2005 March

Iowa has joined the ranks of states which are specifically targetting spam and spyware, along with identity theft, with the passage of their new suite of computer crime bills. One bill prohibits the transmission of spam, another spyware, and a third makes it a crime to misappropriate the personal information of another computer […]

Many of Aunty’s readers will remember that last year Aunty featured an exclusive interview with Spam King Scott Richter, during which he stated that “I actually do not do what I do for the need of money,” and also that he was sued for spamming by both Microsoft and New York State Attorney General Eliot […]

Quick, what would you say is the most obvious way for data to end up in the wrong hands? If you said “having the laptop on which it resides stolen”, give yourself a pat on the back. Now quick, what is one of the most preventable forms of data theft? If you […]

Forget RFIDs (although Amal Graafstra won’t be able to any time soon). Barcoding, Inc., has announced a system that uses regular old wifi to track physical assets.

MSN Messenger has been added to the list of instant messenger programs which require heightened vigilence. Two security companies have discovered that there are two worms, one old and revised, and one new, which are targetting MSN Messenger users. As if we don’t have enough to worry about with phishers targetting Yahoo Messenger, […]

According to an analyst at Radicati, and related reports by InformationWeek and the BBC, “user ignorance” and “bad behaviour” is the leading cause of spam. According to Marcel Nienhuis, an analyst with Radicati, “Major advancements in technology approaches that routinely achieve 90%-plus catch-rates are becoming widely available, yet no technology in the world […]

In a novel use of email campaigns, TiVo has emailed a group of journalists, offering them a special $200 off their new TiVo Humax DVR. Yet TiVo denies that it is trying to drum up journalistic support or - gasp - coverage for its newest TiVo DVR.

The State of Texas has sued VOiP provider Vonage for weaknesses in the VOIP 911 system. Note that the issue is not with Vonage itself, but with how 911 calls are handled (or not) by VOiP systems generally.

If you’ve been following the VoIP wars at all, you know that the latest craze is for ISPs and other providers to block the VoIP data of their competitors. They may do this because they themselves are offering VoIP services, or plan to, or because they own or have a controlling interest in local […]

VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) provider Vonage says that despite the FCC giving the smackdown to an ISP for blocking 3rd party VoIP services, Vonage’s VoIP calls are being blocked again, by both a cable operator, and a wireless broadband operator, although Vonage declined to name names in public.

Utah Governor Jim Huntsman has signed a new Internet pornography law into effect which requires Utah ISPs and other service providers to block pornographic websites upon a user’s request. And just to make sure that no service provider has to do the old “I’ll know it when I see it” routine

Identity theft insurance? It’s obviously an idea whose time has come. In fact some would say that identity theft insurance is an idea whose time is long overdue. Just ask anyone whose personal data has recently been compromised by either the hacking of ChoicePoint’s data or the Scamming of Lexis Nexis’ data. […]

Several major airlines are now offering high speed Internet access to their passengers. Scandinavian airlines has just announced their offering on all long-haul routes, and Lufthansa’s in-air high speed Internet access has been in place for the better part of a year.

Aunty has been talking about RFIDs to track people since last year, and the natural extension, implanting RFIDs or other miniature technology (or ICT, as it’s often known in Europe) in people, is not a new concept.

Ever wonder how someone on the Internet is able to tell where you are located when you visit their site? (You did know that people can tell where you are located, right?) It’s done by geolocation - geographic location - of your IP address.

Talk about adding insult to injury. First Cruise.com, a/k/a Omega World Travel, and run by John Lawless, spams the bejeezus out of anti-spammer Mark Mumma of Oklahoma. Mumma asks Cruise.com to stop spamming him. No relief. He asks them again to stop spamming him. The spam keeps coming.

A group of British ubergeeks calling themselves the “Drink or Die”, or “DOD”, gang has found itself on trial through the trials of several Drink or Die members, with the last - that of Drink or Die members Alex Bell and Stephen Dowd - wrapping up this week.

DVR maker TiVo and cable giant Comcast have closed a deal which will have TiVo’s services, although not their DVR boxes, offered through Comcast, with the TiVo brand. This replay of the familiar DVR+broadcast offering, first made popular by TiVo and DirecTV, is a badly needed boost for TiVo, who lost their DirecTV platform […]

The BlueSniper Bluetooth sniffing and hacking “rifle” is truly the Bluetooth hacker’s Bluetooth hack. Equipped with a yagi antenna, and powered by a little bitty Gumstix motherboard, the BlueSniper can detect vulnerable Bluetooth devices up to a kilometer away.

A recent survey of more than 30,000 blog readers, completed and sponsored by BlogAds, has found that nearly 25% of all blog readers are between the ages of 31 and 40, earning somewhere between $45,000 and $120,000 per year, with 21% earning $60,000 to $90,000 per year, and that the majority (more than 75%) […]