Monday, April 9, 2012
HIV vaccine found effective
for 31 percent of volunteers
National Institutes of Health
Insights into how the first vaccine ever reported to modestly prevent HIV infection in people might have worked appeared online this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists have found that among adults who received the experimental HIV vaccine during the landmark RV144 clinical trial, those who produced relatively high levels of a specific antibody after vaccination were less likely to get infected with the virus than those who did not. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, co-funded the research.
“This analysis has produced some intriguing hints about what types of human immune responses a preventive HIV vaccine may need to induce,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “With further exploration, this new knowledge may bring us a step closer to developing a broadly protective HIV vaccine.”
In the RV144 clinical trial, which involved more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand, the group that received the vaccine had a 31 percent lower chance of becoming infected with HIV than the group that received a placebo. Since the study results were reported in 2009, a consortium of more than 100 scientists from 25 institutions has been searching for molecular clues to explain why the vaccine showed a modest protective effect.
The new report describes the researchers' analyses of blood samples taken from a representative subset of study participants: 41 who were vaccinated and later became infected with HIV and 205 vaccinated participants who remained uninfected. The participants who made relatively high levels of one antibody to HIV were significantly less likely to become infected than those who did not. This particular binding antibody attaches to a part of the outer coat of the virus called the first and second variable regions, or V1V2, which may play an important role in HIV infection of human cells. The antibody belongs to a family called immunoglobulin G, or IgG.
Vaccinated study participants who had relatively high levels of a different type of HIV binding antibody, however, appeared to have less protection from the virus than vaccinated participants who had low levels of this protein. The antibody attaches to a part of the virus's outer coat called the first constant region, or C1, and belongs to a family called immunoglobulin A, or IgA. The study team hypothesizes that the C1 IgA antibody either was associated with less benefit from HIV vaccination or directly reduced the benefit of vaccination.
“The remarkable international collaboration to understand the RV144 study results has generated important hypotheses for scientists to investigate,” said Barton F. Haynes, M.D., the leader of the new analysis and the director of the NIAID-funded Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology based at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Researchers plan to further evaluate the new findings in studies to be conducted in non-human primates using the RV144 vaccine regimen and other vaccines. Scientists must conduct more tests to determine whether high levels of V1V2 antibodies directly caused the modest protective effect seen in the RV144 study or simply were linked to other, still unidentified factors responsible for the trial's encouraging outcome. Such testing also will determine whether the V1V2 antibody response is merely a marker of HIV exposure or decreased susceptibility to HIV infection.
The study authors note that different vaccine candidates may protect against HIV in different ways. Therefore, more research is needed to understand whether these new findings will be relevant to other types of HIV vaccines or to similar vaccines tested against HIV strains from other regions or against different routes of exposure to the virus, according to the authors.
The RV144 laboratory research was initiated and coordinated by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Miller targets terror law threats to liberty
http://www.judithmiller.com/11508/obama-administration-transparency
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
for 31 percent of volunteers
National Institutes of Health
Insights into how the first vaccine ever reported to modestly prevent HIV infection in people might have worked appeared online this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists have found that among adults who received the experimental HIV vaccine during the landmark RV144 clinical trial, those who produced relatively high levels of a specific antibody after vaccination were less likely to get infected with the virus than those who did not. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, co-funded the research.
“This analysis has produced some intriguing hints about what types of human immune responses a preventive HIV vaccine may need to induce,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “With further exploration, this new knowledge may bring us a step closer to developing a broadly protective HIV vaccine.”
In the RV144 clinical trial, which involved more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand, the group that received the vaccine had a 31 percent lower chance of becoming infected with HIV than the group that received a placebo. Since the study results were reported in 2009, a consortium of more than 100 scientists from 25 institutions has been searching for molecular clues to explain why the vaccine showed a modest protective effect.
The new report describes the researchers' analyses of blood samples taken from a representative subset of study participants: 41 who were vaccinated and later became infected with HIV and 205 vaccinated participants who remained uninfected. The participants who made relatively high levels of one antibody to HIV were significantly less likely to become infected than those who did not. This particular binding antibody attaches to a part of the outer coat of the virus called the first and second variable regions, or V1V2, which may play an important role in HIV infection of human cells. The antibody belongs to a family called immunoglobulin G, or IgG.
