Posted by: fslane3
on 03 July 2009
Despite its self-proclaimed purity pledge, the Apple iTunes App Store has been flirting with adult themes and content for some time now. The store is well-stocked with with apps featuring nearly-nude women in scanty bathing suits and lingerie. With the release of the iPhone OS 3.0, which includes a parental control feature, app developers are promising to include topless photos as soon as they are approved by the App Store vetting team.
Posted by: fslane3
on 02 July 2009
A controversy has erupted in New Orleans over the disappearance of what some say could be years of emails sent to and from the office of Mayor Ray Nagin. According to estimates, as much as 22 gigabytes of information may have been deleted from a City Hall server.
Posted by: fslane3
on 01 June 2009
A Queens, NY teacher is being held on $100,000 bail after hundreds of cell phone text messages revealed a steamy relationship between her and a 14-year-old student in her social studies class.
Posted by: fslane3
on 08 May 2009
David Finkelhor, the head of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, has published the results of a study of Internet predators and has reached a provocative conclusion: that the Internet is not any more dangerous for children than the brick-and-mortar world.
Posted by: fslane3
on 05 May 2009
Modifications, or "mods," are a popular technique in the gaming community for altering or extending the capabilities of video game software and hardware. Under the best of circumstances, mods have a questionable legality. It turns out, however, that some mods are downright criminal.
Posted by: fslane3
on 04 May 2009
The SANS ComputerForensics and e-Discovery blog is reporting that at the urging of the North Carolina Private Protective Services Board, the North Carolina legislature is considering a bill that would require "digital forensic examiners" to be licensed as private investigators.
Posted by: fslane3
on 12 January 2009
There is an interesting article this morning by long-time tech writer Declan McCullough in the CNN Police Blotter about the legality of warrantless searches of mobile devices. The question is taking on growing importance given the scope and quantity of information that such devices can hold.
So far, the courts have not settled on a single answer as to whether mobile devices can legally be searched during an arrest without a warrant. McCullough summarizes two recent cases that reached opposite results.
Posted by: fslane3
on 10 January 2009
A new report by the San Francisco-based security consulting firm iSEC Partners raises questions about the effectiveness of the new "privacy mode" feature currently being tested by the major browser platforms.
According to the report, all of the browsers allowed third-party applications to store private data on the hard drive during "privacy mode" browsing and to varying degrees, failed to clear data when switch from private to normal browsing.
Posted by: fslane3
on 09 January 2009
Washington state attorney general Rob McKenna (R) announced a package of laws on Wednesday that he will be submitting to the state's lawmakers. Included is a proposal that would make it a felony to view child pornography.
McKenna told reporters that the new law is needed to keep children safe. "While not every user of child pornography is a pedophile - yet," McKenna said, "every pedophile is a user of child pornography."
Posted by: admin
on 08 January 2009
The perils of computer tech work are on display in a Philadelphia federal courtroom, where two computer technicians are scheduled to testify against their former boss, Vincent J. Fumo, who is facing corruption charges. Fumo is a former Pennsylvania state senator.
The two technicians, Leonard Luchko and Mark Eister, plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges in 2006 for their role in wiping potentially damaging e-mails from Fumo's system. A third technician, Donald J. Wilson, has been cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation under a grant of immunity.
Digital Dirt 
