Harvey is thinking he's a bit old fashioned for not wanting to hear other people's cell phone conversations.

Frankly, I resent this verbal exhibitionism. My momma raised me to be polite. If I'm in an area where someone's having a conversation that I'm not involved in, I feel socially obligated to at least pretend I'm not listening in, no matter how audible their blah-blah-blah-ing.

As it happens I think Harvey's quite right. And it has nothing to do with being old curmudgeon and much to do with people airing way too much of their laundry (usually dirty) in public, without a second thought.

Actually, it truly surprises me, the things people will talk about on a cell phone in a public place.

For instance...While sitting in an airport I heard a guy call numerous clients and/or colleagues to tell them about the business he worked for... failing. Not only were the calls depressing, but he kept telling everyone "this isn't public knowledge yet"... and all I could think was - "well yes, it is public knowledge now". Even though he never mentioned the company name - what if I or someone in the airport knew who he was and what company he worked for?

I've been on the train and listened to numerous business conversations - where if I had been the competition - it would have given me TONS of info on the other guy's business practices. I've heard people's medical information, bank information, parents chewing their kids out about sex, drugs, school... just the most amazing stuff. The person talking thinks nothing of this because they don't recognize the people around them as being any sort of danger to them!

When my husband made frequent trips to Detroit, working with automotive clients in his previous job. He had to absolutely sit on the younger guys traveling with him... no cell phone, no chit chat, no vocalization PERIOD about any work related stuff outside of closed conference rooms. You never knew if the competition was sitting right next to you at the airport or in a restaurant or worse yet in the bar! He told them, you MUST assume they are there and they are listening.

My cell phone conversations in public places have consisted of me calling my husband to tell him I'm on my way home - when I'm down in the city and taking the train. If I have a conversation in another public place - such as an airport, I will find a spot that is empty (generally a gate not currently in use) and do my talking there.

But when I'm out in public I try to be very aware of what I'm saying and not just spout personal or professional info to all and sundry. And possibly even tell people I'll call them back in a minute, as I go out and get in my car. As a matter of fact - 99.9% of all my cell phone conversations take place in my car. I just feel more comfortable about it that way.

Now, you have to remember I work at home... I only go out occasionally and travel by air even less. Just think if I commuted to work on the train daily or flew once or twice a month! I could be a regular font of information about all kinds of things.

Am I overly paranoid? Well, maybe a little paranoia is a good thing in this case. And maybe if people thought that chatting away on a cell phone might get them into trouble, they'd hang it up when out in public.... nah it'll never happen.

Posted by: Teresa in Idiocies at 06:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It seems Bill Gates left behind a page of doodles when visiting an economic summit over in London... Reporters grabbed the page thinking it was the doodling of the Prime Minister and had the handwriting analyzed.

Newspaper stories contained phrases such as "struggling to concentrate" and "not a natural leader".

This was when they thought the doodles were those of the PM... Then it was found that the doodles actually belonged to Bill Gates...

"We look forward with amusement to explanations by a variety of psychologists and graphologists of how various characteristics ascribed to the prime minister on the basis of the doodles, such as 'struggling to concentrate', 'not a natural leader', 'struggling to keep control of a confusing world' and 'an unstable man who is feeling under enormous pressure', equally apply to Mr Gates.

Even if it was an analysis of Tony Blair's doodles, the end result is ridiculous in the extreme. I always had my doubts about handwriting analysis, but this seems to put the clincher on it - it's more a bit of "wishful thinking" than an actual "science" OR that might just be because of who they asked to do the analysis and what they told them prior to the start.

Or, as would be the case with NYT reporters - perhaps they only reported what they wanted to hear or what they thought it should be... There's no telling, but it is amusing.

Yeah, I should be so unstable... just think of all the money I'd have... then everyone could criticize me and I wouldn't give a damn in the least!

