Archive for the “Web/Tech” Category

Stay tuned.

This is all over the blogs the last couple of days, we just found out about it this morning.

If you’re going to go the federal government’s Cars.Gov web site for the “Cash for Clunkers” program, it seems they have a privacy clause that states:

“This application provides access to the DoT System. When logged on to the CARS System, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U. S. Government.

Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system maybe intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as well as other authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign.”

Don’t be frightened.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s the day.

Heal the earth, insure the homeless, pay your mortgage and put food on your table. The Obamassiah has made a lot of promises. “Pass the stimulus and unemployment won’t go over 8%” said Obama earlier this year. It’s now about to hit 10%. ACORN/Census workers are plotting the GPS coordinates of your front door, and soon, you may be required to have a GPS in your car.

A federal commission concluded a GPS-based mileage tax to offset the revenue decline by newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles was the “best path forward”, and now University of Iowa researchers are tweaking a GPS system that will track your vehicles every move. With the current by-the-gallon fuel tax is not generating enough revenue, many are proposing a pay-by-the-mile tax. The only way to accomplish this would be to equip all vehicles with a device to track your mileage.

I think the concept of a pay-as-you go fuel tax may have merit, but using GPS is not the answer as it will allow a further breach of our civil liberties. With the technological advances in the last decade, far less intrusive technology could be used. How about a device that doesn’t track your vehicle, but records your mileage since your last fill up at the gas station and charges you at the pump?

Proponents of the project claim the GPS devices could also be used to as a tool to help manage traffic and relieve congestion. Bullshit. There are other ways to monitor traffic including below pavement ground sensors, cameras, etc.

As one blogger put it, “I’m also paranoid enough that I’d prefer not being harassed or suspected of a crime because I’m one of 200 other cars listed as “near” a crime scene.” Or another who said:

I’m a pretty good shade tree mechanic, even on newer cars.

You’d better believe that the transponder on my next car is going to get removed and will be emitting a nice, regular signal from the corner of the garage, while it gathers dust. It will keep company with the restrictive catalytic converter, intake manifold, and exhaust system that I removed from my sports car.

Welcome to George Orwell’s world.

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. From their site:

You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks.

Here’s an example of one I recently altered. Here’s one more.

UPDATE: There is no YouTube virus.

From CrunchGear:

[UPDATE: Spoke with Google/YouTube and apparently anti-spyware software from Computer Associates had been returning false positives, identifying certain files contained within YouTube embed codes as malware. The specific YouTube issue is apparently being corrected by Computer Associates and wasn’t actually harmful in the first place. If you’ve got CA software, you might want to check for any updates.]

From: http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/02/actnsswift-virus-affecting-embedded-youtube-vids/

Apparently some sort of relatively aggressive virus is affecting certain embedded YouTube videos. Some are saying it affects IE and Firefox users, while others say it’s only going after IE. The virus is called Actns/Swif.T and seems to contain a redirect to a phishing website embedded within a SWF file.

The site apparently installs Antivirus 2009, which is malware. We’ll pull our most recent YouTube embeds, but be careful because this one appears to have just broken out today. If you find yourself being automatically redirected or experience other weird pop-ups, especially for something called Antivirus 2009, don’t click on anything.

We’re doing the same.

Yahoo will offer coupons for a free cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts to anyone who sets www.Yahoo.com as their home page this Friday.

Source: The Associated Press

As Mitch Harper reported on Fwob, Craigslist has arrived in Fort Wayne.

Here’s a sample of some of the activity from Fort Wayne posted on the site. The odd ones are at the end.

———————————————————————
Experienced Divorce Atty Needed
Reply to: legalservices44@yahoo.com
Date: 2006-06-21, 7:51PM EST
to handle our family law matters in Central Indiana
min 5 years exp

———————————————————————
Reply to: comm-174206619@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-06-22, 9:22AM EST
I’m looking for a tent to borrow/trade/or rent (cheaply) for the Three river’s festival on July 8,9th. If anyone has any suggestions or would have anything available let me know. Thanks. Rental places are too expensive – I’ve already spent too much on this booth.

