The Nightly Quill

Critics concerned technology would compromise privacy

Here’s a vision of the not-so-distant future:

– Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items - and, by extension, consumers - wherever they go, from a distance.

– A seamless, global network of electronic “sniffers” will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, “live spam,” may be beamed at them.

– In smart homes, sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets - all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants’ private lives.

Science fiction?

In truth, much of the radio frequency identification technology that enables objects and people to be tagged and tracked wirelessly already exists - and new and potentially intrusive uses of it are being patented, perfected and deployed.

Some of the world’s largest corporations are vested in the success of RFID technology, which couples highly miniaturized computers with radio antennas to broadcast information about sales and buyers to company databases.

Already, microchips are turning up in some computer printers, car keys and tires, on shampoo bottles and department store clothing tags. They’re also in library books and contactless payment cards (such as American Express’ Blue and ExxonMobil’s Speedpass.)

Companies say the RFID tags improve supply-chain efficiency, cut theft and guarantee that brand-name products are authentic, not counterfeit. At a store, RFID doorways could scan your purchases automatically as you leave, eliminating tedious checkouts.

At home, convenience is a selling point: RFID-enabled refrigerators could warn about expired milk, generate weekly shopping lists, even send signals to your interactive TV, so that you see commercials for foods you have a history of buying. Sniffers in your microwave might read a chip-equipped TV dinner and cook it automatically.

“We’ve seen so many different uses of the technology,” said Dan Mullen, president of AIM Global, a national association of data-collection businesses, including RFID, “and we’re probably still just scratching the surface in terms of places RFID can be used.”

The problem, critics say, is that microchipped products might very well do a whole lot more.

With tags in so many objects, relaying information to databases that can be linked to credit and bank cards, almost no aspect of life may soon be safe from the prying eyes of corporations and governments, says Mark Rasch, former head of the computer-crime unit of the Justice Department.

By placing sniffers in strategic areas, companies can invisibly “rifle through people’s pockets, purses, suitcases, briefcases, luggage - and possibly their kitchen and bedrooms - anytime of the day or night,” said Rasch, now managing director of technology at FTI Consulting Inc., a Baltimore company.

In an RFID world, “You’ve got the possibility of unauthorized people learning stuff about who you are, what you’ve bought, how and where you’ve bought it. … It’s like saying, ‘Well, who wants to look through my medicine cabinet?’ ”

And what of personal information that is housed, collated and cross-referenced in vast, corporate databases?

Commercial data brokers can sell it, trade it or deliver it quietly to law enforcement and intelligence agencies - which they often do, Rasch says.

“Think of it as a high-tech form of Dumpster diving.”

Presently, the radio tag most commercialized in America is the passive emitter, meaning it has no internal power supply. Only when a reader powers these tags with a squirt of electrons do they broadcast their signal, indiscriminately, within a range of a few inches to 20 feet.

Not as common, but increasing in use, are active tags, which have internal batteries and can transmit signals, continuously, as far as low-orbiting satellites. Active tags pay tolls as motorists to zip through toll gates; they also track wildlife, such as sea lions.

Retailers and manufacturers want to replace bar codes with passive tags to track inventory. These radio tags transmit Electronic Product Codes, number strings that allow trillions of objects to be uniquely identified. Some transmit specifics about the item, such as price, though not the name of the buyer.

However, “once a tagged item is associated with a particular individual, personally identifiable information can be obtained and then aggregated to develop a profile,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a 2005 report on RFID.

Indeed, unlike credit bureaus, data brokers aren’t subject to provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, which gives consumers the right to correct errors and block access to their personal records. Some have called for greater regulation of data brokers, companies that pull together information on millions of individuals from public records, credit applications and many other sources, then offer summaries for sale.

That, and the ever-increasing volume of data collected on consumers, is worrisome, says Mike Hrabik, chief technology officer at Solutionary, a computer-security firm in Bethesda, Md. “Are companies using that information incorrectly, and are they giving it out inappropriately? I’m sure that’s happening. Should we be concerned? Yes.”

Even some industry proponents recognize risks. Elliott Maxwell, a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University who serves as a policy adviser to EPCglobal, the industry’s standard-setting group, says data broadcast by microchips can easily be intercepted, and misused, by high-tech thieves.

As RFID goes mainstream and the range of readers increases, it will be “difficult to know who is gathering what data, who has access to it, what is being done with it, and who should be held responsible for it,” Maxwell wrote in RFID Journal, an industry publication. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Here, he demonstrates—for the first time publicly—his intuitive, “interface-free,” touch-driven computer screen, which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure.

More examples:

Video demo of Touch Me Tender early prototype interface that allow to draw by your finger on the screen. Made by KsanLab (www.ksanlab.com).

The NSA has the ability to eavesdrop on your communications, landlines, cell phones, e-mails, BlackBerry messages, Internet searches, and more with ease. What happens when the technology of espionage outstrips the laws ability to protect ordinary citizens from it?