Vaccinated study participants who had relatively high levels of a different type of HIV binding antibody, however, appeared to have less protection from the virus than vaccinated participants who had low levels of this protein. The antibody attaches to a part of the virus's outer coat called the first constant region, or C1, and belongs to a family called immunoglobulin A, or IgA. The study team hypothesizes that the C1 IgA antibody either was associated with less benefit from HIV vaccination or directly reduced the benefit of vaccination.
“The remarkable international collaboration to understand the RV144 study results has generated important hypotheses for scientists to investigate,” said Barton F. Haynes, M.D., the leader of the new analysis and the director of the NIAID-funded Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology based at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Researchers plan to further evaluate the new findings in studies to be conducted in non-human primates using the RV144 vaccine regimen and other vaccines. Scientists must conduct more tests to determine whether high levels of V1V2 antibodies directly caused the modest protective effect seen in the RV144 study or simply were linked to other, still unidentified factors responsible for the trial's encouraging outcome. Such testing also will determine whether the V1V2 antibody response is merely a marker of HIV exposure or decreased susceptibility to HIV infection.
The study authors note that different vaccine candidates may protect against HIV in different ways. Therefore, more research is needed to understand whether these new findings will be relevant to other types of HIV vaccines or to similar vaccines tested against HIV strains from other regions or against different routes of exposure to the virus, according to the authors.
The RV144 laboratory research was initiated and coordinated by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Miller targets terror law threats to liberty
http://www.judithmiller.com/11508/obama-administration-transparency
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
Friday, March 30, 2012
White House boosts 'big data' drive,
aims for expansion of tekkie force
Following recent disclosure of the National Security Agency's super-data crunching center, the White House and the Energy Department and five other government agencies unveiled a national effort to upgrade massive data analysis for military and civilian purposes.
A big thrust would use university programs to expand the nation's work force capable of dealing with the new data-analysis technologies.
"As the amount of data continues to grow – scientists who already are falling behind are in danger of being engulfed by massive datasets," a federal spokesman said.
As supercomputers have become ever more powerful – now capable of performing quadrillions of calculations per second – they allow researchers to conduct detailed simulations of scientific problems at an unprecedented level of detail. The technologies for sifting such volumes of data are eagerly sought by scientists and others.
"As scientists around the world address some of society’s biggest challenges, they increasingly rely on tools ranging from powerful supercomputers to one-of-a-kind experimental facilities to dedicated high-bandwidth research networks," a spokesman said.
The Pentagon is “placing a big bet on big data” by investing approximately $250 million annually -- with $60 million available for new research projects -- across the military departments in a series
A big thrust would use university programs to expand the nation's work force capable of dealing with the new data-analysis technologies.
"As the amount of data continues to grow – scientists who already are falling behind are in danger of being engulfed by massive datasets," a federal spokesman said.
As supercomputers have become ever more powerful – now capable of performing quadrillions of calculations per second – they allow researchers to conduct detailed simulations of scientific problems at an unprecedented level of detail. The technologies for sifting such volumes of data are eagerly sought by scientists and others.
"As scientists around the world address some of society’s biggest challenges, they increasingly rely on tools ranging from powerful supercomputers to one-of-a-kind experimental facilities to dedicated high-bandwidth research networks," a spokesman said.
The Pentagon is “placing a big bet on big data” by investing approximately $250 million annually -- with $60 million available for new research projects -- across the military departments in a series
of programs that will harness and utilize massive data in new ways and bring together sensing,
perception and decision support to make truly autonomous systems that can
maneuver and make decisions on their own, a spokesman said.
The Pentagon seeks a 100-fold increase in the ability of analysts to extract information from texts in any language, and a similar increase in the number of objects, activities, and events that an analyst can observe.
On March 18, Newz from Limbo covered the National Security Agency's building of a major data analysis center. The agency plans to use the new data mining and analysis technologies to tackle previously uncrackable codes, it has been reported.
The Obama administration created the Big Data Research and Development Initiative in order to "advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data" and to "harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning; and expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies."
