Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Dropbox Does Not Validate Mail Addresses For Accounts

DarkSoul42 writes: I just stumbled upon a situation quite like the latest xkcd strip ( http://xkcd.com/1279/ ), in having an homonym create a Dropbox account on my own GMail address, mistaking it for his own.

I started receiving out of the blue several notifications of "my Dropbox account" being linked to several devices, none of which I could remember, prompting some doubt since I didn't remember having a Dropbox account in the first place. On reflex, I reinitialized the password and logged in to confirm the contents, realizing quickly that my homonym most likely messed up and would probably end up in a lot of trouble if they lost the data in their account.
I created a "Sorry for the trouble with your Dropbox, please read this" file, containing my whole explanation about what went on, and the matter was solved smoothly with a laugh from both parties ("Okay, so now what was MY GMail address?"), but it is sort of mind-boggling that Dropbox would allow setting an e-mail address, or even the creation of an active account, without requesting confirmation (sending an e-mail with an activation URL, or a code) !

This could even be used to plant Nasty Evidence on someone before tipping off the police and prompting an investigation, and most likely ruining their lives... At the time of writing I have sent a PR to Dropbox about this, hopefully this gets fixed quickly.

Comment ACTUALLY the Ilusion (Score 1) 2

In the present state of things, If you are socially truthful / factual: You cannot. If you are not socially truthful / factual: You have a better chance of it because you are not socially truthful / factual, however, the more you are not out there your chances greatly improve. It is because it hasn’t happened That it will happen Across the net.

Submission + - Google starts sending adverts as emails to Gmail users (geek.com) 1

An anonymous reader writes: Back in May, Google rolled out an update to Gmail that it marketed as “a new inbox.” What it did was to split the email you receive into categories and then display them in different tabs. The Gmail redesign wasn’t just to help users, though. It turns out Google has decided to introduce a new form of advertising because of it, one that you could view as being much more intrusive than before.

Some users have started noticing that in the Promotions tab new emails are appearing that they haven’t singed up to receive. These emails as marked as “Ad” under the sender name. A little further investigation reveals they are actually Google adverts packaged as emails.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: what do you ACTUALLY do to protect your online privacy? 2

An anonymous reader writes: After all the media coverage about snooping in the last weeks and after i found out, that employees at my local isp are actually selling the surfing habits of customers, it is time for me to think about changing my setup.

What is the best way to protect your privacy for a pc and a smartphone from google, ad-networks and the isp. What tools are you using? What is the "best"? Is someone here actually running such a setup? What would the costs amount to? What would be involved?

Please be specific. I could not really find anything like "the n00b guide to online privacy"...

Submission + - Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds (nytimes.com)

mspohr writes: Apple relied on a “complex web of offshore entities” and U.S. tax loopholes to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes on $44 billion in offshore income over the past four years, according to excerpts from a Senate subcommittee report to be released tomorrow as Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies on the company’s overseas operations.

The maker of iPhones and iPads used at least three foreign subsidiaries that it claims are not “tax resident in any nation” to help it avoid paying billions in “otherwise taxable offshore income,” the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a statement today. "
Coverage in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/05/20/apple-used-loopholes-to-skip-paying-44-billion-in-u-s-taxes-senate-committee-claims/
NYTimes also has coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/business/apple-avoided-billions-in-taxes-congressional-panel-says.html

The Military

US Is Finally Cleaning Up Agent Orange In Vietnam 277

derekmead writes "It only took 40 years. And yes, Washington still disputes Hanoi's claim that up to 4 million Vietnamese suffered contact with the defoliant, which was dumped en masse in a U.S. air campaign to scorch away the dense jungle cover under which guerilla fighters hid. But the AP reports that the U.S. is finally set to start cleaning up the mess. The numbers are staggering: Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and a galaxy of other herbicides on nearly a quarter of former South Vietnam. The defoliant ate through about 5 millions acres – a tract comparable in size to Massachusetts – of forest. An additional half-million acres of crops were decimated."
Medicine

Caffeine Linked To Lower Skin Cancer Risk 130

THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER writes "The curative effects of coffee continue to be discovered as the Harvard School of Public Health and Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital published a new study today that links caffeine consumption with reduced skin cancer rates. Quoting: 'The study of nearly 113,000 men and women found those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a 20 percent lower risk of basal cell carcinoma than those who said no to Joe. Caffeine in non-coffee substances was found equally effective. The cause is speculated to be related to caffeine's ability to "kill off damaged skin cells," said Dr. Josh Zeichner, assistant professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. "If you get rid of these cells that are damaged, then they don't have the opportunity to grow and form cancers."'"