Hat Tip Slashdot

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**** UPDATE: Yes this is a hoax... go here to follow the story if you haven't seen other references to it yet. ****

Yes, we're such a backward, barefoot, ragged country. We can't keep up with the likes of Germany. The glitz, glamor, sheer presence even of this extremely high minded society... it's truly blinding. Simply turn your attention to this story:

'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'
By Clare Chapman
(Filed: 30/01/2005)

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Such even handedness in employment is most amazing. Aren't you impressed with the inclusiveness? Doesn't it make you all tingly just thinking of how broad their outlook on life has become? (or maybe you're just excited by all the possible new prostitutes available...) Well, how did this come about you ask?

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

Ladies and Gentlemen, imagine if you will, you are unemployed... Oh I'm sorry, did you think this might only pertain to women? I know all you studly men out there would never object to working as a gigolo - right? Yes, this story is about women and the sex trade - but I see nothing there that excludes men... so let us continue...

Maybe you are married or have a live-together arrangement and your significant other comes to you and says... I have to take this job as a prostitute or they will take away our unemployment income - what do we do? How 'bout it guys - any objection to your girlfriend or wife working the sex trade? It's legal - and according the German law it's not even immoral... I mean, you can't even tell a prostitute from a cocktail waitress. (personally I always thought there was a difference, but then I'm just a provincial little nobody)

The government is telling you that there is nothing wrong with you having sex... as a job. Any guys want their wife hitting the sheets with any number of unknown men? Any women want their husband turning a profit with whichever woman is willing to pay the price? In the future, if you are dating... and your date says, yeah I was unemployed for about a year - will you begin to wonder what job they "had" to take at the end of that year?

What is the lesson in all of this? Mostly that people who make laws are idiots. They never consider the law of unintended consequences. With all the high minded intentions of the all accepting liberal, they work so very hard to save a segment of women from a very bad life. With the consequence... putting an even larger number of men and women in an untenable position.

It is impossible to separate sex from morality - even if the government decrees that it should be so. It will be interesting to see what, if any, fall out there is from this interesting turn in German society. What I'm really waiting to see is if the German people find this demeaning enough to actually do something about it, or if they've become such doormats that they allow this to stand without objection.

My my - America just looks better and better all the time. I think I like being a provincial, backward, pajama wearing red-neck.

Hat Tip : Ann Althouse and Prof. Bainbridge

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 04:58 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Oops - the sky ISN'T falling... What happened? The Iraq election is a rousing success, so much so that the news media aren't exactly sure how to report it. Even the vaunted Fox News web site has this leading story...

Millions Cast Ballots Despite Violence

Huh? Yeah, that Right Wing Bastion, Fox News can't bring themselves to lead with a headline that doesn't include mayhem. So what's the mayhem?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — For the first time in more than 50 years, Iraqis cast ballots in democratic elections Sunday and took the first steps to declaring how they wanted Iraq to be governed.

As estimated 8 million people — 60 percent of eligible voters — braved violence and calls for a boycott to vote in Iraq (search). A string of homicide bombings and mortar volleys killed at least 44 people, including nine attackers.

Well, at least they waited until the second paragraph to bring in the death scene. Let's see 44 out of 8 million (give or take a few hundred thou...) what's the percentage on that? That's what I thought, vanishingly small. Mind you - if you're one of the 44 it really sucks pond water - to say the least. But considering the all out maelstrom that was expected. I figured we were going to see hundreds of thousands of casualties.

What does CNN have to say?

Iraqis vote amid violence

And they don't even wait until the second paragraph to turn on the violence game...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Polls have closed and ballot counting has begun after Iraq's first free election in a half century, with officials reporting a higher than expected turnout of registered voters amid attacks and threats of violence.

Insurgents carried out more than a dozen attacks across the country on Sunday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 71 others.

Let's see, if there were millions of people voting, and "more than a dozen attacks" (let's say less than 15 shall we, since we know they will go for the highest number they can get away with... ) Then it only stands to reason numerically, most people were not in the way of attacks or effected by them while voting. They may have been fearful (especially after all the news hype), but short of a huge bomb entirely destroying each of 12 cities - it looks like many Iraqis were able to vote unmolested.

I'm waiting impatiently to see what the spin meisters come up with tomorrow to make this all look like an outright disaster...