Arie Shoshani of Berkeley Lab will lead a five-year Energy Department project to help scientists extract insights from massive research datasets. The national effort is budgeted at $200 million, with the Energy Department spending $25 million.
The Energy Department's project is known as the Scalable Data Management, Analysis, and Visualization (SDAV) Institute. The idea is to improve ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data.
Among the other projects announced was a $10 million award to the University of California, Berkeley, as part of the National Science Foundation’s “Expeditions in Computing” program. The five-year NSF Expedition award to UC Berkeley will fund the campus’s new big data program.
SDAV is a collaboration tapping the expertise of researchers at Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories and in seven universities: Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, the University of California at Davis and the University of Utah. Kitware, a company that develops and supports specialized visualization software, is also a partner in the project.
Among other things, scientists are looking forward to developing a new generation of particle accelerators with applications ranging from nuclear medicine to power generation can simulate fields with millions of moving particles.
But that makes it difficult to pull out the most interesting information, such as just the particles that are energetic. In the past, it could take hours to sift through the data, but FastBit, an innovative method for indexing data by characteristic features, allows researchers to perform the task in just seconds, dramatically increasing scientific productivity. At the same time, by reducing the amount of data being visualized, they will be able to see phenomena they would otherwise be unable to see.
The next step to be tackled under SDAV is to develop a way to interact with the data as it is being created in a simulation. This technique would allow researchers to monitor and steer the simulation, adjusting or even stopping it if there is a problem.
Because such simulations can run for hours or days on thousands of supercomputer processors, such a capability would help researchers make the most efficient use of these high-demand computing cycles. Similarly, such tools will allow scientists to analyze and visualize data as it is being generated and could help them summarize and reduce the amount of data to a manageable level, resulting in datasets with only the most valuable aspects of the simulated experiment.
This capability will also benefit scientists using large scale experimental facilities, such as the Defense Department's Advanced Light Source where scientists use powerful X-ray beams to study materials. Previously, data was collected at one frame per second, but is now up to 100 frames per second. But the proposed Next Generation Light Source will pour out data at 1,000,000 frames per second. Again, having tools to manage the data as it is being generated is critical as the results of one experiment are often used to guide the next one.
Scientists don’t want to have to wait six months just to sort out the science from the data. Awaiting discovery may be critical insight into the cause and treatment of diseases or the development of innovative materials for industry.
Mining the data to find the patterns which determine whether a simulation will proceed successfully can help researchers catch problems early and modify the parameters to eliminate these patterns.
SDAV is meant to counter data management overload even when overload might not be obvious. For example, having too much data for a computer simulation can dramatically slow a supercomputer’s performance as it moves data in and out of processors. This not only wastes time, but also the power needed to run the system. By developing methods to manage, organize, analyze and visualize data, SDAV aims to greatly improve the productivity of scientists.
“In the same way that past federal investments in information-technology R&D led to dramatic advances in supercomputing and the creation of the Internet, the initiative we are launching today promises to transform our ability to use Big Data for scientific discovery, environmental and biomedical research, education, and national security,” said Dr. John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The initiative responds to recommendations by the President’s Council of Advisors
The Pentagon seeks a 100-fold increase in the ability of analysts to extract information from texts in any language, and a similar increase in the number of objects, activities, and events that an analyst can observe.
On March 18, Newz from Limbo covered the National Security Agency's building of a major data analysis center. The agency plans to use the new data mining and analysis technologies to tackle previously uncrackable codes, it has been reported.
The Obama administration created the Big Data Research and Development Initiative in order to "advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data" and to "harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning; and expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies."
Arie Shoshani of Berkeley Lab will lead a five-year Energy Department project to help scientists extract insights from massive research datasets. The national effort is budgeted at $200 million, with the Energy Department spending $25 million.
The Energy Department's project is known as the Scalable Data Management, Analysis, and Visualization (SDAV) Institute. The idea is to improve ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data.
Among the other projects announced was a $10 million award to the University of California, Berkeley, as part of the National Science Foundation’s “Expeditions in Computing” program. The five-year NSF Expedition award to UC Berkeley will fund the campus’s new big data program.
SDAV is a collaboration tapping the expertise of researchers at Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories and in seven universities: Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, the University of California at Davis and the University of Utah. Kitware, a company that develops and supports specialized visualization software, is also a partner in the project.
