Loss of Privacy

Dynahand is a new password authentication program that uses your own handwriting for logging in to websites.  Dynahand would simplify logging in by having the user recognize their own handwriting, eliminating the need for remembering long passwords or biometric devices.  The system works by having the user recognize their own digits that they have previously entered.

University of Glasgow researchers are also working on graphical systems, which they say could help dyslexic children and other people who have trouble with strings of characters.

Dynahand is of benefit to older people and people with learning difficulties precisely because it eliminates the need to remember more, long passwords and the transposing of numbers.  However, it still eliminates the blind, people without hands, and those who never write the same way twice.

Passwords can be secure, but the problem is that people don’t use them properly, often creating the same password for multiple accounts, using weak, and hackable, passwords, and/or leaving their password taped under their keyboards.  Dynahand eliminates this by using digits, as they are harder to recognize by outsiders.  It can even be set so that you must recognize your digits several times before being able to login, creating extra sets of security.

Still, it’s not entirely secure.  An attacker might be able to match the handwriting styles from one login to the next. This is why banks are reluctant to use such a system.

Though Dynahand may not be advisable for sensitive information, such as bank accounts or health records, it sure will find favors with those wary of the computer and its passwords. The main hurdle in getting Dynahand commercial is the creation of new accounts, which is tedious, time-consuming job, says computer scientist Karen Renaud of University of Glasgow, who worked on Dynahand.

Since banks prefer systems that are “something you are and something you know,” Dynahand could be used in conjunction with other security systems already in use.

While Dynahand may not be secure enough for sensitive information, it should be useful, and handy, for social sites.  That still doesn’t mean it’s secure.  If your account on a social site is hacked, it will be destructive to you.  Someone pretending to be you, even online, can destroy your life, online and offline.

It’s a nice idea worth keeping an eye on. However, handwriting samples are all still over the planet (at work, in the garbage, writing checks, knowing your relative’s handwriting, credit card receipts at the restaurant/supermarket), making it easy to steal a sample to study for “future use.”  For now, I’ll stick with the zillion passwords that I currently have.

Massachusetts has become the first state in the nation to require health insurance for each individual citizen of its state.  This may appear to be good for all, however, the State isn’t giving out free health insurance, they are forcing individuals to purchase a plan from their own pocket.

Effective July 1, 2007, the law, which uses federal and state tax dollars, is aimed at making health insurance affordable to all residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including low-income populations. Those who fall below the federal poverty line may be eligible for health care at no cost. A Health Disparities Council has been created to monitor and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.

State income tax laws will be used to check and see if health insurance was purchased.  If it was not, there will be penalties.  Employers are also subject to being forced to offer health insurance to its employeees.

This new law essentially requires the residents of Massachusetts to purchase health insurance, whether they want it or not, to a company that has its own bottom line to take care of, not necessarily the coverage and benefits of the individual.

Massachusetts has not fixed their problem of uninsured.  All they have done is make it illegal to not be insured.  What Massachusetts has done is declared that lower income people will pay large premiums or leave the state.  Many will be levied huge fines because they can’t afford the premiums.  A vicious circle will begin, eventually hitting the middle class because they, too, will be forced to purchase insurance that will, most likely, deny their claims on numerous reasons, including pre-existing conditions.

Massachusetts is ignoring the fact that the reason most people don’t have insurance is that they cannot afford it.  These same people are also denied Medicaid/Medicare because they make too much money.  The state of Massachusetts also gets to decide if you get free health care.

A committee has been put into place to find ways to lower costs, but that won’t be implemented until 2008, at the earliest.

This is not subsidized or socialized health care.  It is a cash cow for insurance companies who operate in Massachusetts.  Just when you thought the health care system in America couldn’t get any worse, Massachusetts laughs and throws this crap legislation into the fray.

There are too many questions left unresolved (who pays for those who can’t pay, what about the chronically ill, etc.) that aren’t covered in the new law.  The poor will, supposedly, be taken care of, but those that need the most help, the sick, are overlooked yet again.

Contactless payments have been popping up with more frequency over the past year.  There are commercials encouraging people to use them instead of cash, many focusing on how fast and easy they are to use.  One particular commercial implies that you’re not part of the “in-crowd” if you’re using cash, but are they really secure?

While Visa and Mastercard assure us that they are secure, fears still arise from worries that the wireless systems aren’t secure enough for the planned massive expansion of the systems in the United States.