———————————————————————
Reply to: hous-174840575@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-06-23, 10:01PM EST
31/Str8 Male,”’Hard working,nonsmoking;go’s to bars alot but not a heavy drinker…Have a dog too m/f ok prefeir Younger sorry no cats might concider small dog 400mo everything,,Broadband and basic cable included,,,,Ideal person"Must be Responable" and{some what mature…lol

———————————————————————-
Reply to: pers-175132069@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-06-24, 8:56PM EST
Ladies, I will pay to perform oral on a young, thin, attractive lady. I’m a really nice guy too.
this is in or around fort wayne

———————————————————————-
Reply to: pers-172970379@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-06-18, 11:24PM EST
Will pay $100.00 for (2) pair of your "soiled" panties! Long, or short term arrangement! Postal, or Pick-up Ft. Wayne area! Serious female providers only!

As reported by KATU News

Wireless piggybacking lands man in trouble

By Dan Tilkin
and KATU.com Web Staff

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Brewed Awakenings, with its pithy name, artful drinks and wireless Internet service, has found itself unexpectedly percolating on the forefront of high-tech law.

"He doesn’t buy anything," Manager Emily Pranger says about the man she ended up calling 911 about. "It’s not right for him to come and use it."

Pranger says 20-year-old Alexander Eric Smith of Battle Ground sat in the parking lot in his truck for three months, spending hours at a time piggybacking on the coffee shop’s wireless Internet service for free.

When deputies told Smith to knock it off, he came back and is now charged with theft of services.

"It’s a repetitive occurrence and it’s something that is borderline creepy," says Pranger.

As it turns out, Smith is a Level One Sex Offender, but whether he in fact committed a crime by not buying a single tall latte before accessing the Internet, well that remains to be seen. The sheriff’s office and prosecutors are now reviewing the case.

Personally I know a lot of people that use their neighbors wireless. It’s accessible because they’re neighbors are too friggin lazy or stoopid to RTFM that comes with their wireless router. I have two neighbors that have their routers wide-open and if I were so inclined, I could poke around their machines. I spoke with one about it and I’m actually going to show him how to secure it. Recently at lake Tippecanoe I took my laptop out on the boat and discovered a whole boatload of open wireless routers.

In another case:
From The St Petersburg Times

ST. PETERSBURG – Richard Dinon saw the laptop’s muted glow through the rear window of the SUV parked outside his home. He walked closer and noticed a man inside.

Then the man noticed Dinon and snapped his computer shut.

Maybe it’s census work, the 28-year-old veterinarian told his girlfriend. An hour later, Dinon left to drive her home. The Chevy Blazer was still there, the man furtively hunched over his computer.

Dinon returned at 11 p.m. and the men repeated their strange dance.

Fifteen minutes later, Dinon called police.

Police say Benjamin Smith III, 41, used his Acer brand laptop to hack into Dinon’s wireless Internet network. The April 20 arrest is considered the first of its kind in Tampa Bay and among only a few so far nationwide.

MINIMIZING THE RISKS

Here are a few tips to minimize potential threats to a Wi-Fi network:

Enable WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). Even though WEP uses weak encryption and is breakable, it still provides an effective first measure of defense by encrypting the traffic between your wireless card and access point. Use 64-bit WEP to gain some security benefit without slowing down your network unnecessarily. You can also use WPA, a similar security protocol that’s tougher to crack. Make sure both your access point and card support it.

Change your SSID (service set identifier) to something nondescriptive. You do not want to give out your name, address, or any other useful information to potential hackers. Also, don’t use the default SSID.

Change the default password on your access points. The defaults of most network equipment are well known.

Enable MAC based filtering. Using this feature, only your unique wireless cards can communicate with your access point.

Turn off your access points when you are not using them. Why risk being scanned or being broken into if you are not using your wireless network?

Position your access points toward the center of your house or building. This will minimize the signal leak outside of its intended range. If you are using external antennas, selecting the right type of antenna can be helpful in minimizing signal leak.

Don’t send sensitive files over Wi-Fi networks. Most Web sites that perform sensitive transactions like shopping with a credit card or checking bank account information use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.

I installed a LukWerks Digital Video Surveillance System at my house last week. Unlike wireless cameras, this system is an all indoor system which uses intelligent cameras and sends the video feed through the power lines in your home or office. It’s very cool. You can set up to 15 hot spots to detect movement and when the camera senses something moving around it sends you a notification via email or directly to your cell phone.

The notifications can be either a simple text message, a video frame or a small video clip. The Werks Software can display live, streaming digital video from up to six cameras.

Another cool (free) option free allows you to access live streaming video from your cameras through their web site, http://www.wilife.com/. Here are a few user submitted videos:
http://www.wilife.com/Video/Default.aspx

The pic show was around lunchtime when I went to let the dog out. When I got back to work it was waiting in my inbox. You can order them online or pick them up at your local Radio Shack.