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 11:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 If one were to believe the media last week, they would know that this report of millions voting was a filthy lie. Low turnout was expected. There is no possible way that the media could be wrong.

Right.

Posted by: That 1 Guy at January 30, 2005 02:23 PM (X8Umy)

2 Ah yes, I've heard predictions that the tinfoil hat crowd will be shouting about how the voting rates have been falsified and that only 10 or 20 percent of the voters actually turned out, making the election illegitimate and Bush a MISERABLE FAILURE!!1!!!

Keep watching the DU for further updates :-)

Posted by: Harvey at January 30, 2005 06:19 PM (ubhj8)

3 I told my hubby last night that the next time I run into someone in the US that says they don't have the time to vote or don't want to spend the time waiting in line I am going to rip them a new one and then explain that they don't have the time or they don't want to wait in line but yet people in Iraq waited with the threat of being killed just so they could vote and that didn't deter them one bit.

I am so embarassed for the US.

Posted by: Machelle at January 31, 2005 03:07 AM (ZAyoW)

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This week the recipe roundup is being held by Kin of Kin's Kouch. Yet another person doing a fabulous job of putting it all together. For the guys out there... this week Kin has catered to you directly (being a guy himself). Go check it out and plan your meals for the week!

Posted by: Teresa in Food and Drink at 05:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And Noble Eagle has tagged Tammi, Bloodspite and... me. For the Musical Meme. Unlike just about everyone else in the world - I am not very musically inclined, but I shall give it a shot. The thing is, I have to go looking for the CD's themselves since I can rarely remember what they're called. Well, here goes

Random Ten Albums :

1. Cake - Comfort Eagle
2. Toby Keith - Greatest Hits Vol. 2
3. Eric Clapton - Unplugged
4. Steve Miller - Fly Like an Eagle
5. Ella Fitzgerald - The Complete Ella in Berlin
6. Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are
7. No Doubt - Return of Saturn
8. Oscar Peterson - A Summer Night in Munich
9. The Eagles - Their Greatest Hits
10. Cesaria Evora - Cabo Verde

What is the total amount of music files on your computer? None, I like CDs and I never got into the music download thing.

The last CD you bought is: Toby Keith Greatest Hits Vol 2

What is the song you last listened to before this message? Pablo Casals - Bach Cello Suite No. 5, Sarabande

Five songs you often listen to or that mean alot to you:
1. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - no matter who performs it
2. Comfort Eagle (title song) - Cake
3. Coragem Irmon - Cesaria Evora
4. Could I Be You - Matchbox Twenty
5. Layla - Clapton Unplugged

Who are you going to pass this to? Don't know - I have to see if I can find 5 people who haven't been tagged yet. Not an easy job since I'm so far behind in my reading!

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 05:00 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Scrappleface has the very best reporting. Covers it all.

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 04:15 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Apparently Teddy Kennedy has been speaking in public again... The wanderings of his pickled brain were presented to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

I'd be angry, but the man is such a parody I only find him laughable. New England Republican is dining upon all the blog fodder, giving the speech a royal fisking.

So, if Kennedy's antics amuse you and you think your blood pressure can stand it, head on over and read with delight.

And while we're at it.... Day by Day is Priceless

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 10:21 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 That bulbous red nose is a dead giveaway; he's a clown!

Posted by: pam at January 29, 2005 03:58 AM (l6NIn)

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FrankJ has the breaking story...

IMAO EXCLUSIVE!!! WISCONSIN TAKEN OVER BY NINJAS!!!

The burning question now... will the ninjas allow Harvey and Beloved Wife to leave Wisconsin and attend the upcoming Bad Example Family and Friends Reunion?

Stay Tuned...

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 09:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Want to know what's really going on? Head on over to Friends of Democracy. This is a blog devoted to the Iraq election by Iraqis who are on the spot. Take a moment to visit them, find out how they are viewing the election.

And I see that Blackfive is now posting the following:

And word is that C-SPAN will be airing Friends of Democracy sessions in DC on Sunday between 1-3PM EST.

This is wonderful news! Congratulations to Friends of Democracy - looks like people are taking notice.

