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Submission + - License plate cameras help police, privacy concerns raise call for regulations (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: An article from the Chicago Tribune (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-automated-license-plate-readers-in-suburbs-20210629-nlrvjbfwwjal7gu4ihnwlv4tua-story.html) on how suburban police departments in the Chicago area use license plate cameras as a crime-fighting tool. Some police departments have discontinued using license plate cameras saying they did not work as advertised and had too many problems.

Some suburbs and leaders expressed serious concerns about privacy and misuse of private information. The story describes how many police officers have abused license plate databases (https://apnews.com/article/699236946e3140659fff8a2362e16f43).

Submission + - Healthcare organizations under siege from cyberattacks, study says (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: A new study set to be officially released Wednesday found that networks and Internet-connected devices in places such as hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are under siege and in many cases have been infiltrated without their knowledge.

The study was conducted by Norse, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm, and SANS, a security research institute. In the report, the groups found from September 2012 to October 2013 that 375 healthcare organizations in the U.S. had been compromised, and in many cases are still compromised because they have not yet detected the attacks.

Submission + - Datawind not blowing smoke - $38 tablet coming to the U.S.

Submitted by BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: In a follow-up to story submitted by symbolset back on May 4, 2013, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that London-based Datawind it will begin selling its $38 UbiSlate tablet computer in the United States early next year.

"The $38 7-inch touchscreen UbiSlate 7Ci tablet runs on Google's Android 4.0 and features a 1-gigahertz, single-core processor. It has 4 gigabytes of storage with microSD card slots for additional storage. The 7-inch display offers a resolution of 800x480 pixels."

The specs are not the greatest, the fastest, the most powerful, but, for under $50, they're still pretty good, no?

Comment Acquire actual 501(c)(3) status (Score 1) 178

Reglue, as it is organized today, cannot succeed or sustain itself much longer.

How is it organized? Who runs it?

When did it begin operations? How was it founded?

Who is on the board of directors? Who is on the board of advisors?

Your website sort of addresses some of these questions, but it is not clear when the organization was necessarily founded nor who currently runs Reglue.

If you are in the process of applying for 501(c)(3) status, where are you in that process and when do you anticipate receiving your determination letter? Which organization is currently serving as your fiscal agent in order to allow you to accept charitable gifts?

Also, Reglue must get a 501(c)(3) designation if you want it to survive and grow. If I was an institutional funder, I would be suspicious of the fact you have been operating since 2005 and still need an outside organization to be your fiscal agent. For one or two, possibly, three years, that is okay but eight years? That length of time creates questions about the management of the organization and its competence.

Comment Re:Nonprofits use more than grants for sustainabil (Score 1) 178

What emes said.

The vast majority of non-profits in the United States rely on individual donations. Giving USA estimated that $298 billion was donated in 2011, and individuals were responsible for $217 billion, 73% of all philanthropic giving in the U.S.

Donors want their contributions to make a difference in addressing the cause they care about. That is why giving in the last decade has focused more and more on restricted, project-specific funding.

Non-profits must cultivate individual donors who believe in the organization's mission and want to address the same issue. And, while doing so, they must also communicate with their donors and stakeholders that general operating costs are essential to the sustainability of the organization.

Like someone above already mentioned, it is really hard to achieve your goals and accomplish your mission if your organization cannot afford to keep the lights on.
Government

Submission + - FTC Strengthens Children's Privacy Protections Online (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today updated the privacy standards that protect children's privacy online. The new rules say companies must gain parental consent before collecting a kid's geolocation data, photos, and videos. It also broadened existing language to include third parties and companies that collect data on users across multiple websites. 'While the new rule strengthens such safeguards, it could also disrupt online advertising. Web sites and online advertising networks often use persistent identification systems — like a customer code number in a cookie in a person’s browser — to collect information about a user’s online activities and tailor ads for that person. But the new rule expands the definition of personal information to include persistent IDs — such as a customer code number, the unique serial number on a mobile phone, or the I.P. address of a browser — if they are used to show a child behavior-based ads.'

Submission + - Senator Introduces Bill to Study Impact of Violent Video Games (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by seepho
seepho writes: Senator Jay Rockefeller (D — WV) has introduced a bill directing the National Academy of Sciences to lead an investigation to determine what impact violent video games have on children. Senator Rockefeller commented, "Recent court decisions demonstrate that some people still do not get it. They believe that violent video games are no more dangerous to young minds than classic literature or Saturday morning cartoons. Parents, pediatricians, and psychologists know better. These court decisions show we need to do more and explore ways Congress can lay additional groundwork on this issue. This report will be a critical resource in this process."
Businesses

Submission + - Most Kickstarter Projects Fail to Deliver on Time 1

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: A recently conducted analysis found that out of the top 50 most-funded Kickstarter projects, a whopping 84 percent missed their target delivery dates. As it turns out, only eight of them hit their deadline. Sixteen hadn't even shipped yet, while the remaining 26 projects left the warehouse months late.
Google

Submission + - FTC Releases Google Privacy Audit, Blacks Out The Details (securityledger.com)

Submitted by
chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: "Google could tell you about its privacy practices except, well....they're private. That's the conclusion privacy advocates are drawing after the Federal Trade Commission took a black marker to an independent audit of the company's privacy practices before releasing it to the group EPIC in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Security Ledger is reporting that the FTC released a copy of a Price Waterhouse Coopers audit of Google that was mandated as part of a settlement with the FTC over complaints following a 2010 complaint by EPIC over privacy violations in Google Buzz, a now-defunct social networking experiment. However, the agency acceded to Google requests to redact descriptions of the search giant’s internal procedures and the design of its privacy program."

Submission + - Univ. of Minnesota compiles database of peer-reviewed, open-acces textbooks (insidehighered.com) 1

Submitted by
BigVig209
BigVig209 writes: "Univ. of MN is cataloging open-access textbooks and enticing faculty to review the texts by offering $500 per review. Despite the author calling the open-source rather than open-access, this may be the first time a land-grant, public university makes this kind of resource available to faculty and students."
Image

Geeks Prefer Competence To Niceness 300

Posted by samzenpus from the catching-more-geeks-with-vinegar dept.
Death Metal writes "While everyone would like to work for a nice person who is always right, IT pros will prefer a jerk who is always right over a nice person who is always wrong. Wrong creates unnecessary work, impossible situations and major failures. Wrong is evil, and it must be defeated. Capacity for technical reasoning trumps all other professional factors, period."

Submission + - Swine Flu Outbreak at PAX (penny-arcade.com)

Submitted by
whisper_jeff
whisper_jeff writes: "There's been a confirmed outbreak of Swine Flu at PAX. Those who attended and are feeling under-the-weather after the con should not write it off as a typical convention cold and go see a doctor to make sure, just in case."

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