The Gozi Strikes Back ( Russian Gozi Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring)

I have just taken two points from the article below "Users state-of-the-art, modularized Trojan code" " Launch attacks through Internet Explorer browser exploits"

Now if you read The article it's rather scary, that all that information was being gathered and put up for sale and even might still be up. When is Microsoft going to take security seriously?

Even with Vista that was delayed a year, has bugs up the gazooo, one reason why a lot of Business are reluctant to jump on board.

My advice stay with XP and try and make sure you can be as secure as you can be. Remember though, even then you could still be prone to attacks as long as Windows chooses to make security a lower priority. Let me know what you think? Are you tired of this? What Should Microsoft Do?

Russian (Gozi) Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Researchers at SecureWorks have stumbled upon what appears to be a massive identity theft ring using state-of-the-art Trojan code to steal confidential data from thousands of infected machines in the U.S. The Trojan, which connects to a server in Russia, has so far pilfered information from more than 5,200 home computers with 10,000 account records. The [...]

Experiments In Photography (Name Me)

I thought since it's Friday I would end the week with an image from the ongoing experiments in Photography series. With this photography I liked the play of light and texture, to me it has a mixture of the everyday with a surreal quality. This presents a problems though, I don't know what to name it. Maybe you can help me, if you like submit names for it in the comments section.

There are some other photos as well that are nameless please feel free to look around, and suggest some names. Have a great weekend everyone.

Google and Privacy

Google has announced that it will be changing it's policy of data storage about you and your searches. It's a move in the right direction, though much more could be done.

"Under the new policy announced on Wednesday, which Google expects to have fully implemented by the end of the year, the company will anonymize the final eight bits of the IP address and the cookie data after somewhere between 18 months and 24 months, unless legally required to retain the data for longer."

The entire article can be found here http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6167333.html?tag=nl.e539

Now if you are a person that likes having privacy, this could be disturbing and a lot of privacy advocates feel the same way. I'm wary of this, as information is power and could be misused, though perhaps I'm just old fashioned.

I like to think of privacy on the Internet like this, it's just like a telephone conversation, but you are using a computer, the only time your privacy should be invaded, is when you give permission for it, and there should be full disclosure in a transparent manner of what information is being stored and gathered about you. I would also like to stress it should not be in tiny Print ,but stated in a clear manner.

I would like to know your feeling's about privacy, how much should people have? Who should control that information? Who has ownership over it? Who can access it?

My opinion is that the individual should have the final say on their information and privacy. The only time that should be invaded is either when a person commits a crime or they give permission.

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ?

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ? Well if the allegation's are true, they may have come from groups that the Untied States have on their terrorism list. I guess we will just have to wait for the trial, if there is one, to get all the facts. In The meantime what are your thoughts? My opinion is if the allegation's are true, this could be very damaging to the company, after all do you want to buy bananas from a company that deals with terrorists? I know I don't.

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.

Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
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On the Net:
Chiquita: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/terrorism_bananas/22266840/SIG=10q1588e6/*http://www.chiquita.com/

You-Tube And Copyright

I don't know maybe I'm just dense, though I see this as causing a bit of a commotion given all the talk about it, I'm left with the thought, why not use a copyright that is domain specific? It seems to me, we are seeing basically turf wars over who has what rights to media, it's kind of funny and sad in a way, as the company's talk about their losses, but where does the artist come into play? At the same time the Internet and the media,mediums used, do not have to be seen as enemies of these company's, they can be a artist's or company's friends, just ask any artist who has embraced the Internet.

Digital culturus interruptus: Right here, right now, the almighty copyright finally comes home to roost by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. Like teenagers biologically programmed to step across every boundary put in place by their parents, the digerati, equipped with the constantly evolving tools of their trade (everything from YouTube-like video sharing sites to widely available hacks of anti-piracy systems), have been been running a full-court press, brazenly [...]