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 09:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Drill Sgt Robb has some video of a recent fun fight between him and one of his friends.

I guess I should set the stage by telling you that I didn't know we were going to fight this time until I was ass over teakettle. I was talking to my soldiers and he blindsided me like Lawrence Taylor in the crack years.

Head on over, read his take on the fight and then go download the video - what a kick!

***Note unless you have a premium account at the place he has hosting the video, you have to wait 30 seconds or so to be able to start the thing. I downloaded it and watched it directly off my machine so I didn't have any trouble with it. Enjoy!

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 06:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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**** There has been a change in the story as noted in my update below ****

Someone please explain this reasoning to me...

Apparently Maggie Gallagher (an op-ed columnist) was paid by the Department of Health and Human Services to push Bush's marriage initiative. Her response as this becomes public knowledge...

Gallagher explains to Kurtz: "Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it? I don't know. You tell me." She said she would have "been happy to tell anyone who called me" about the contract but that "frankly, it never occurred to me" to disclose it.

First of all "violate journalistic ethics"? No, seems to me like you're right in line with those ethics displayed by all the other journalists out there. (in other words you have none because you don't know what ethics are - someone get this woman a dictionary!)

Second "been happy to tell anyone who called me"? Well, don't worry Maggie, from now on, anytime you want to write something - EVERYONE will be calling to find out how much of a cut you get on the deal for writing something good...

begin ethics class

It's too late to help Maggie, but if there are any young people still thinking of a career in journalism (and blogging hasn't turned you totally sour on the profession), then listen up!

Always Always Always be forthcoming about who is paying you money. Be right up front about it. If you only get paid by the people publishing your work - all well and good. It gives you more credibility (although less cash in the bank). But, if someone offers you money to plug their agenda, and you really want to take it, then you MUST disclose this anytime you write about that agenda. People may discount what you say because you are getting paid to say it, that's their option. It's called full disclosure - making sure the buying public knows what it is buying by giving them all the information they need to make a decision.

Then if you write an opinion on something that you are not receiving money for, you can state that upfront too and people will tend to believe you... because you disclosed paid gigs.

By failing to mention who was paying her, Maggie took away information her readers need to make an informed decision based on her opinion. This may be her true opinion, but we don't know that. Until we found out she was being paid, we would very likely assume that her editorials expressed her heartfelt opinion - now we can't be sure, so any opinion she writes loses the ability to convince - why should we listen to her?

Note: this is important! If you don't disclose a payment for an opinion, you are lying by omission. Once caught, all trust is lost and will be difficult, if not impossible to regain.

If you haven't figured it out yet, lying is a bad thing. And if you didn't even realize that small fact then appealing to your moral sense will have no effect. So how about thinking about your own skin... Yes, many people get away with it, maybe even for years, but just look at the ones who are caught. It is not a pretty picture. An even worse picture is when they are caught and try to pretend it's nothing... then it's really ugly.

We now conclude our ethics class for the day.

UPDATE: Well, I really should have waited to write this post. Although the ethics of things haven't changed, apparently Ms. Gallagher was being paid for producing materials regarding marriage for the above Department, not for promoting the marriage agenda. It's very likely wiser to wait a day or two when one journalist accuses another of an ethics lapse... sheesh! See the Instapundit link below for plenty of updates about this story.

Hat Tip Instapundit

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1 Well, it was a good ethics lesson, anyway.

Posted by: pam at January 27, 2005 10:45 AM (l6NIn)

2 More interesting is the fact that the Clinton administration hired her first.... No disclosure then or now about the past.

Posted by: chas at February 03, 2005 03:38 AM (2Ydt1)

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Today I am still recovering from yesterday's 15 hour trip home. And I'm trying to decide if

A) the travel gods hate me

OR

B) the airport gods love me

I haven't quite decided yet. Let's see... I had an original flight canceled. I didn't get on the next flight as a stand-by. I did get on the late flight... but these little details leave out all the fun and drama.

