Land Of The Flea

Fake online reviews targeted by N.Y. attorney general

"It’s an online technique sometimes called 'astroturfing,' or laying down fake grass-roots excitement to help build a better online ranking for a business or product. It’s even become a full-blown racket when companies have hired freelance writers – sometimes paid up to $10 for every fake gush they tap out – to go to sites such as Citysearch, Google Local, or Yelp and praise products and businesses they've never seen, let alone tried. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday that 19 local companies have fessed up to using such techniques, agreeing to pay more than $350,000 in penalties for breaking laws against false advertising and deceptive business practices." Continue reading →

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Former FBI agent pleads guilty to leaking secrets to the Associated Press

"In investigating the leak, authorities obtained two months of phone records of reporters and editors at AP at several offices, covering 20 separate phone lines, defense lawyers said. Although Obama had promised openness when he entered office, his administration has pursued an unprecedented crackdown on leaks from government employees, attempting more prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act than all previous administrations. John Kiriakou, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was charged with leaking secrets after he gave an interview to ABC television describing the use of water boarding in interrogations of terror suspects under the Bush administration." Continue reading →

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30,000 people can access Ohio driver’s license database with no oversight

"Ohio allows thousands of police officers and court employees to access driver’s license images online without oversight, by far the nation’s most permissive system. A recent Cincinnati Enquirer/Gannett Ohio investigation found the state permits 30,000 law enforcement officers and others to search the image database, which Attorney General Mike DeWine admitted last month had been uploaded in June without telling the public or reviewing security protocols. The Republican attorney general said similar technology was used by law enforcement in more than half the U.S., but the Enquirer’s report showed the technology is far more limited elsewhere." Continue reading →

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The Dark Side of the iPhone 5S Lines

"The scene at the apple store just before the phones release was also a sight i'd never experienced. Beyond excitement it was closer to hysteria. Encouraged by hundreds of equally hysterical employees in blue shirts. At the peak of that hysteria i stopped and reminded myself what the impetus was for all of this; a new phone. That warranted a head shake and an eye roll." Continue reading →

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Senator Asks if FBI Can Get iPhone 5S Fingerprint Data via Patriot Act

"The iPhone 5S reportedly stores fingerprint data locally 'on the chip' and in an encrypted format. It also blocks third-party apps from accessing Touch ID. Yet important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple's future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it. I should add that regardless of how carefully Apple implements fingerprint technology, this decision will surely pave the way for its peers and smaller competitors to adopt biometric technology, with varying protections for privacy. I respectfully request that Apple provide answers to the following questions." Continue reading →

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The NSA’s hiring – and they want a ‘civil liberties’ officer

"The ongoing Snowden revelations about the NSA's indiscriminate spying on private communications over the internet make the role particularly challenging. Anyone applying for the role would do well to familiarise themselves with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's handy guide to decoding NSA doublespeak. When senior NSA officials maintain that keeping track of phone conversations, for example, doesn't count as surveillance, then any privacy officer is going to have a difficult job. In fact, we can think of few more difficult jobs since the post of Staff Rabbi to the Spanish Inquisition." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Securities Exchange Shutters, Cites Regulatory Environment

"BTC Trading Corp (BTC-TC) announced that it will close all trading by October 7, two weeks from today. BTC-TC is one of the largest bitcoin securities exchanges, responsible for 101,000 BTC ($12M) in deposited securities and 2,900 BTC ($350K) in daily volume. The company’s notice cited 'recent changes in the virtual currency regulatory environment' as the reason for shuttering operations. Also closing is LTC-Global, a litecoin-denominated securities exchange also run by Ethan Burnside, the same operator as BTC-TC. All trading was temporarily halted and order books were cleared after the announcement was made at 5am EST." Continue reading →

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Subprime lending execs back in business five years after crash

"Five years after the financial crisis crested with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., top executives from the biggest subprime lenders are back in the game. Many are developing new loans that target borrowers with low credit scores and small down payments, pushing the limits of tighter lending standards that have prevailed since the crisis. Some experts fear they won’t know where to stop. The Center for Public Integrity in 2009 identified the top 25 lenders by subprime loan production from 2005 through 2007. Today, senior executives from all 25 of those companies or companies that they swallowed up before the crash are back in the mortgage business." Continue reading →

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