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Thousands fall victim to utility payment scam (Scott Bauer)
by Monty Solomon 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

Scott Bauer, Thousands fall victim to utility payment scam, Associated Press, 12 Jul 2012 As much as President Barack Obama wants your vote, he's not actually offering to pay your monthly bills. But thousands of Americans have been persuaded otherwise, falling victim to a fast-moving scam that claims to be part of an Obama administration program to help pay utility bills in the midst of a scorching summer. The scheme spread quickly across the nation in recent weeks with help from victims who unwittingly shared it on social media sites before realizing they had been conned out of personal information such as Social Security, credit card and checking account numbers. ... http://www.boston.com/business/news/2012/07/12/thousands-fall-victim-utilit… ------------------------------

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Smartphone apps track users even when shut down
by Richard M. Smith 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2012/09/02/smartphone-apps-track-… Some smartphone apps collect and transmit sensitive information stored on a phone, including location, contacts, and Web browsing histories, even when the apps are not being used by the phone's owner, according to two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It seems like people are no longer in control of their own privacy," said Frances Zhang, a master's degree student in computer science at MIT. Zhang and fellow researcher Fuming Shih, a computer science doctoral candidate, found that some popular apps for phones running Google Inc.'s Android operating system are continually collecting information without informing the phone's owner. The popular game Angry Birds uses the phone's GPS and Wi-Fi wireless networking features to track the owner's location, even when he's not playing the game, for example. Another game, Bowman, collects information from the phone's Internet browser, including what websites the owner has been visiting. And WhatsApp, a popular text-messaging program, scans the user's address book when it is seemingly idle. ------------------------------

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[liberationtech] New policy directive for Internet Filtering in Pakistan
by Eugen Leitl 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

----- Forwarded message from Yosem Companys <companys(a)stanford.edu> -----

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[tahoe-dev] TWN 37
by Eugen Leitl 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

----- Forwarded message from Patrick R McDonald <marlowe(a)antagonism.org> -----

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Harvard Students in Cheating Scandal Say Collaboration Was Accepted
by Peter G. Neumann 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

[An early mention of this case stated: ``Harvard University is investigating what it calls an `unprecedented' case of cheating. College officials say around 125 students may have shared answers and plagiarized on a [Introduction To Congress] final exam.'' Source: Curt Nickisch, NPR 31 Aug.] The exam in question was an open-book take-home exam from a professor reportedly inclined to give mostly high grades based in part on factors such as the number of citations! Perhaps many of the 125 students were citing the same sources from the Internet? Is that collusion or collation collision? We await details. PGN] Richard Perez-Pena, *The New York Times*, 31 Aug 2012 Harvard students suspected in a major cheating scandal said that many of the accusations are based on innocent - or at least tolerated - collaboration among students, and with help from graduate-student teachers who sometimes gave them answers to test questions. Students said they were tripped up by a course whose tests were confusing, whose grading was inconsistent, and for which the professor and teaching assistants gave contradictory signals about what was expected. They face the possibility of a one-year suspension from Harvard or revocation of their diplomas if they have already graduated, and some said that they will sue the university if any serious punishment is meted out. In years past, the course, Introduction to Congress, had a reputation as one of the easiest at Harvard College. Some of the 279 students who took it in the spring semester said that the teacher, Matthew B. Platt, an assistant professor of government, told them at the outset that he gave high grades and that neither attending his lectures nor the discussion sessions with graduate teaching fellows was mandatory. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/education/students-of-harvard-cheating-sc… ------------------------------

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Re: SCS whitewashed from wikipedia
by John Young 02 Sep '12

02 Sep '12

Informative, much. We'll try to add some of the stuff deleted, see what happens. Retrieved from Archive and posted the 1999 Village Voice piece on SCS with note about the whitewash: http://cryptome.org/2012/09/scs-vest-madsen.htm At 12:08 AM 9/2/2012, you wrote: >they finally managed to do it: United States Special Collections >Service is now gone, redirected to "Central Security Service" > >https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Special_Collection… > >some interesting vandalism in the history. >https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Special_Collection… > i guess they're getting more sophisticated.. > >;P