I must say, after watching the American Airlines personnel most of the day yesterday, 80% of the gate agents at Logan seem to be some of the most disorganized people I have ever seen. A few of them are very good, but I wonder how the rest of them ever retain their jobs. Now I do understand that yesterday was an exceptionally bad day at Logan - they had been mostly shut down for the weekend and LOTS of people were trying to get out... but it was mind boggling to watch some of these people work.

For those who aren't the least bit interested in travel horror stories - I'll put the rest in the extended section. more...

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Coming to you live from Logan airport in Boston, MA... I have been traveling this weekend (thus the non-existent blogging). I was supposed to leave yesterday - but I'm sure if you've been anywhere near the Weather Channel, you know that the Northeast got hit by a bit of snow... thus Logan was closed yesterday and my flight was changed to today. That's weather for you. I got to the airport way early - just knowing it was going to be a challenge today - since travel over the weekend was a total wash for the midwest and the northeast.

So, what was the big storm like? The snow started at about 4pm on Saturday - continued all night and stopped around noon on Sunday for our area. (although it kept snowing on Cape Cod for quite a while longer). I was out west of the city and outside of snow and wind - things weren't really too bad. Roads and parking lots out that way were pretty much doable by 4pm Sunday.

I got to the check in area at the airport this morning and knew life was going to get interesting when I saw that all of the fast check in machines were closed. Had to stand in line. It always amazes me how many people get so bent when their flight is canceled - it seems they can't come to terms with the fact that their plans must change. They talk at the gate agents forever and ever and ever... they haul out cell phones and call people asking THEM what should be done... yeesh.

When it got to me - my original flight was canceled (there's a newsflash - I knew that would happen!). So I'm on standby for the next flight... if I can't get on that I have a boarding pass for the later flight. I'll probably end up on the later flight . How do I know this? It's simple. My car is in extended parking at O'Hare, buried under a number of inches of snow. It stands to reason that I will be out in the remote lot - LATE - trying to get my car out...

Ho-Hum

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I don't know how he does it, but Roger Simon manages to listen to NPR without gagging... I am not that strong, but his listening has brought him an interesting insight:

For nearly ten minutes the only Bush supporters they interviewed sounded like they just stepped out of a Holy Roller tent and couldn't think of anything else to say about the occasion than "Thank you, Jesus!" It was almost comical. That's one helluva revival meeting. That real, live agnostics or even normal garden variety deists could have voted for Bush seemed outside the realm of possibility to the woman doing NPR's commentary.

Yep - that about covers it. The comical part is that they call themselves "Public Radio". The only thing public about it is that the public at large can listen to it... oh yeah and pay for it too... whether or not you want to. Quite a joke.

Posted by: Teresa in Current Affairs at 07:50 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Y'all have cultivated quite a reputation...

Ouch!

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This week's mouth watering trip through the alphabet of recipes is brought to us by Caltechgirl. As usual it's a fabulous job! Head on over and plan your menus.

Posted by: Teresa in Food and Drink at 05:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Have I ever mentioned that winter is not exactly my most favorite season? About the only thing I find winter does very well is kill the big bugs. It's the primary reason why I put up with the rest of it...

On Tuesday night we had about 2 inches of snow... let me restate that - on Tuesday night about 2 inches of snow blew into town. By "blew" I mean it was accompanied by a steady 30 mph wind with gusts - therefore the snow was not falling, it was coming in sideways. Actually driving wasn't too awful, when I could see the road. The only thing I worried about was mistaking the edge of the road for the middle. Otherwise it was pretty much okay.

Opened my garage door at home to find snow had been blown in under the door about 12 inches... oh well, no use shoveling it out now, more will blow under so I left it.

Next morning I opened the garage door. My intention was to get the newspapers in and then shovel out the drifts. It was pretty "warm" (relatively speaking since the last few days had been around 10 degrees), so proper care was not being taken... I walk out onto the driveway and WHAM! Oops that was black ice out there not blacktop... *sigh* As usual when I fall on ice like that - I landed flat on my back, somewhat on my right side. Unfortunately, I didn't flatten my right arm, and ended up with a bruised right elbow. Outside of some sore back and neck muscles (from keeping my head off the ground) - the bruised elbow is the only real casualty.

