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Tips for Facebook Timeline Apps: Beware What You Share | PCWorld (Kristin Burnham)

January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Facebook opened the floodgates to its “new class of apps” this week, unveiling its partnership with more than 60 applications that let users share more about their daily lives.

Facebook TimelineIn September at the F8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Timeline, Facebook’s new profile design, and the forthcoming apps that “let you express who you are through all the things you do,” according to Facebook.

For example, rather than “liking” something as you traditionally would on Facebook, you can now show what you’re doing, such as running, eating and watching, right on your timeline. These new actions are determined by the individual app.

Among the 60 new applications released yesterday are food apps Foodily, which helps you discover recipes and Snooth, a wine recommendation app; fitness app MapMyFitness, in which you log and share your fitness goals and accomplishments; and an app for Pinterest, an up-and-coming social network that creates pin boards for fashion, decorating and more.

via Tips for Facebook Timeline Apps: Beware What You Share | PCWorld.

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Samsung Galaxy Devices Get Important Security Clearance | PCWorld Business Center (Angela West)

January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Samsung has just received Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) approval for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi, the 4G LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Verizon, and the global version of the Galaxy S II smartphone.

FIPS is a U.S. government standard certified through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The standard treats a certified device or application as a cryptographic module, and a FIPS certification means the modules meet strict security and interoperability standards. FIPS certification is required for many branches of the government and its contractors, as well as for private industries that collect and transmit Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) information.

“Samsung proactively sought FIPS certification to show our current and potential government and business customers that we take their security and interoperability needs seriously,” said Cho BumCoo, a Samsung vice president, in a statement.

via Samsung Galaxy Devices Get Important Security Clearance | PCWorld Business Center.

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PhoneFactor Delivers IOS App for Authentication | PCWorld

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

PhoneFactor, an authentication system that uses mobile phones as a second factor for improved security, is now available as an app for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

When users log in to an enterprise application or perform an online transaction on a PC, PhoneFactor requires them to respond to a prompt sent to their mobile phone. The system has already been available with voice calls or text messages for the prompt, and now it can be used with a native app on the phone. The version for iOS 4 and iOS 5 is available now, and an Android version is coming soon, according to the company.

PhoneFactor is designed to take the place of a traditional two-factor authentication system, such as the SecurID hardware tokens sold by RSA, which display one-time passwords for users to enter on the PC. Because people can use their cell phones instead of a dedicated device, PhoneFactor is less expensive and easier to deploy and manage, according to Sarah Fender, PhoneFactor’s vice president of marketing and product management. A PhoneFactor software license typically costs enterprises between US$10 and $25 per user, per year, she said. The iOS app to use with it is free.

via PhoneFactor Delivers IOS App for Authentication | PCWorld Business Center.

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Some Malls Tracking Shoppers Through Their Cell Phones This Holiday Season | PCWorld

November 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For some mall shoppers, Black Friday has become Track Friday.

Thanks to a snoopy piece of tech from a U.K. company called Path Intelligence, some malls in Europe, Australia, and the United States will be tracking shoppers’ movements today through their cell phones.

A small number of discreet monitoring units installed throughout a mall, the company says, can grab signals from consumers’ mobile phones and track their movements with an accuracy of “a few meters.” That information is fed to a processing center where it is audited and analyzed to create a real-time picture of traffic flow through a shopping center. Mall operators can keep constant tabs on the information through Path Intelligence’s secure web-based reporting system.

As you’d expect with someone engaged in this kind of unsettling activity, the company swears it’s committed to protecting the privacy of the people it’s surveilling. “[O]ur detector units do not allow us to obtain your telephone number, to listen to any of your calls, read any SMS messages read or sent by you, or to log details of any calls or SMS messages made or received by you,” Path Intelligence states on its website. “Neither does any of the information received allow us to identify you or any group of individuals.”

Two U.S. malls–Promenade Temecula in Southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va.–will be launching the tracking service today and will use it through New Year’s Day, according to a report by CNN.

via Some Malls Tracking Shoppers Through Their Cell Phones This Holiday Season | PCWorld.

