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Comment NPR: Brian Krebs broke this story (Score 1) 191

by McGruber (#45734991) Attached to: Target Has Major Credit Card Breach

National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/19/255415230/breach-at-target-stores-may-affect-40-million-card-accounts) says that the story was first reported by Brian Krebs, who writes the "Krebs on Security" blog. (http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/sources-target-investigating-data-breach/)

NPR and other news outlets are only reporting the story because Target put out a press release (http://pressroom.target.com/news/target-confirms-unauthorized-access-to-payment-card-data-in-u-s-stores) that confirmed that the breech happened.

Comment Re:You poor baby (Score 1) 277

by McGruber (#45717161) Attached to: Surviving the Internet On Low Speed DSL

OMFG how ever will you survive on 1.5mbps? 5 years ago where I live finally got DSL at 768bps. 2 years ago it actually got bumped to a maximum of 3mbps. WTF are you whining about?

+1

I live within 4 miles of the center of a major US City and the best DSL I can get is 0.65 Mbps down and 0.10 Mbps up.

Submission + - DOJ Lawyer argued that Guantanamo prisoner searches are just like TSA Screenings (politico.com) 1

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Last Monday, Justice Department Attorney Edward Himmelfarb argued in court that searches of Guantanamo prisoners heading to meet with their attorneys were just like the searches that Transportation Security Administration performs on travelers at U.S. airports: "As a couple of spokesmen for Guantanamo said in the articles that are in the record, it's basically like a TSA search at the airport...a supplemental search," Himmelfarb told the court, according to a recording of the argument (http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/recordings/recordings2014.nsf/1D6FABA4014A1F9385257C3C00759E3A/$file/13-5218.mp3). "That's basically what it is and people fly all the time, including devout Muslims. It's not as bad as it sounds. The genital area is touched through the clothing with a flat hand, the way the TSA does," he added.

David Remes, an attorney representing Guantanamo prisoners, immediately sent the court a letter after the argument, disputing Himmelfarb's assertion that the search procedure is "not as bad as it sounds." "Clients who are willing to see me, or to have calls with me, describe a search procedure that is far more invasive and degrading than the light pat-down passengers get at airports: The guard feels the detainee’s penis, cups the detainee’s testicles, and feels inside the detainee’s crotch," Remes wrote in his letter (http://images.politico.com/global/2013/12/13/hatimremesltr.html).

DOJ Lawyer Himmelfarb then sent a letter to the court Friday afternoon (http://images.politico.com/global/2013/12/13/hatimltr.html), in which he said he wished to revise his remarks. "I would like to clarify that while the search procedures employed at Guantanamo bear some general similarities to patdown procedures employed at airport security checkpoints, the two sets of procedures are not identical. Although the Transportation Security Administration's patdown procedures cannot be publicly disclosed in detail...they differ in certain key respects from the searches conducted at Guantanamo," Himmelfarb wrote. "I regret any confusion my statements may have caused."

Comment Re:He could get out of the charge (Score 5, Informative) 252

by McGruber (#45662263) Attached to: California Man Arrested for Running 'Revenge Porn' Website

He should turn over all of his submission records, in essence handing over the information on hundreds of men who could be charged for posting the photos. They would probably offer him quite the plea deal if he were to do this.

Read the Arrest Warrant: http://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press_releases/Arrest%20warrant_0.pdf

There are 31 Felony Counts listed in it. He's not going to get much of a plea deal; the police seized his computers, so they already have "all of his submission records."

Comment Re:This was on OTM (Score 2) 252

by McGruber (#45662215) Attached to: California Man Arrested for Running 'Revenge Porn' Website

For deeper comentary, this was on On The Media last week (http://www.onthemedia.org/2013/dec/). My favorite part is when Bollaert said he wouldn't post pics of his Mom or sister because that was gross....

On the Media interviewed Hunter Moore, a different douchebag. Like Bollaert, Hunter Moore ran a revenge porn site, but Moore (apparently) honored removal requests.... then he took down his entire site.

Submission + - TSA cancels $60 million Rapiscan contract; Congress to increase TSA Tax anyway (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Bloomberg has the news that the US General Accounting Office (GAO) has forced the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to cancel a contract for carry-on baggage screening equipment (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-06/naked-scanner-maker-osi-systems-falls-on-losing-tsa-order.html). The contract had been awarded to Rapiscan, a unit of OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS), less than three months after the TSA nearly barred the company from future contracts, over how Rapiscan handled software fixes for body-scanning machines known as "naked scanners”.

Another contractor protested the award of the baggage screening contract to OSIS/Rapiscan. The protesting firm pointed out that OSI’s Rapiscan unit planned to make the machines in Malaysia in violation of federal rules and was using outdated technology that might miss dangerous objects and trigger false alarms.

Two House committees said in a report last year that the TSA spent $184 million on Rapiscan scanners that are now stored in a warehouse instead of being deployed at airports. The agency was spending $3.5 million a year to lease and manage the warehouse, the committees said.

Sadly, not even Congress reads reports produced by house committees, as demonstrated by this Businessweek report (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-12-03/tsa-passenger-fee-increase-proposal-spurs-airlines-to-lobby-2) that Congress is posed to increase the TSA Tax: "Eager to find new revenues to fend off automatic spending cuts next month, Republicans are embracing an increase to the so-called Sept. 11 security fee on U.S. airline tickets they’ve long resisted. Eager to find new revenues to fend off automatic spending cuts next month, Republicans are embracing an increase to the so-called Sept. 11 security fee on U.S. airline tickets they’ve long resisted. It’s one of the few money-raisers that has bipartisan support in budget negotiations, even as its surprise emergence mobilized resistance from airlines in the U.S. and abroad, the Air Line Pilots Association and the Consumer Travel Alliance."

