Category: Privacy & Security
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Does Your House Need a Tail?
Thus far, the debate over broadband deployment has generally been between those who believe that private telecom incumbents should be in charge of planning, financing and building next-generation broadband infrastructure, and those who advocate a larger role for government in the deployment of broadband infrastructure. These proposals include municipal-owned networks and a variety of subsidies…
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Low Hit Rate Isn't the Problem with TSA Screening
The TSA, which oversees U.S. airport security, comes in for a lot of criticism — much of it deserved. But sometimes commentators let their dislike for the TSA get the better of them, and they offer critiques that don’t stand up logically. A good example is yesterday’s USA Today article on TSA’s behavioral screening program,…
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Can Google Flu Trends Be Manipulated?
Last week researchers from Google and the Centers for Disease Control unveiled a cool new research result, showing that they could gauge the level of influenza infections in a region of the U.S. by seeing how often people in those regions did Google searches for certain terms related to the flu and flu symptoms. The…
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Abandoning the Envelope Analogy (What Your Mailman Knows Part 2)
Last time, I commented on NPR’s story about a mail carrier named Andrea in Seattle who can tell us something about the economic downturn by revealing private facts about the people she serves on her mail route. By critiquing the decision to run the story, I drew a few lessons about the way people value…
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What Your Mailman Knows (Part 1 of 2)
A few days ago, National Public Radio (NPR) tried to offer some lighter fare to break up the death march of gloomier stories about economic calamity. You can listen to the story online. The story’s reporter, Chana Joffe-Walt, followed a mail carrier named Andrea on her route around the streets of Seattle. The premise of…
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Hot Custom Car (software?)
I’ve found Tim’s bits on life post-driving interesting. I’ve sometimes got a one-track mind, though- so what I really want to know is if I’ll be able to hack on that self-driving car. I mentioned this to Tim, and he said he wasn’t sure either- so here is my crack at it. We’re not very…
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How Yahoo could have protected Palin's email
Last week I criticized Yahoo for their insecure password recovery mechanism that allowed an intruder to take control of Sarah Palin’s email account. Several readers asked me the obvious follow-up question: What should Yahoo have done instead? Before we discuss alternatives, let’s take a minute to appreciate the delicate balance involved in designing a password…
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Palin's email breached through weak Yahoo password recovery mechanism
This week’s breach of Sarah Palin’s Yahoo Mail account has been much discussed. One aspect that has gotten less attention is how the breach occurred, and what it tells us about security and online behavior. (My understanding of the facts is based on press stories, and on reading a forum post written by somebody claiming…
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It can be rational to sell your private information cheaply, even if you value privacy
One of the standard claims about privacy is that people say they value their privacy but behave as if they don’t value it. The standard example involves people trading away private information for something of relatively little value. This argument is often put forth to rebut the notion that privacy is an important policy value.…
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Transit Card Maker Sues Dutch University to Block Paper
NXP, which makes the Mifare transit cards used in several countries, has sued Radboud University Nijmegen (in the Netherlands), to block publication of a research paper, “A Practical Attack on the MIFARE Classic,” that is scheduled for publication at the ESORICS security conference in October. The new paper reportedly shows fatal security flaws in NXP’s…