USR-Lib

With Wi-Fi Aboard, Be Careful What You Click

I’M a Modernist, devoted to Mies, postwar abstraction and flying. In the last year or so, I’ve been in Amman, Paris, Venice, Athens, Boston, London, Naples, Dublin, Rome, Reykjavik, Milan, Málaga, Moscow, Montreal and Memphis, to name a few. One year, I was traveling back and forth to Paris so many times that the flight attendants recognized me. I was traveling with an important artist and I...

Apple’s Ping Dinged by Spam

Apple’s new social media service, Ping, is already getting hit by a barrage of comment spam. The Ping network integrates with iTunes 10 to let you follow your favorite artists and swap comments with other fans. But it took less than 24 hours for the comments sections to be swamped by phony offers for free iPhones and other hot gadgets, according to a Thursday blog from security vendor Sophos. Sophos...

Facebook Adds New Remote log-out Security Feature

Facebook on Thursday announced a new security feature that will allow users to see if they are logged into their accounts on a different computer and to remotely log out if so. This will address the problem that many of us have of leaving a computer–either one we borrowed at a friend’s house or used at a public spot like a library–logged in to our Facebook account without realizing...

Gmail, Skype now in India’s Crosshairs

After temporarily setting aside its BlackBerry ultimatum, the Indian government has shifted its focus to Gmail and Skype, according to the AFP. India is apparently taking issue with any communication service that doesn’t give it easy access to data. It has a problem with Google-owned Gmail’s heavy encryption and with the inability to listen in on conversations over VoIP with Skype. “If...

RIM Sidesteps BlackBerry ban in India

The Indian government said it will not shut down the service for at least another 60 days as it evaluates proposals RIM has offered that would allow the government to monitor wireless subscribers’ communications. Indian officials said earlier this month that the company had until the end of August to come up with a solution that would allow them to monitor e-mails and other electronic messages...

‘LOL is this you?’ spam spreading via Facebook chat

  Facebook on Friday afternoon was investigating what appeared to be a new spam scheme that results in users getting messages from friends over Facebook chat that have malicious links. The messages say “LOL is this you?” and are accompanied by a link that looks like it leads to a video on Facebook, one victim told CNET. In his case, clicking the link directed to a Web page with a “404-Page...

Spanish judge summons Google over Wi-Fi data

The Spanish Legal Advanced Communications and Computer Crime Association (Apedanica), an internet rights group, said on Monday that a Madrid court had ordered the appearance for 4 October. Google will have to give details of the instruments used to collect the data, the nature of the data itself and the number of customers affected. “We are working with the relevant authorities in Spain to answer...

Committee threatens legal action if search firm fails to provide answers

Google could face legal action from a committee of 38 US states demanding more details about how the company came to collect Wi-Fi data with its Street View cars. “We will take all appropriate steps, including potential legal action if warranted, to obtain complete, comprehensive answers,” said Richard Blumenthal, committee leader and Connecticut attorney general. Blumenthal has called...

The internet’s root servers more secure due to the addition of domain name system security extensions

The internet’s root servers have been made more secure as a result of the addition of domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC). These extensions make it more likely that when a web page is returned to a user, the right web page is returned rather than one posing as the requested page. The aim is to protect organisations and consumers from imitation e-commerce sites or banking log-in pages....

Twitter privacy case settles with the US FTC.

Twitter has agreed to adopt new security measures that will settle its privacy case with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC said that the micro-blogging site will now enforce best practice for password selection and control, and submit to regular audits of its security controls. Twitter will be required to adopt unique non-dictionary passwords not used with other accounts or stored within...