Comment Moobies (Score 1) 299

by McGruber (#45636319) Attached to: Microsoft's New Smart Bra Could Stop You From Over Eating

"A team of engineers at Microsoft Research have developed a high-tech bra that's intended to monitor women's stress levels and dissuade them from emotional over-eating.

Actually, the team's original idea was to monitor the CEO's excitement levels and dissuade him from dancing..... so they created the "Bramer".

Then marketing got ahold of it.

Submission + - Facebook bans Mom for posting "sexually explicit" photo of her baby (thefeministbreeder.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Facebook has suspended Gina Crosley-Corcoran, author of the The Feminist Breeder weblog (thefeministbreeder.com). Her crime? Posting a shirtless photo of her BABY, which "those sick pieces of shit over a facebook" (her description) labeled as "sexually explicit" and filed under "nudity".

The photo (http://thefeministbreeder.com/why-subscribe/tfb-banned-facebook/) is totally safe to view at work unless you happen to work at Facebook.

Comment Re:Are they the only one ? (Score 1) 276

by McGruber (#45618389) Attached to: This Whole Bitcoin Thing Could Be Big, Says Bank of America

I've never seen USAA do it. I'll be a customer for life. From their insurance products to their banking and my mortgage they've always acted with nothing but the highest standards of customer service.

My understanding is that USAA is a Federal Savings Bank, a savings and loan association federally chartered in the United States, which is different than how other banks are chartered. That's why they haven't screwed you like a regular bank would have!

Comment Happened at the USA's fucked-up School District (Score 5, Informative) 1010

by McGruber (#45599817) Attached to: EV Owner Arrested Over 5 Cents Worth of Electricity From School's Outlet

Chamblee Middle School (http://www.chambleems.dekalb.k12.ga.us/) is part of the Dekalb County (Georgia) School System. DCSS is the most fucked-up school district in the USA. The former Superintendent was arrested for theft by taking, the replacement Superintendent abandoned her job and the current Superintendent is a political hack who lacks the qualifications required to hold a teacher's license. The former COO was just found guilty of racketeering. The DCSS school board was removed by the state Governor and the school system is currently on "Accredited Probation", the only school system in the country with that status.

Some recent news coverage of Dekalb County School System:

Court upholds law used to suspend DeKalb school board members: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/court-upholds-law-used-to-suspend-dekalb-school-bo/nb4Cx/

Ex-DeKalb school official found guilty of racketeering: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/313666/40/Verdict-reached-in-DeKalb-corruption-trial

DeKalb teacher accused of beating special needs elementary student with stick: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-teacher-accused-beating-special-needs-eleme/nb26M/

School superintendent negotiates settlement in expensive legal battle: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/school-superintendent-negotiates-settlement-in-exp/nb89X/

DeKalb Schools placed on probation: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-schools-placed-probation/nTYSp/

DeKalb’s graduation rate under the new state formula: 58.65% (Meaning that 42% of Dekalb Students DO NOT GRADUATE!) http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/dekalbs-graduation-rate-under-the-new-state-formula-58-65/

Submission + - Those Pictures in Home Furnishing Catalogs are really CGI (dezeen.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Dezeen Magazine has the news that most of the pictures you see in home finishing catalogs are renderings (http://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/27/cgi-renderings-for-catalogue-images/) , not photographs. "With photography, you're always going to be restricted by what you can build and what materials you can use and what furniture you can get a hold of, whereas with CGI there are massive 3D libraries now where you can buy really high quality digital models and textures and drop them straight into your images."

Last year, Ikea announced that 12% of IKEA's content for the Web, catalog and brochures were rendered virtually; that number was projected to increase to 25% for 2013. (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444508504577595414031195148)
According to Anneli Sjogren, head of photography at IKEA, CGI is "a clever way to save money. We don't have to throw away kitchens in the Dumpster after the photo shoot." Nor do they have to attempt to assemble Ikea furniture, either!

Submission + - $2 Smartphone App checks IDs better than TSA (komonews.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: According to KOMO News (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/TSA-Should-Take-Notice-of-Bartender-App-That-Checks-ID-233397761.html) Barzapp, an $2 smartphone app being marketed to bartenders, bouncers and anyone who could lose their job if they don't spot a fake ID, could offer up a better ID check than the TSA now has in place.

Currently, a TSA agent must review a passenger's government issued ID and check the name on the boarding pass against it prior to entering electronic scanning area. This name check happens so fast that passengers sometimes wonder if they are really checking the ID at all. "I guess they are making sure you name matches your boarding pass and confirming, like, who you are, maybe?" said passenger Casey Stengal, who is not really sure why the check is necessary.

Since 2007, TSA has been working on developing a Credential Authentication Technology to use at airport checkpoints. But after spending tens of millions of dollars and four rounds of soliciting vendors and testing possible equipment, the TSA still doesn't have an electronic ID verification system in place.

"The TSA is still testing this type of technology," TSA Press Secretary Ron Feinstein said in an email. The TSA has not identified a technology it would like to use with no deadline for it to be in service.

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