On the first Saturday in April of 2002, the temperature in Washington, D.C., had taken a dive. Tourists were bundled up against the cold, and the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin were fast losing their blossoms to the biting winds. But a few miles to the south, in the Dowden Terrace neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, the chilly weather was not deterring Royce C. Lamberth, a bald and burly Texan, from mowing his lawn. He stopped only when four cars filled with FBI agents suddenly pulled up in front of his house. The agents were there not to arrest him but to request an emergency court hearing to obtain seven top-secret warrants to eavesdrop on Americans.

As the presiding justice of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, Lamberth had become accustomed to holding the secret hearings in his living room. My wife, Janis has to go upstairs because she doesn’t have a top-secret clearance, he noted in a speech to a group of Texas lawyers. My beloved cocker spaniel, Taffy, however, remains at my side on the assumption that the surveillance targets cannot make her talk. The FBI knows Taffy well. They frequently play with her while I read some of those voluminous tomes at home. FBI agents will even knock on the judges door in the middle of the night. On the night of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa, I started the first emergency hearings in my living room at 3:00 a.m., recalled Lamberth. From the outset, the FBI suspected bin Laden, and the surveillances I approved that night and in the ensuing days and weeks all ended up being critical evidence at the trial in New York.

The FISA court is probably the least-known court in Washington, added Lamberth, who stepped down from it in 2002, at the end of his seven-year term, but it has become one of the most important. Conceived in the aftermath of Watergate, the FISA court traces its origins to the mid-1970s, when the Senates Church Committee investigated the intelligence community and the Nixon White House. The panel, chaired by Idaho Democrat Frank Church, exposed a long pattern of abuse, and its work led to bipartisan legislation aimed at preventing a president from unilaterally directing the National Security Agency or the FBI to spy on American citizens. This legislation, the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, established the FISA court made up of eleven judges handpicked by the chief justice of the United States as a secret part of the federal judiciary. The courts job is to decide whether to grant warrants requested by the NSA or the FBI to monitor communications of American citizens and legal residents. The law allows the government up to three days after it starts eavesdropping to ask for a warrant; every violation of FISA carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. Between May 18, 1979, when the court opened for business, until the end of 2004, it granted 18,742 NSA and FBI applications; it turned down only four outright. Read the rest of this entry »

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes. Excellent video on what the “web” has evolved into.

Like the “10 Minute Disposable Email” email service link I posted , detailing disposable email addresses you can create and dictate when they expire, Craigsnumber is a disposable telephone number service.

And it’s free..

Basically, all you do is go to Craigsnumber, click the link, and you will be instantly assigned a telephone number. This is your ‘disposable’ number.

Enter the length of time, from one hour to one month, you want this number to exist. Then enter your real telephone number in the appropriate box and all phone calls to your assigned number will be forwarded to your real number for the designated length of time.

Want to use a phone number in a newspaper ad, but don’t really want to use your real number? Create a disposable number to publish in the paper (or online), and it will expire at your chosen time.

What about all the web forms that want a telephone number, won’t complete your request without one, and you don’t want to give out your ‘true’ number? Use a Craigsnumber…

Personally, I can think of a dozen different uses for a disposable number.

Check it out…

http://www.craigsnumber.com/

Bill Gates makes a TV appearance the night before Windows Vista is released. Today, 01/30/07, is the official public release of Micrsoft’s new operating system “Vista”, which is the first “major” release from Microsoft in 5 years.

They may call it bluejacking, but this video is actually an example of bluesnarfing - taking control of someone’s mobile phone to make premium rate phone calls over Bluetooth without them even realizing.

If the old model for newspapers was one size fits all, just one edition per day, whether for 2,000 or 200,000 readers, the new model is the fully customized newspaper, an edition for every possible need in whatever format the reader may want.

The latest format is, of all things, the PDF. Though they’ve yet to catch on in the U.S., PDF editions are rolling out in Canada, the UK and elsewhere. The idea was initially developed at the Financial Times of London. One might think a newspaper in PDF format would have only slight appeal, but publishers see real potential. For one, the PDF is highly portable, fit for printing out on short notice, which makes it ideal for people heading into meetings, for example. And the printed version, at 8.5 by 11 inches, fits easily into briefcases for reading on the train on the way home or folders for filing. And if a printout is lost, another can be done up quickly.

For publishers, there’s no real added cost for PDF editions, in terms of paper and ink and distribution, since it is delivered by email. And it offers yet another means of reaching readers and providing advertisers exposure.

At the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily, its PDF edition is called Star PM, and at the Ottawa Citizen it goes by the name of RushHour. Subscribers to these PDF editions receive them by email for reading in free Acrobat Readers, either on their computer or portable devices such as a BlackBerry. Star PM, which was launched on Sept. 5, goes out at 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It’s 12 pages. There also a 4:15 edition with business updates. Ottawa RushHour, launched in November, is a hybrid publication, with a 1 p.m. weekday PDF edition sent by email and a 4 p.m. edition that’s handed out by street hawkers in Ottawa’s downtown and available in boxes. It runs 12 to 20 pages and some 8,000 copies are distributed. Read the rest of this entry »

As we start this new year The Nightly Quill thought we would share with you an old broadcast about “The origins of the internet”. Interesting how far we have come.