Among other things, scientists are looking forward to developing a new generation of particle accelerators with applications ranging from nuclear medicine to power generation can simulate fields with millions of moving particles.
But that makes it difficult to pull out the most interesting information, such as just the particles that are energetic. In the past, it could take hours to sift through the data, but FastBit, an innovative method for indexing data by characteristic features, allows researchers to perform the task in just seconds, dramatically increasing scientific productivity. At the same time, by reducing the amount of data being visualized, they will be able to see phenomena they would otherwise be unable to see.
The next step to be tackled under SDAV is to develop a way to interact with the data as it is being created in a simulation. This technique would allow researchers to monitor and steer the simulation, adjusting or even stopping it if there is a problem.
Because such simulations can run for hours or days on thousands of supercomputer processors, such a capability would help researchers make the most efficient use of these high-demand computing cycles. Similarly, such tools will allow scientists to analyze and visualize data as it is being generated and could help them summarize and reduce the amount of data to a manageable level, resulting in datasets with only the most valuable aspects of the simulated experiment.
This capability will also benefit scientists using large scale experimental facilities, such as the Defense Department's Advanced Light Source where scientists use powerful X-ray beams to study materials. Previously, data was collected at one frame per second, but is now up to 100 frames per second. But the proposed Next Generation Light Source will pour out data at 1,000,000 frames per second. Again, having tools to manage the data as it is being generated is critical as the results of one experiment are often used to guide the next one.
Scientists don’t want to have to wait six months just to sort out the science from the data. Awaiting discovery may be critical insight into the cause and treatment of diseases or the development of innovative materials for industry.
Mining the data to find the patterns which determine whether a simulation will proceed successfully can help researchers catch problems early and modify the parameters to eliminate these patterns.
SDAV is meant to counter data management overload even when overload might not be obvious. For example, having too much data for a computer simulation can dramatically slow a supercomputer’s performance as it moves data in and out of processors. This not only wastes time, but also the power needed to run the system. By developing methods to manage, organize, analyze and visualize data, SDAV aims to greatly improve the productivity of scientists.
“In the same way that past federal investments in information-technology R&D led to dramatic advances in supercomputing and the creation of the Internet, the initiative we are launching today promises to transform our ability to use Big Data for scientific discovery, environmental and biomedical research, education, and national security,” said Dr. John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The initiative responds to recommendations by the President’s Council of Advisors
on Science and Technology, which last year concluded that the Federal Government is
under-investing in technologies related to Big Data.
Also involved in the Big Data initiative are the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health.
Also involved in the Big Data initiative are the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health.
NSF is implementing a comprehensive, longterm
strategy that includes new methods to derive knowledge from data; infrastructure
to manage, curate, and serve data to communities; and new approaches to education
and workforce development.
Specifically, NSF is encouraging research universities to develop interdisciplinary graduate programs
Specifically, NSF is encouraging research universities to develop interdisciplinary graduate programs
to prepare the next generation of data scientists and engineers; funding a $10 million Expeditions in Computing project based at the University of
California, Berkeley, that will integrate three powerful approaches for turning data
into information-machine learning, cloud computing, and crowd sourcing;
Providing the first round of grants to support “EarthCube” – a system that will
allow geoscientists to access, analyze and share information about our planet;
issuing a $2 million award for a research training group to support training for
undergraduates to use graphical and visualization techniques for complex data.
Also: Providing $1.4 million in support for a focused research group of statisticians and
Also: Providing $1.4 million in support for a focused research group of statisticians and
biologists to determine protein structures and biological pathways,
and convening researchers across disciplines to determine how Big Data can
transform teaching and learning.
In addition, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is beginning the XDATA program, which intends to invest approximately $25 million annually for four years to develop computational techniques and software tools for analyzing large volumes of data. Challenges include developing scalable algorithms for processing imperfect data in distributed data stores; and creating effective human-computer interaction tools for facilitating rapidly customizable visual reasoning for diverse missions.
The U.S. Geological Survey will run a Big Data for Earth System Science program.
New hacking uproar engulfs Murdoch
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ray-Adams-is-the-man-in-th-by-Michael-Collins-120329-639.html
Murdoch has been firing off Tweets in his company's defense. Yet, several years ago his U.S. arm ended a hacking trial by paying off and buying out a rival.
