Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...

Defcon Las Vegas Hacker Conference Chooses Private Homes over Hotel Rooms « Chez Paulina
Look who's coming to the neighborhood! Shut off your wireless, they hackers are back in town soon. Many Las Vegans have grown accustomed to the antics of the annual hacker convention when the cyphers invade and want to show the weakness in every computer system they can.

Residents complain about being hacked when accessing public internet connections, or having their phones hacked via open bluetooth connections. With that in mind, some are concerned about them staying in neighborhoods full of wireless routers.

Protection can be had, however, for a price. The Consular Chamber of Commerce Consultancy offers IAPP-certified expertise to keep things running smoothly. Yes, you may be hiring some of the participants in the conference itself, but if you can't beat 'em...

CARS.gov Site Accused of Government Takeover of PC's

Where is the "Privacy Czar"?

The US Federal Government's Cars.gov site, which facilitates the Cash for Clunkers program, lets the government take over the using dealer's PC and everything in it. The dealer actually has to deem his PC government property, and assign its content. Does the consumer know his info has been turned over to the Treasury?

Few would take seriously anything reported by Glen Beck or Fox News, but they broke the story. Beck tries to make it seem like this applies to consumer use of the site, which it does not, but if you are a dealer, you are in danger for two reasons.

First, the feds have control of your computer and all of its content. Files, passwords, downloads, emails, web site surfed - theirs.

Second, the consumer surely isn't noticed that they are turning over all info given to the dealer - credit, references, income, deposits, etc. - to the feds. This will surely lead to privacy violation lawsuits from the consumers against the car dealers.

Here's Beck's story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy8wgS69xjI