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When GPS Confuses, You May Be to Blame (Randall Stross)
by Matthew Kruk 02 Sep '12

02 Sep '12

Randall Stross, *The New York Times*, 1 Sep 2012 [PGN-ed] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/technology/gps-and-human-error-can-lead-d… The turn-by-turn instructions of GPS-based navigation systems, ingeniously designed though they may be, can't always save us from ourselves. Consider the experience of a man from San Diego who flew to the East Coast and picked up a GPS-equipped rental car at the airport. After 20 minutes, he sensed he was headed in the wrong direction. Then he realized that he had unthinkingly entered his California address as his destination. "The navigation system had dutifully set a route back to his home in San Diego, 3,000 miles away," said Barry Brown, co-director of the Mobile Life Center, based in Stockholm, which does research on mobile communication. The incident happened to a friend of his. Mr. Brown is co-author of a recent paper titled "The Normal Natural Troubles of Driving With GPS." The paper illuminates a drawback of GPS technology: that it is designed for docile drivers whose navigational skills have atrophied. ... Randall Stross <stross(a)nytimes.com> is an author based in Silicon Valley and a professor of business at San Jose State University. ------------------------------

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SCS whitewashed from wikipedia
by coderman 02 Sep '12

02 Sep '12

they finally managed to do it: United States Special Collections Service is now gone, redirected to "Central Security Service" https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Special_Collection… some interesting vandalism in the history. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Special_Collection… i guess they're getting more sophisticated.. ;P

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Увольнение сотрудников
by Кадровику √ все об увольнении 01 Sep '12

01 Sep '12

Увольнения и сокращение численности или штата сотрудников 06 августа 2012г. 8 (495) 792/2I-22 <<<>>> +7 495 7Ч2.9I.98 Цель обучения: Изучить общие основания прекращения трудового договора, особенности сокращения штатов для отдельных категорий работников. Программа мероприятия: Общий порядок прекращения трудового договора * Собственное желание * Расторжение трудового договора по соглашению сторон * Прекращение трудового договора в связи с истечением срока его действия * Увольнение в порядке перевода к другому работодателю * Увольнение в связи с отказом работника от продолжения работы в силу изменения определенных условий трудового договора Расторжение трудового договора по инициативе работодателя: * На испытательном сроке * По причине сокращения численности (штата) работников -Порядок проведения, сроки выплата выходных пособий, -Кого сократить, а кого уволить по соглашение сторон? -Плюсы и минусы сокращения и соглашения сторон. * По причине недостаточной квалификации работника -Аттестация работников, как аргумент работодателя: правовое регулирование, сроки и порядок проведения, * В связи с неоднократным неисполнением обязанностей -Дисциплинарные взыскания √ Кнут работодателя: Порядок наложения и оформления, как не допустить ошибок. * В связи с однократным грубым нарушением работником трудовых обязанностей -По причине совершения проступка работником, непосредственно обслуживающим денежные или товарные ценности * В связи с представлением работником подложных документов Расторжение трудового договора по обстоятельствам, не зависящим от воли сторон Увольнение отдельных категорий работников: * Руководителей организаций * Совместителей * Беременных женщин Выдача трудовой книжки при увольнении: возможные проблемы и споры Ответы на вопросы слушателей За более подробной информацuей обpащайтеcь по тел: 8 (495) 792\2I22 <<<>>> 8 (495) 792_2I.22

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Lockheed Air-Traffic Upgrade Now on Track, FAA Chief Says
by Dave Farber 01 Sep '12

01 Sep '12

A $2.4-billion replacement for the U.S. air-traffic control computers plagued by delays and cost overruns will be completed within the revised budget and 2014 deadline, said Michael Huerta, acting chief of the FAA. [ERAM - En-Route Automation Modernization] [Bloomberg, PGN-ed] (well maybe!!! djf) [Browse on the Subject line for the article. Dave's comment might relate to the fact that some of our readers may remember the eventual cancelation of an earlier en-route ATC modernization effort, after the expenditure of $4 billion. It's nice to know costs are coming down! PGN] ------------------------------

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