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
In addition, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is beginning the XDATA program, which intends to invest approximately $25 million annually for four years to develop computational techniques and software tools for analyzing large volumes of data. Challenges include developing scalable algorithms for processing imperfect data in distributed data stores; and creating effective human-computer interaction tools for facilitating rapidly customizable visual reasoning for diverse missions.
The U.S. Geological Survey will run a Big Data for Earth System Science program.
New hacking uproar engulfs Murdoch
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ray-Adams-is-the-man-in-th-by-Michael-Collins-120329-639.html
Murdoch has been firing off Tweets in his company's defense. Yet, several years ago his U.S. arm ended a hacking trial by paying off and buying out a rival.
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Random checks stepped up
at gates of U.S. weapons lab
LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, March 23, 2012—Los Alamos National Laboratory began implementing several changes to its security procedures on Friday, March 16.
The most prominent change is the increase of random inspections of all vehicles transiting the Laboratory, to include West and East Jemez Roads and roadways leading to the main Laboratory administrative area, Technical Area 3.
The changes are a result of recommendations made during a recent review of Laboratory protective measures by a joint Department of Defense and Department of Energy security assessment.
"We have always had the ability to do random inspections," said Jack Killeen, Security Services division leader. "We have expanded the areas for those random inspections and increased their frequency. Drivers will see an increased presence of the Protective Force — our uniformed security officers — and we'll be using bomb-sniffing dogs."
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
The most prominent change is the increase of random inspections of all vehicles transiting the Laboratory, to include West and East Jemez Roads and roadways leading to the main Laboratory administrative area, Technical Area 3.
The changes are a result of recommendations made during a recent review of Laboratory protective measures by a joint Department of Defense and Department of Energy security assessment.
"We have always had the ability to do random inspections," said Jack Killeen, Security Services division leader. "We have expanded the areas for those random inspections and increased their frequency. Drivers will see an increased presence of the Protective Force — our uniformed security officers — and we'll be using bomb-sniffing dogs."
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
Monday, March 26, 2012
ATT is complicit in cram scams
by refusing to bar 'opt-out only'
ATT permits a scam whereby a cell-phone user is charged $9.99 a month if he or she fails to open a message, read it and follow the opt-out instructions, the New York Times' Haggler blog discloses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/your-money/beware-of-cramming-on-your-cellphone-bill-the-haggler.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120325
The fact that ATT cheerfully removed the charge from a consumer's bill does nothing to mitigate the fact that the consumer is automatically charged following an unsolicited message -- in this case for some astrology service.
Needless to say, such charges might easily escape the attention of careless or preoccupied people.
This writer had a similar problem with his ATT service and, following his complaints, ATT resolved the matter with "parental controls" on his cell phone (the writer is well over 40 but his family shares a cell phone plan).
It appears that Congress might need to set up a "do-not-text" list for unsolicited commercial text messages.
by refusing to bar 'opt-out only'
ATT permits a scam whereby a cell-phone user is charged $9.99 a month if he or she fails to open a message, read it and follow the opt-out instructions, the New York Times' Haggler blog discloses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/your-money/beware-of-cramming-on-your-cellphone-bill-the-haggler.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120325
The fact that ATT cheerfully removed the charge from a consumer's bill does nothing to mitigate the fact that the consumer is automatically charged following an unsolicited message -- in this case for some astrology service.
Needless to say, such charges might easily escape the attention of careless or preoccupied people.
This writer had a similar problem with his ATT service and, following his complaints, ATT resolved the matter with "parental controls" on his cell phone (the writer is well over 40 but his family shares a cell phone plan).
It appears that Congress might need to set up a "do-not-text" list for unsolicited commercial text messages.
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/ See http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column104e.html for photo
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Supercomputer methods mean
phone numbers aren't random
As the National Security Agency gears up its Idaho data vacuum cleaner, it would be well to bear in mind that randomly selected telephone numbers can no longer be trusted as passwords.
The NSA will be able to test routinely all U.S. phone numbers, along with most of the world's phone numbers, when seeking a password.
