Bill Lindner

The digital photocopier in your home or office could offer a hacker a gateway to your personal or sensitive data. Unbeknownst to many, nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive -- similar to the one in your personal computer ... -- that stores images of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine. Company Warns of Risks Associated with Digital Copiers Digital Copier Security, a Sacramento-based business known for their hard-drive scrubbing software 'INFOSWEEP', has been trying to warn people about the potential risk with little luck. A CBS News investigation ... (view more)

A year-long study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that claims by Hollywood and the music recording industry about the devastating effect of piracy have been overblown. The GAO, the audit and investigative arm of Congress, ... was asked by lawmakers to conduct the study in 2008 because they were trying to find ways to strengthen efforts to protect intellectual property. The GAO studied digital music, movies, and software. (Source: cnet.com ) The GAO spent a year studying how piracy and illegal counterfeiting affects the United States, but still can't make any positive ... (view more)

The Lower Merion School District (LMSD) laptop spying saga continues to unfold. District investigators have finished their investigation, concluding that web cameras were activated by school district employees about 80 times in the past two school ... years, capturing nearly 56,000 images of students, their homes and copies of the programs or files running on their screens. Laptop Took Photos While Student Slept The system was allegedly used by LMSD officials to track lost and stolen laptops. However, the lawsuit filed on behalf of Blake J. Robbins by his parents claims that the teen's school- ... (view more)

We recently reported on a story in which the identities of 3.3 million loan borrowers were hacked , including the names, addresses, social security numbers of these individuals. Now, figures from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse suggest that more ... than 347 million records have been breached since 2005. So, what happens if you aren't aware that your identity has been compromised? The short answer is that someone will likely try to use your identity to commit fraud. For example, you might receive a bill for a credit card expense that you knew nothing about. It could ruin your credit score, or ... (view more)

The names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of 3.3 million people were stolen in what is believed to be the largest-ever breach of personal information amongst university students. The issue could affect as many as 5% of all federal ... student-loan borrowers. According to Educational Credit Management Corp. (ECMC), a non-profit guarantor of federal student loans, during the weekend of March 20-21 the personal details of 3.3 millions borrowers were stolen from their St. Paul, Minn. headquarters. The theft did not involve hackers. ECMC spokesman Paul Kelash told the Wall Street Journal that ... (view more)

If you receive an email with the message "Facebook password reset confirmation customer support" in the subject line, don't click the link. Doing so would cause you to fall victim to the latest password-stealing virus targeting Facebook users. ... Facebook's estimated 400 million users are being targeted by hackers in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information. McAfee Warns of Malware in Attachment According to McAfee Inc., recipients of the email are told that their Facebook passwords have been reset. They're then urged to click on an attachment to obtain new ... (view more)

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a far-reaching proposal that the U.S. government has insisted was too sensitive to be exposed to the public. Now that the 44-page document (PDF) has been leaked, it's easy to see why the U.S. wanted ... to keep it a secret. (Source: die-linke.de ) ACTA, in its present form, is heralded by the Film and Music industries and their fight against piracy. However, if upheld, citizens will pay a heavy price for their privacy. Gov't Can Search, Seize and Destroy Electronics Former President George W. Bush and current President Barack Obama both favor ACTA ... (view more)

A recently filed 17-page lawsuit (PDF) alleges that laptops issued to high-school students in a Pennsylvania suburb feature webcams used by school administrators to invade the privacy of almost 1,800 students and their families. (Source: zdnet.com ) ... According to the parents in Blake J Robbins v. Lower Merion School District (LMSD), the issue was discovered last November when the Robbins' child was disciplined for 'improper behavior at his home' and a photo taken by the webcam was used by the Assistant Principal as evidence. The activity the student was engaged in is not specified in the ... (view more)

A Seattle judge has dismissed a "downgrade" from Windows Vista to Windows XP fee lawsuit that alleged antitrust violations. The class-action suit was filed by Emma Alvarado of Los Angeles in February 2009 after she was charged $59.25 to downgrade ... the operating system (OS) on a newly purchased Lenovo laptop. Alvarado alleged that Microsoft abused its monopoly by trying to cash in on the popularity of Windows XP over Windows Vista. Lawsuit Failed to Prove that Microsoft Received 'Unjust Enrichment' Judge Marsha J. Pechman, of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, said ... (view more)

In response to claims of copyright infringement, web site "cryptome.org" was recently (and temporarily) shut down after the site posted an internal document outlining details on how Microsoft manages logs of user activity. (Source: sfgate.com ) Web ... proprietor John Young filed a counterclaim a day after Microsoft filed its Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice, arguing that he had a fair use to publish the document, a full day before the deadline was set by Network Solutions, his hosting provider. Cryptome.org Temporarily Shut Down Network Solutions shut down Cryptome.org ... (view more)