Why am I annoyed? After all those years of martial arts, I still can't fall right... Oh yeah, and I hate winter!

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 11:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I had cruised over to Tim's earlier this morning and found a blank page... Now I know why.

Apparently my site has been hacked -- all posts and archives removed, etc. Not sure yet if anything can be recovered.

Worse, I'm currently unable to post (password details have been corrupted) so would appreciate if any or all of you could alert readers.

I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner to some of the big guys! We could call this more crushing of dissent, but it's more likely to be just plain old vandalism - instead of graffiti and broken windows we are left with a broken blog. It's disheartening, frustrating, and infuriating. Good Luck getting things back up and going Tim!

Hat Tip Instapundit

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A few days ago I had some things to say about a database theft that took place at T-Mobile. The original story was in the Register and to me seemed to be very slanted against T-Mobile and the US Secret Service.

The following day a story appeared in Computer World with a somewhat different take on the incident. I think we should compare and contrast - because I find the differences fascinating. So, if you don't like tech stories... it's time to move on or skip down the page a bit.

The Computer World account is a bit more terse, sounding more like a news story than a diatribe of the big bad company and the USSS versus the poor little customer. But it's not just the tone of the two stories, factually there are some huge differences. The differences are so big between the two stories, I wonder if either of them is correct.

For brevity sake CW = Computer World : TR = The Register

CW: A malicious hacker penetrated the network of mobile phone company T-Mobile USA Inc. and accessed information on 400 of the company's customers, including sensitive information from the account of a U.S. Secret Service agent, according to statements by T-Mobile and the Secret Service.
TR: Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case. He could also obtain voicemail PINs, and the passwords providing customers with web access to their T-Mobile email accounts. He did not have access to credit card numbers.

My comment: If no one noticed, there is a really big difference between the numbers 400 and 16.3 million. Did he have access to all the database names, or only a small portion of them? We don't know - T-Mobile could be telling the truth or it could be downplaying. And TR may be using the largest number it can find for shock value.

CW: T-Mobile claims it discovered an intrusion in October 2003 and reported it to the USSS
TR: the T-Mobile breach came to the attention of the USSS in March 2004 through a hacker chat room. The USSS then informed T-Mobile of the theft of records.

My Comment: Who is right here? I have no idea. TR says it got its info through court records. So unless we could see the court records, we can't tell if their info is correct or if T-Mobile is correct. We all know how accurate any factual information can be when it's being siphoned through a reporter.

CW: The company said Jacobsen is believed to be involved in other attempts to access customer information and said it is cooperating with the Secret Service in investigating those allegations.
TR: But Jacobsen was not charged with the others. Instead he faces two felony counts of computer intrusion and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in a separate, unheralded federal case in Los Angeles, currently set for a 14 February status conference.

My Comment:The CW story says there is still more investigation going on around Jacobsen, whereas TR story wants us to believe all the investigation part is done and they are trying to cut a deal with him. And TR implies that the Secret Service is holding out, claiming it can't speak about Jacobsen's case when it will talk about others arrested on that day. This reticence on the part of the USSS makes more sense if CW is right and the investigation continues even though they have already charged Jacobsen with some crimes.

CW: Customers whose accounts were allegedly accessed by Jacobsen were notified in writing about the breach, in accordance with California law, in early 2004 -- after the company received clearance from the Secret Service. T-Mobile said it is unaware of any problems with those accounts stemming from the hack.
TR: T-Mobile, which apparently knew of the intrusions by July of last year, has not issued any public warning.

My Comment: Either they did or they didn't warn customers... but if you look carefully you'll see TR never accuses T-Mobile of not telling customers involved that their information was compromised. It merely states that there was no "public" warning. Even in TR they say:

Under California's anti-identity theft law "SB1386," the company is obliged to notify any California customers of a security breach in which their personally identifiable information is "reasonably believed to have been" compromised. That notification must be made in "the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay," but may be postponed if a law enforcement agency determines that the disclosure would compromise an investigation.

Show me the part that says T-Mobile has to go to major newspapers and spell it out in headlines... As long as they warned all the customers involved, they have covered the necessary legalities. Whether or not people like the fact that they can "get away" with sending out letters instead of pasting it on the front page of the NYT - is beside the point.

