Cory Doctorow wrote this Creative Commons-licensed fiction story for Radar Online magazine.

  Une version française est disponible ici

“Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.” –Cardinal Richelieu

“We don’t know enough about you.” –Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Greg landed at San Francisco International Airport at 8 p.m., but by the time he’d made it to the front of the customs line, it was after midnight. He’d emerged from first class, brown as a nut, unshaven, and loose-limbed after a month on the beach in Cabo (scuba diving three days a week, seducing French college girls the rest of the time). When he’d left the city a month before, he’d been a stoop-shouldered, potbellied wreck. Now he was a bronze god, drawing admiring glances from the stews at the front of the cabin.

Four hours later in the customs line, he’d slid from god back to man. His slight buzz had worn off, sweat ran down the crack of his ass, and his shoulders and neck were so tense his upper back felt like a tennis racket. The batteries on his iPod had long since died, leaving him with nothing to do except eavesdrop on the middle-age couple ahead of him.

“The marvels of modern technology,” said the woman, shrugging at a nearby sign: Immigration–Powered by Google.

“I thought that didn’t start until next month?” The man was alternately wearing and holding a large sombrero.

Googling at the border. Christ. Greg had vested out of Google six months before, cashing in his options and “taking some me time"–which turned out to be less rewarding than he’d expected. What he mostly did over the five months that followed was fix his friends’ PCs, watch daytime TV, and gain 10 pounds, which he blamed on being at home instead of in the Googleplex, with its well-appointed 24-hour gym.

He should have seen it coming, of course. The U.S. government had lavished $15 billion on a program to fingerprint and photograph visitors at the border, and hadn’t caught a single terrorist. Clearly, the public sector was not equipped to Do Search Right.

The DHS officer had bags under his eyes and squinted at his screen, prodding at his keyboard with sausage fingers. No wonder it was taking four hours to get out of the god damned airport.

(more…)

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The British Department of Trade and Industry has made £4m available for four research projects aimed at reducing the IT risk created by human error.

The program, which is part of its Network Security Innovation Platform, reflects the fact that human error is by far the biggest risk to network security.

It cited the results of a survey it conducted, involving over 1,800 people, on the use of passwords. It found that:

• Just over 30% of users recorded their password or security information by either writing it down or storing it somewhere on their computer.
• About 65% never changed their password
• 20% of people used the same password for non-banking websites as well as their online bank

The projects will use behavioural science in a bid to tackle the human risk element in network security.

Four projects will receive funding under the programme.

• The first is about developing a risk assessment package focused on organisational and human factors.

• The second, named Trust Economics, is aimed at developing a predictive modelling framework that assesses security policies that regulate the interaction between humans and information systems.
• The third is aimed at developing a solution for the analysis of digital communications to identify threats introduced by humans.
• The fourth named CatalysIS, is a tool to improve risk culture and identify human vulnerabilities in network security.

Minister for science and innovation Malcolm Wicks said: "Unfortunately, the weakest link in network security is not usually with the technology, but with the staff and system users. A DTI survey found that a shocking number of people were careless with passwords, unwittingly exposing themselves and their company to fraud and theft.

"Network security is also a major growth area where the UK has a good opportunity to become a global leader if we develop new technology to give us a competitive edge."

This article was originally published at Kablenet 

Source: The Register 

 

Tags: 2007, aim, analysis, arc, art, blog, communication, computer, digital, Fun, global, human, ict, ICT Security, identify, im, industry, interaction, internet, Internet News, Internet World, IT risk, King, lan, network, nomadcom.net, online, password, pet, privacy, project, risk, science, search, security, space, study, survey, technology, the register, threat, uk, user, web, website, wp, www, XP

I found yesterday an ad about another product made to shield your face (or at least the face of these "beautiful people")… this make me laugh as I'm not sure how they will convinced large amount of users to apply them.

• The first spray is the"expertise 3P" made by Clarins which protects skin from the ageing effects of Artificial Electromagnetic Waves (sic!). The Magnetic Defense Complex (Rhodiola Rosea + Thermus Thermophillus) - Reinforces skin's resistance to the harmful effects of Artificial Electromagnetic Waves.

  Apparently it's a large frequency spectrum product as they do not precise the frequency range which is concerned but it works according Clarins on artificial radio waves…but will certainly not refrain your cellphone to warm your brain cells…as the lotion seems to be done for facial usage only.

• The second spray intends to guarantee your privacy while facing photographer. Blur anti-photography spray and its highly reflective nanoparticles reflect the flashbulbs of peeping and stalking photographers. They blind camera sensors and whiten part of the image.

  The description speaks for itself, but I wonder if both can be used together as our friends "The Stars" may become totally addicted to both lotions.

  If not, they may use an older product, widely available and invented more that Century ago which surely protect from both paparazzi and electromagnetic waves. The Aluminium foil

Sources : We Make Money not Art, Clarins, Snoops

Tags: 2007, arc, art, artificial, blog, bulb, camera, cellphone, ces, Clarins, Electromagnetic Waves, expertise 3P, flash, Fun, Gadgets, HP, ia, ict, im, King, lan, Magnetic Defense Complex, money, nomadcom.net, phone, photo, photographers, Photography, plugin, press, privacy, protection skin effects, Rhodiola Rosea, space, Thermus Thermophillus, uk, USA, usage, user, wordpress, wp, www, XP