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Privacy: Will Facebook Ever Get It? | PCWorld

November 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With Facebook reportedly close to cutting a deal with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over privacy sins dating back to 2009, the question remains whether or not the social network’s brain trust really gets the privacy issue.

The details–reported by the Wall Street Journal–of Facebook’s imminent pact with the FTC describe an agreement that gives the socnet plenty of room to violate its members’ privacy in the future. That’s because the deal affects a standing target–all the data currently on the system–and not the moving one, which is data added to the network in the future. It is the latter Facebook needs to address if privacy is truly going to be protected on the network.

Under the reported agreement, Facebook would need to obtain your permission before subjecting you to changes in its privacy policy that will “materially” affect how it handles your information. In the case before the FTC–which the agreement would settle–Facebook changed its privacy policy in 2009 so that information previously kept private, such as name, picture, city, gender and friends list, was suddenly made public.

The date you joined Facebook will affect the agreement’s notification requirement. What Facebook can do with your data will vary depending on what version of its privacy policy was in effect when you joined the network. Not only will that be totally confusing to you and everyone else on the network, but it should create some nightmares for Facebook’s administrators, too.

In addition, expressed consent won’t be needed for all changes nor will it be needed for new changes. That means if Facebook rolls out a feature like facial recognition or Timelines, which have significant privacy implications, it can do so whether you want to participate in the rollout or not

via Privacy: Will Facebook Ever Get It? | PCWorld.

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7 Charged with Using Malware to Rack Up $14M in Fake Ad Revenue | PCWorld

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Department of Justice has indicted seven people for allegedly hijacking millions of computers, manipulating traffic on popular websites, and generating more than $14 million in fraudulent advertising revenue.

The defendants — six Estonians and one Russian — allegedly hijacked more than 4 million computers using malware that rerouted Internet traffic to websites where they would get a cut of the ad revenue. Infected computers with users looking for popular websites such as Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes were rerouted to webpages that featured the defendants’ ads.

This case is supposedly the “first of its kind,” according to US Attorney Preet Bharara, because the suspects set up their own “rogue servers” in order to perform the rerouting. Using their rogue servers, the defendants were allegedly able to substitute legitimate Internet ads with their own ads, thereby generating millions in advertising revenue.

According to BusinessWeek, the indictment cited a case in which an American Express ad on the Wall Street Journal’s home page was replaced — instantly, once users clicked on it — with an ad for “Fashion Girl LA.”

About 500,000 of the infected computers were located in the United States, Bharara said in a news conference in New York. The alleged scheme, which ran from 2007 to 2011, was first discovered at NASA, where 130 computers were infected.

via 7 Charged with Using Malware to Rack Up $14M in Fake Ad Revenue | PCWorld.

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How Google Was Tripped up by a Bad Search | PCWorld Business Center

October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the end it was a search that let Google down.

The company suffered a setback in its patent dispute with Oracle last week when a U.S. judge denied Google’s request to keep an internal Google email out of the case record. The email, written by a Google engineer, could suggest to a jury that Google knew it needed a license to use Sun’s — now Oracle’s — Java technology in Android.

Ironically, considering this is Google, organizer of the world’s information, the email might never have seen the light of day if the search tools used to identify documents covered by attorney-client privilege had done their job, legal experts said.

The incident also shines a light on an area of technology — electronic discovery — that’s creating big challenges for lawyers as more communication moves online. And it helps explain why Hewlett-Packard is willing to spend US$10 billion to buy Autonomy, one of the biggest providers of e-discovery software and services.

The Google incident apparently stems from a mistake by one of the top law firms it hired to fight Oracle’s lawsuit, which accuses Google of patent and copyright infringement in Android. It’s a high-stakes case that could potentially cost Google billions of dollars in damages, and force it to start charging handset makers a license fee for Android.