Comment the costs of business (Score 1) 1

my vote is that if it is not being paid, it should not have to maintain the files; except, of course, unless it is an e-discovery issue. I admit that I am not read-up on all of this story, but nothing reported here or in the article linked, says that it is an e-discovery issue. If a governing body requires it (when it's not for e-discovery), that body should pay. If this was an e-discovery issue, the 3rd party could make a business-loss claim against its insurance company for payment, and that insurance company should have plans in place to mitigate against an extended period of time. . . . I admit that this is probably an issue for those whose data it is, and I think the network should now plan for such occurrences to happen again in the future (data-owners should have redundant systems for the same data, AND\OR The business owners [not the host] should have redundant systems and to auto-enable the data owners to remove their data; and to put clauses in their agreements to enable access-for-the-explicit-purpose-of-determining-contact-for-the-data-owners, in such a situation as this only, to enable a governing body to contact the data owners to notify that there is a small charge required to retrieve their data [for instance]. AND\OR The business owner [the host] should build-in an agreement with its customers for access only under supervision of a governing body [or something like that] to determine contact for the data owners.) For a business to be required by a law\court\rule to maintain the data in a situation that is not insurable, that is actually preventing the host from doing business. my .02

Comment 'The role of IT' or 'the need for change'? (Score 1) 3

What I have seen is that either their lack of understanding of the need for security exists solely because they really have no idea (even that they have been operating under false assumptions that the 800 pound gorillas that they use in their daily work will some how 'save' them), or, it exists because they choose to ignore facts. -Some would say that ignoring facts could be thought of as a strategy for operations, but that's another conversation. When they have already chosen to ignore, logic is not going to convince them without a great big fight. So, in that scenario, as the first commenter here suggested: Walk away from the endeavor. But if it's that they really have no idea or are misinformed, in my experience, to be successful in getting buy-in for the need, I had to be ready to take the conversation through the entire scenario. --> Start by asking them how much they enjoy \ can afford risk. The answer is usually “not much.” This opens the path to a conversation about how much risk exists in \ for the organization, why and how\where it exists, and how risk can be mitigated by proper management of it, and the potential consequences of failure to do so. Of course, to have this conversation, you must be educated and convincing in your knowledge, and you must be able to point to relevant examples. --> identify a serious problem; demonstrate a 'fix'; and obtain buy-in to resolve it. --> THEN there are the initial costs to discuss concerning your proposals for the remedy \ mitigation efforts. Here, you must really be prepared AND understood by your audience, so your 'talk' has to be knowledgeable and practiced. You’ll most likely have to initialize a risk analysis for the organization, as well as a ROI analysis. You must also be able to convincingly convey the concept of 'increased risk with time', and speak to their desires for success and good reputation. If you want to be doing this; if you are passionate about the cause; if you are comfortable with 'the end justifies the means', then this is something you MAY be able to accomplish. But if you are not able to passionately talk about the issue and its causes and its costs and its fixes, you will be wasting your time, and, also, making it harder for the next person who attempts to get that buy-in.

Comment Employee-Owned Devices Muddy Data Privacy Rights (Score 2) 165

Not everybody has the talent to be a good author (I don't fool myself). Some writings get muddled, and some responders simply interject confusions. The topic(s) of ‘data privacy rights’, why they are needed, and including who is subject to adhere to regulations concerning them, why they are subject, when they are subject, and the regulations themselves, all deserve to be logically discussed .. . .. .Because there ARE regulations. -Regulations concerning information that a person or other entity may hold [about] another person, or other entity, which, if obtained by an unauthorized 3rd party, could be used in an unauthorized manner. (If you legitimately [authorized] collect and save someone else's information, you have a responsibility to protect that information from unauthorized access, viewing, collection and\or use. And, generally, authorized for your use does not authorize you to authorize any other person or entity.) The Ops’ title is: - “Employee-Owned Devices Muddy Privacy Rights” - Business and Tech headlines lately are loaded with mentions about, and references to such things as, “Bring your own device to work(BYOD)”, “Commercialization of Corporate IT”, etc., etc., which talk about employees using their own devices to access work-related assets, for different reasons. As is pointed-out in various comments above, the persons or entities that are subject to the aforementioned regulations are required to take ‘reasonable steps' to comply with those regulations. It is NOT reasonable to ‘assume’ an employee’s personal device is and will remain to be ‘in compliance’ with the subject regulations, therefore, it is NOT a ‘reasonable step’ to openly allow employee-owned devices access to the internal information. The computer systems we saw on television, Star Trek and the like, will one day govern us; but not yet.

Slashdot Top Deals

An Ada exception is when a routine gets in trouble and says 'Beam me up, Scotty'.

Working...