Both stories agree that a Secret Service agent was using his T-Mobile account to store case information. But where TR story stops there, giving the implication is that the USSS is incompetent at best, the CW story goes to the trouble to follow up with the Secret Service.

The unnamed Secret Service agent violated rules that forbid sensitive documents from being copied to other computer systems, Cherry said. He would not comment on whether the agent would be punished for the breach of policy.

Ah - it seems that it is not the policy of the USSS to compile case data on unsecured computers. I had wondered about that. Considering that TR identifies the agent in this way...

Cavicchia was the agent who last year spearheaded the investigation of Jason Smathers, a former AOL employee accused of stealing 92 million customer email addresses from the company to sell to a spammer.

I can't quite figure out if TR has the correct agent or not. It would seem that Mr. Cavicchia should certainly know better than to rely on an untrusted network. Especially if he investigates computer crime for a living! But The Register gives us no indication how they got the name of the agent involved. I wonder if the information is correct or if the unnamed source (talked about later in the article) threw out a name and the author ran with it, trusting the source.

I stand by my original conclusions about why T-Mobile and the USSS would proceed with handling the case in this manner. I also stand by my original view that The Register story is highly slanted. That does not mean that I think the Computer World story is completely correct. As far as I know - either or both stories could be severely wrong. But, I tend to view with great suspicion , any story (such as the one by The Register) that goes to such lengths to try and make people angry without giving them the background facts on computer security. Without those facts, the average reader would not have the information needed to make a good decision on whether or not the right thing is being done.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 07:15 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 1220 words, total size 8 kb.

1 The Register has always struck as being of the same ilk as The Drudge Report, interested in using "news" to generate the heat of outrage, not to inform. You did the footwork to prove it. Thanks!

Posted by: Jack at January 16, 2005 10:28 PM (7GUn3)

2 Thanks Jack. Since (to my surprise) this is an area where I can claim actual knowledge of how things work, it's nice to be able to show it to people. The disheartening thing is that the author of the Register article is from Security Focus and therefore should certainly know better.

The funny thing is... I wonder what people expect when they start ranting about companies informing them about data theft. Basically, they are just telling you - your information has been stolen. There isn't anything that can be done about it. It doesn't change things in the least, except that you might know one source where your private info has become public.

But people should be keeping an eye on their credit stuff anyway - whether or not there has been a notification! Their info could have been stolen without anyone even knowing it.

In general - the type of info stolen in this break in - name address ssn... not credit cards... is the type of info that isn't used immediately. It's the kind of thing where people need to be vigilant for years before it might be used.

Posted by: Teresa at January 17, 2005 05:16 AM (nAfYo)

3 Because of a case of my identity being stolen right before I moved to France, I pay one of the credit reporting companies about $10 per month to alert me of any changes to my report.

This angers me, because they are making money off MY personal information, yet they require me to PAY to have access to knowledge of changes.

Capitalism is all well and good, but I feel I'm getting screwed twice here.

So, my opinion on identity theft issues is colored by my negative experience.

Posted by: Jack at January 17, 2005 07:30 AM (7GUn3)

4 Ah yes, the credit companies and paying for notification... that's a whole other can of worms! And yes, I pay for that service too. They've got you coming and going and there's not a thing that can be done short of dropping out of the system altogether... sigh.

What I was trying to point out in my comment is that even if a company notifies you that your info has been compromised... that's all it is, a notification. It doesn't stop the bad guys from using the info, it doesn't make anyone else stop the bad guys, it merely tells you that your info has been stolen. I think people likely misunderstand and think that the notice offers them some sort of protection. That sort of thinking will get people into trouble.

Posted by: Teresa at January 17, 2005 08:22 AM (nAfYo)

5 The Register slanted?
Sensationalizing news?
Say it is not so!

They skewer mercilessly, but I have not seen gross errors of fact. In that, they set an example our MSM has yet to follow.

Posted by: David St Lawrence at January 17, 2005 07:28 PM (ymQmM)

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