Like many corporate lawsuits, this one began with a discovery phase. Each party is required to identify all the emails, chat logs and other documents relevant to the case, and produce them for the opposing legal team. Because there are often millions of documents involved, they use software tools to define date ranges, search for keywords and find the material they have to produce.

Communications discussing legal advice with attorneys are protected by attorney-client privilege, meaning they don’t have to be made public. Google argued that its potentially incriminating email fell into this category.

It was written by Google engineer Tim Lindholm last August, a few weeks before Oracle filed suit against Google. At the time, Oracle had threatened to sue Google for billions of dollars, and Lindholm was instructed by Google executives to see what alternatives to Java existed for use in Android, apparently to strengthen their negotiating position.

via How Google Was Tripped up by a Bad Search | PCWorld Business Center.

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India Exempts Outsourcers From New Privacy Rules | PCWorld Business Center

August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Personal data sent to India by customers outsourcing work to companies in the country will not be covered under new rules governing the collection of such information, the government said on Wednesday, providing relief to India’s large outsourcing industry.

The Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules 2011 introduced in April require companies or their intermediaries to take consent in writing from individuals about the use of the sensitive personal information they collect.

The new rules would make it difficult for Indian outsourcers to operate if they were required to take written consent from individuals in other countries whose data they collect and process through call centers and business process outsourcing operations.

As a result of the new rules, companies that rely on India-based outsourcing service providers will be required to adjust their data collection practices to conform to Indian data protection rules, even though their current practices may comply fully with U.S. or European Union privacy rules, said Lawrence Graham LLP, a firm of London-based business lawyers, in a note earlier this year.

A clarification issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, through the country’s Press Information Bureau, said that a “body corporate” providing services relating to collection, storage, dealing or handling of sensitive personal data or information under contractual obligation with any legal entity located within or outside India is not subject to the requirement of the new rules.

via India Exempts Outsourcers From New Privacy Rules | PCWorld Business Center.

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TouchPad’s Lesson: Tablets Cost Too Much | PCWorld

August 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Sure, HP’s TouchPad fire sale could take sales away from low-volume tablet makers and further solidify Apple’s market share. Then again, maybe those low-volume tablet makers — HP included — have been hurting themselves with a pricing structure that isn’t attractive to most consumers.

After dropping the TouchPad’s price to $99 for the 16Gb model and $149 for the 32GB variation, HP has sold an estimated 350,000 units this weekend. That’s comparable to launch weekend sales for Apple’s tablet. Granted, HP’s tablet is discontinued and on clearance, but it shows that many consumers are willing to forget about the iPad, if the price is right.

Here’s the problem with the current system: many entry-level tablets cost somewhere around $500 and that’s the same price as the iPad. I’m guessing most consumers that decide to spend a $500 on a tablet will opt to get an iPad. If other manufacturers want to be competitive with Apple’s tablet, which is in many ways the definitive device on the market, they need to give consumers a reason to pick up their device instead.

That hasn’t really been done until now.

HP offering its discontinued tablet for a one-fifth the cost of Apple’s tablet seems to have registered with many price-conscious and deal-hunting consumers.

via TouchPad’s Lesson: Tablets Cost Too Much | PCWorld.

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HP Says ‘So Long’ to WebOS Devices | PCWorld

August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

HP announced Thursday that it will discontinue its webOS line of devices, which includes the HP Veer 4G, the HP Touchpad and the yet-to-be-released HP Pre 3 smartphone. This doesn’t necessarily mean that webOS is going away, however. The company said that it will continue to look for ways to use and optimize the webOS platform.

HP purchased Palm in April 2010 in a $1.2 billion acquisition which finalized in June. At the time, Palm’s Pre and Pixi smartphones were struggling, but tech watchers seemed to agree that HP had the resources to lift WebOS off the ground. HP’s intention was to further develop the webOS platform and continue to release Pre smartphones and expand the platform to other products, including tablets and printers. Under Palm, the software had earned praise for its smooth multitasking and social network integration.

via HP Says ‘So Long’ to WebOS Devices | PCWorld.

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