conservative businesses to begin with) can stay out of headlines that scream, “150,000 id theft victims at Bank X!” & similar. That’s the last thing in the world a bank wants to be associated with as they are the last refuge of widows & orphans when it comes to money safety.

Filed by Krishna at 4:49 pm under Governance
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A GPL Win in Michigan - DrewTech v. SAE

You know how in almost every FUD article about the GPL, they always say that the GPL has never been tested in a US court?

That isn’t actually true. There have been cases where it played a role and the judges took it seriously even if they didn’t directly rule on it. Now there is a case in Michigan, which just settled, where the GPL not only stood its ground, it came off victorious, and this time it was very much a part of the case. I had a chance to interview the attorney that represented the GPL side, Eric Grimm

Filed by Krishna at 11:31 pm under Governance
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New Scientist Breaking News - Classic maths puzzle cracked at last

Then in the late 1990s, Mahlburg’s advisor, Ken Ono, stumbled across an equation in one of Ramanujan’s notebooks that led him to discover that any prime number - not just 5, 7, and 11 - had congruences. “He found, amazingly, that Ramanujan’s congruences were just the tip of the iceberg - there were really patterns everywhere,” Mahlburg told New Scientist. “That was a revolutionary and shocking result.”

But again, it was not clear why prime numbers showed these patterns - until Mahlburg proved the crank can be generalised to all primes. He likens the problem to a gymnasium full of people and a “big, complicated theory” saying there is an even number of people in the gym. Rather than counting every person, Mahlburg uses a “combinatorial” approach showing that the people are dancing in pairs. “Then, it’s quite easy to see there’s an even number,” he says.

Filed by Krishna at 1:39 pm under Technology
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Liberty Dollar

It’s incredible how few people know the facts about the Federal Reserve. The organization chaired by Alan Greenspan is not “Federal” – it is instead a cabal of private and international banks that does not answer to the United States government.

So for the first time since 1913, you can own your own money. When the people own the money, the people control the government. When the government owns the money, the government controls the people

Filed by Krishna at 5:32 pm under Governance
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In Beirut there are no traffic lights (or at least I have not seen any so far).

This pricing picture at the pool place probably gives you a taste of the city:

Source: Miguel de Icaza

Filed by Krishna at 5:53 pm under Uncategorized
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BBC NEWS | Business | Buffett warns on US trade deficit

The billionaire also used his letter to attack large shareholders who lose sight of corporate governance issues.

“The moves made by institutions have been less than awe-inspiring,” he said.

“Usually, they’ve focused on minutiae and ignored the three questions that truly count.

“First, does the company have the right chief executive? Second, is he/she over-reaching in terms of compensation? Third, are proposed acquisitions more likely to create or destroy per-share value?”

Filed by Krishna at 1:11 pm under Governance
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New proof that man has caused global warming
… In the study, Dr Barnett’s team examined more than seven million observations of temperature, salinity and other variables in the world’s oceans, collected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and compared the patterns with those that are predicted by computer models of various potential causes of climate change.

It found that natural variation in the Earth’s climate, or changes in solar activity or volcanic eruptions, which have been suggested as alternative explanations for rising temperatures, could not explain the data collected in the real world. Models based on man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, however, matched the observations almost precisely. …

Source: Times Online

Filed by Krishna at 11:10 pm under Uncategorized
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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Filed by Krishna at 4:32 am under Uncategorized
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