[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #308: We are being watched

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #308: We are being watched
November 14th, 2012

One of the big news items this week was the resignation of CIA Director 
Gen. David Petraeus after the FBI monitored his emails and found 
evidence of an affair. Monitoring an individual's emails may not seem 
out of line when the person is under formal investigation, as was the 
case with Gen. Petraeus. But monitoring emails, cell phones, and other 
electronic communication happens more often than you might think, and 
sometimes for disturbing reasons.

  * The spy in your inbox
    <http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/11/the-spy-in-your-inbox/>
    (Ars Technica/Sean Gallagher) "Using graphics to collect metrics is
    an old hack, going back to the 'sprites' used on many early personal
    Web pages to track page views. Web request based tracking is also
    heavily used by both legitimate large-scale e-mailers and spam
    factories to collect information such as when and where e-mails are
    opened, and to test the 'hit rate' for various subject lines and
    offer teases. But ContactMonkey gets even more personal about it,
    because it identifies each recipient explicitly, and reports back
    directly on them."
  * Microsoft wants to turn Xbox 360 Kinect into Big Brother!
    <http://readwrite.com/2012/11/07/microsoft-wants-to-turn-xbox-kinect-into-big-brother>
    (ReadWriteWeb/Mark Hachman) "The difference that the patent suggests
    is that the content would be licensed on a per-user-view basis, so
    that, for example, a maximum of four people could watch a movie. The
    patent goes on to suggest that the computing device itself enforce
    limits on the number of people that could view the movie or game. If
    the number of viewers exceeds the limit, the viewers could be asked
    to re-license the movie - paying more for the privilege, one can
    assume - or risk it being blocked or shut down."
  * Ad industry calls IE10's 'Do Not Track' setting 'unacceptable'
    <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9232036/Ad_industry_calls_IE10_s_Do_Not_Track_setting_unacceptable_>
    (Computerworld/Gregg Keizer) "The letter was the harshest criticism
    yet by the advertising industry of Do Not Track in general and
    Microsoft's position with IE10 specifically. The ANA [Association of
    National Advertisers] used phrases like 'fundamentally bad for
    consumers,' 'undermines consumer interest' and 'cheat society' in
    its missive. Essentially, the ANA argued that if advertisers could
    not track users on the Web - and then use that information to
    deliver targeted online ads to them - the Internet as it's now known
    would vanish."
  * Justice Dept. to defend warrantless cell phone tracking
    <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57524109-38/justice-dept-to-defend-warrantless-cell-phone-tracking/>
    (CNET/Declan McCullagh) "Federal prosecutors are planning to argue
    that they should be able to obtain stored records revealing the
    minute-by-minute movements of mobile users over a 60-day period - in
    this case, T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers - without having to ask a
    judge to approve a warrant first. The case highlights how valuable
    location data is
    <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20051461-281.html> for police,
    especially when it's tied to devices that millions of people carry
    with them almost all the time."

*/Fee fact:/*

Cell phone carriers received over a million requests from law 
enforcement agencies for cell phone customer records last year, but they 
also made millions of dollars from those requests. Reportedly 
<http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/09/surveillance-requests-to-cellphone-carriers-surge/>, 
carriers charge fees of about $25 to locate a cell phone, $25 to 
retrieve a user's text messages, and $50 for a listing of all the cell 
phones that interacted with a given cell phone tower at a specific time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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