This device, the first of its kind, converts any type of video or audio, including cassette tapes, vinyl records, television shows, and VHS tapes, directly to an iPod at the touch of a button. The device allows you to preserve your audio and video memories without having to rely on a conversion service or risk long-term damage to the original medium, and no computer or special software is required. The converter plugs into any audio or video device equipped with RCA connections and S-Video (standard on nearly all A/V components) with its included audio/video cables. Simply push the record button, and content is converted to digital MP3 (audio) or MPEG4 (video) format, three hours of 320 x 240 resolution video content takes up approximately 1 GB, and is stored immediately onto an iPod (video iPod required for video content). Data can also be uploaded to a USB flash drive or USB hard drive plugged into the converters USB port; it automatically detects if it has attached an iPod or USB key. Plugs into AC. Link - www.hammacher.com

Fry’s Electronics has designed the GQ (great quality) system. Does it work? PC Magazine has reviewed the system and their conclusion is “yes”. Their team of experts examined the system and report that by cutting corners in several areas, a $159.00 computer is possible in todays market. If what you are looking for is a basic computer to surf the internet, recieve email and produce documents, then the GQ fills that void. GQ uses the Linspire operating system ( no Microsoft here ), but Pc Magazine says that Linspire’s “relative familiarity and ease of use are two of its biggest selling points”.
Features:
1. COMPUTER In addition to the 1.67-GHz AMD Sempron chip, you’ll get four USB ports, Ethernet, and an AGP slot.
2. MEMORY Only 128MB of RAM, which is barely adequate, really. Replace it with 512MB for around $40.
3. SPEAKERS They’re included, but they sound awful. Really, these speakers are just terrible.
4. KEYBOARD AND MOUSE A surprisingly responsive keyboard and generic ball mouse round it all out.
Drawbacks:
1. NEW TECH You’ve heard of PCI Express, SATA, and dual-core, but you won’t get them here.
2. LCD MONITOR Nope. Not a chance. In fact, there’s no screen included, period.
3. DVD BURNER There’s no DVD recorder, not even a CD burner. But there is a fast CD-ROM drive.
4. SOFTWARE Nothing from Microsoft here, but to be fair, the Linspire OS is pretty
Read the full story here: www.pcmag.com

Don’t like a gift card you received?? SWAP IT!!!

A number of online sites have cropped up in recent years that allow consumers to swap unwanted gift cards or to sell them in cyberspace.

Sites like swapagift.com, cardavenue.com and plasticjungle.com have all reported a surge in traffic over the last year. Cardavenue.com’s chief executive Robert Butler says his site receives about 5,000 offers a month to trade gift cards for other retailers’ cards or to sell them, up fivefold from a year ago. Swapagift.com Chief Executive Michael Kelly says several thousand people look at his Web site on a daily basis, about 30 times the number from a year ago.

Consumers who buy gift cards in the secondary market may be able to find a better deal than buying a card from a traditional store. Those selling an unwanted card also can get some cash that would have been lost by storing the card in a drawer and forgetting about it.

The Web sites charge users a flat fee of about $3 or $4 or part of the cards’ value to list cards to sell or swap. Plasticjungle.com has waived its fees, however. Shoppers typically log on to a password protected site and then post a description of their card, including the remaining balance. Read the rest of this entry »

Google lets you track the status of any U.S. flight and many international flights. All you have to do is enter the flight number into the Google search box. For example, to find out the status of United Airlines flight 116, enter ua116.
On this particular day the result was:

Google now displays links to three sites that let you track the flight status—Travelocity, Expedia, and fboweb. Click one of these links to view real-time flight status—including maps of where the plane is in its route.

1. Get blogs instantly (like The Nightly Quill)
2. Get voice mail as e-mail
3. Get BlackBerry-like e-mail alerts
4. Get driving directions
5. Back up your cell phone contacts

Get full detail how to do each of these here: www.computerworld.com

1956: IBM 305 RAMAC Computer with Disk Drive

IBM introduced the 305 RAMAC computer on September 13th, 1956, which was the first computer to include a disk drive named the IBM 350 Disk File. Prior to this magnetic computer storage had consisted of core memory, tape, and drums. The magnetic disk was seen as a replacement for the magnetic drum for the same reason 78 RPM Records eventually replaced Edison cylinders- more storage with less space.

The 350 Disk File consisted of a stack of fifty 24″ discs that can be seen to the left of the operator in the above picture. The capacity of the entire disk file was 5 million 7-bit characters, which works out to about 4.4 MB in modern parlance. This is about the same capacity as the first personal computer hard drives that appeared in the early 1980’s, but was an enormous capacity for 1956. IBM leased the 350 Disk File for a $35,000 annual fee. Read the rest of this entry »