A few years ago, the Social Security Administration was suggesting the use of a telephone number for use as a password for an online account.
Clearly, the NSA emulators with supercomputer and super-data-mining capabilities will also check the world's set of phone numbers.
Even using an internet random number generator may be risky for your privacy as the NSA may be monitoring the site. Some may not worry about such snooping, but perhaps they are unaware of a case several years ago of a CIA employe using the power to monitor international bank data for his own benefit.
If you use a telephone number as a password, modify it by inserting a few letters. If you use an English word for your insert, use a phonetic misspelling.
phone numbers aren't random
As the National Security Agency gears up its Idaho data vacuum cleaner, it would be well to bear in mind that randomly selected telephone numbers can no longer be trusted as passwords.
The NSA will be able to test routinely all U.S. phone numbers, along with most of the world's phone numbers, when seeking a password.
A few years ago, the Social Security Administration was suggesting the use of a telephone number for use as a password for an online account.
Clearly, the NSA emulators with supercomputer and super-data-mining capabilities will also check the world's set of phone numbers.
Even using an internet random number generator may be risky for your privacy as the NSA may be monitoring the site. Some may not worry about such snooping, but perhaps they are unaware of a case several years ago of a CIA employe using the power to monitor international bank data for his own benefit.
If you use a telephone number as a password, modify it by inserting a few letters. If you use an English word for your insert, use a phonetic misspelling.
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Obama's 'humanitarian' death squad directive
Accuracy in Media, a conservative watchdog group, has this:
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-secret-war-making-for-the-u-n/
Health authorities lax on homeless shelters?
http://tenntips.blogspot.com
Accuracy in Media, a conservative watchdog group, has this:
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-secret-war-making-for-the-u-n/
Health authorities lax on homeless shelters?
http://tenntips.blogspot.com
Newz from Limbo is a news site and, the hosting mechanism notwithstanding, should not be defined as a web log or as 'little more than a community forum'... Write News from Limbo at Krypto78=at=gmail=dot=com... The philosophical orientation of Newz from Limbo is best described as libertarian... For anti-censorship links: http://veilside78.blogspot.com/2010/12/anti-censorship-spectrum_23.html (If link fails, cut and paste it into the url bar)... You may reach some of Paul Conant's other pages through the sidebar link or at http://paulpages.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Backdoor censorship peril
seen in 'cybersecurity' bill
Items from Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, allows companies or the government free rein to bypass existing laws in order to monitor communications, filter content, or potentially even shut down access to online services for "cybersecurity purposes."
Companies are encouraged to share data with the government and with one another, and the government can share data in return. The idea is to facilitate detection of and defense against a serious cyber threat, but the language is so broad it could be used as a blunt instrument to attack websites like the Pirate Bay or WikiLeaks. Join EFF in calling on Congress to stop the Rogers cybersecurity bill.
'A Time Bomb For Civil Liberties': France Adopts a New Biometric ID Card
The French National Assembly has passed a law proposing the creation of a new biometric ID card for French citizens with the justification of combating "identity fraud." More than 45 million individuals in France will have their fingerprints and digitized faces stored in what would be the largest biometric database in the country. Now more than 200 members of the French Parliament have challenged its compatibility with Europeans' fundamental rights framework, including the right to privacy and the presumption of innocence.
seen in 'cybersecurity' bill
Items from Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, allows companies or the government free rein to bypass existing laws in order to monitor communications, filter content, or potentially even shut down access to online services for "cybersecurity purposes."
Companies are encouraged to share data with the government and with one another, and the government can share data in return. The idea is to facilitate detection of and defense against a serious cyber threat, but the language is so broad it could be used as a blunt instrument to attack websites like the Pirate Bay or WikiLeaks. Join EFF in calling on Congress to stop the Rogers cybersecurity bill.
'A Time Bomb For Civil Liberties': France Adopts a New Biometric ID Card
The French National Assembly has passed a law proposing the creation of a new biometric ID card for French citizens with the justification of combating "identity fraud." More than 45 million individuals in France will have their fingerprints and digitized faces stored in what would be the largest biometric database in the country. Now more than 200 members of the French Parliament have challenged its compatibility with Europeans' fundamental rights framework, including the right to privacy and the presumption of innocence.
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