Concerns over the security of contactless systems were heightened last week by a Federal Reserve decision that will allow for even more casual, low-cost purchases to be made across the country. In recent years, credit card companies have waived their signature requirements for so-called “small ticket” items in order to get a slice of the action. Visa, for instance, doesn’t require your signature for purchases at or below $25.

The Federal Reserve sets rules for receipts, and last week the Feds said that purchases of $15 or less don’t even require a receipt now, let alone a signature. The rule change will usher in a wave of vending machines and other automated payment systems, and many of them will support wireless, contactless payments.

The convenience factor is definitely there for the consumer but, the consumer is still responsible for fraudulent purchases on their cards, no matter how small.  Now, with no receipt or signature, there will be more burdens placed upon the consumer to prove it was not them that made the purchase.

Infoworld reports that the topic was debated at a meeting of the Boston Federal Reserve last May, with representatives from both security firms and major backers of the new payment system on hand. Security researchers independent from credit card companies are sounding alarms, while the credit card companies themselves believe that they have the right balance of security and functionality.

Herein lies the catch.  Credit card companies believe they have found a solution but researchers believe that there are still major problems to be sorted out before the contactless system is rolled out nationwide.  I have written before about how easy it is to copy or clone information transmitted via RFID.  These new systems are more even vulnerable [pdf] .

According to the work of security researcher and University of Massachusetts professor Kevin Fu, a number of RF cards in use today transmit credit card account numbers “in the clear” without any encryption. He suggests that the solutions could be far more robust and that it should be an open system that security researchers can examine for flaws.

Talks between credit card companies and security researchers is ongoing, but, with such a wide gap between the two, it is going to be a while before a good, workable solution is found.  For now, consumers will continue to test these systems in the wild, not knowing that they are the guinea pigs for an untested and unproven technology that puts their privacy at risk.

I’m always out searching for a better way to unclutter my desktop, which is why, when a friend recommended MaroonBox, I thought I’d check it out. MaroonBox is a set top box for your PC, made entirely of software in which you can watch TV channels, Videos, Podcasts, and listen to radio stations from around the world all in one small program.

Not only is MaroonBox free, you can search thousands of entries that MaroonBox has compiled by scouring the Internet for the best free stuff so you don’t have to. Best of all, you can still keep your subscriptions to your podcasts and upload new content via the upload page at MaroonBox. I’ve discovered new music and podcasts just from using the search within MaroonBox, as well as my old favorites.

I really like the feature of being able to save the actual file to your hard drive. How often have you surfed around places like YouTube or Google Video, bookmarked the content, then went back a week later only to see that the item was removed? With MaroonBox, you don’t have to worry about this because you can save it locally.

If you have your own band, radio station, videos, etc., you can promote them via MaroonBox. Currently, musicians, Mask, are MaroonBox’s featured artist.

MaroonBox supports Windows XP and above and a Mac version is in the works.  A chat is also available where you can chat with other MaroonBox users in real time.  MaroonBox allows for commenting, as well as rating the comments.  This, combined with the chat, will make things easier, and more fun, when searching for something new.

Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with MaroonBox. I love the fact that I don’t have to have accounts all over the Internet just to keep track of the stuff I listen to and watch. I don’t have to have many programs open and I can keep everything in one place, easily accessible and organized.

The World Wildlife Fund has begun using RFID in the Amazon to track white-lipped peccaries over the next five years.  While RFID has been used in the past to track animals, those were usually implants, limiting the usefulness to track growing animals.

Every few days, peccaries descend on natural salt and mineral deposits called collpas to chow down on clay that aids in digestion and supplements their mineral-deficient diet. For the study, WWF researchers are tagging peccaries from different herds with RFID transponders. Four RFID readers in strategic points around the site passively register data on the tagged animals’ visits for WWF staff to download later.

In the past, researchers were limited to costly GPS devices.  The RFID not only is cheaper, but more convenient for the researchers.  This is because peccaries follow predicable feeding patterns, allowing for the placement of several readers within the known paths of the animal.  The main purpose of this study is to learn more about the peccaries’ habitat before it is destroyed due to logging or farming.  However, the WWF will also use the data for other purposes.

The World Wildlife Fund plans to use the information gathered in the peccary study, in conjunction with non-RFID research on jaguars, pumas and several parrots, to determine how large a protected area these wide-ranging species need to survive in the Amazon. The animal-protection group hopes such objective data will help it build international consensus on land management.

With RFID being a much cheaper option than GPS, this study should provide useful results on the many species in the Amazon.