In one of the most significant legal rulings in the tech industry this year, a Superior Court judge in California has ruled that the practice of charging consumers a fee for ending their cell phone contract early is illegal and violates state law.

The preliminary, tentative judgment orders Sprint Nextel to pay customers $18.2 million in reimbursements and, more importantly, orders Sprint to stop trying to collect another $54.7 million from California customers (some 2 million customers total) who have canceled their contracts but refused or failed to pay the termination fee.

While an appeal is inevitable, the ruling could have massive fallout throughout the industry. Without the threat of levying early termination fees, the cellular carriers lose the power that's enabled them to lock customers into contracts for multiple years at a time. And while those contracts can be heinously long, they also let the carriers offer cell phone hardware at reduced (subsidized) prices. AT&T's two-year contract is the only reason the iPhone 3G costs $199. If subsidies vanish, what happens to hardware lock-in? Could an era of expensive, but unlocked, hardware be just around the corner? It's highly probable.

Of course, the carriers aren't going to take this lying down. Early termination fees are seen as critical to business, so carriers are expected to look for ways to reclassify the fees (such as by calling them "rates," part of the arcane set of laws that covers the telecommunications industry). The industry is also pushing for the federal government to step in and claim oversight over the early termination fee issue, which would invalidate any state ruling. The FCC is generally more tolerant of such fees, though Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed a plan whereby the fees are decreased the closer you are to the end of your contract.

The FCC may also buy the argument that, since carriers are nationally based (and consumers can use their phones anywhere in the country), that a single policy should apply across the nation, rather than creating a patchwork of legislation that could lead to confusion and chaos caused by having 50 different policies.

Is the early termination fee dead? Not yet, but it's looking a little haggard.

Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative.

Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed.

Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors.

The governmental role that companies play online is taking on greater importance as their services – from online hangouts to virtual repositories of photos and video – become more central to public discourse around the world. It's a fallout of the Internet's market-driven growth, but possible remedies, including government regulation, can be worse than the symptoms.

Dutch photographer Maarten Dors met the limits of free speech at Yahoo Inc.'s photo-sharing service, Flickr, when he posted an image of an early-adolescent boy with disheveled hair and a ragged T-shirt, staring blankly with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Without prior notice, Yahoo deleted the photo on grounds it violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking. Dors eventually convinced a Yahoo manager that – far from promoting smoking – the photo had value as a statement on poverty and street life in Romania. Yet another employee deleted it again a few months later.

“I never thought of it as a photo of a smoking kid,” Dors said. “It was just of a kid in Romania and how his life is. You can never make a serious documentary if you always have to think about what Flickr will delete.”

There may be legitimate reasons to take action, such as to stop spam, security threats, copyright infringement and child pornography, but many cases aren't clear-cut, and balancing competing needs can get thorny.

“We often get caught in the middle between a rock and a hard place,” said Christine Jones, general counsel with service provider GoDaddy.com Inc. “We're obviously sensitive to the freedoms we have, particularly in this country, to speak our mind, (yet) we want to be good corporate citizens and make the Internet a better and safer place.”

In Dors' case, the law is fully with Yahoo. Its terms of service, similar to those of other service providers, gives Yahoo “sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse or remove any content.” Service providers aren't required to police content, but they aren't prohibited from doing so.

While mindful of free speech and other rights, Yahoo and other companies say they must craft and enforce guidelines that go beyond legal requirements to protect their brands and foster safe, enjoyable communities – ones where minors may be roaming.

Guidelines help “engender a positive community experience,” one to which users will want to return, said Anne Toth, Yahoo's vice president for policy.

Dors ultimately got his photo restored a second time, and Yahoo has apologized, acknowledging its community managers went too far.

Heather Champ, community director for Flickr, said the company crafts policies based on feedback from users and trains employees to weigh disputes fairly and consistently, though mistakes can happen.

“We're humans,” she said. “We're pretty transparent when we make mistakes. We have a record of being good about stepping up and fessing up.”

But that underscores another consequence of having online commons controlled by private corporations. Rules aren't always clear, enforcement is inconsistent, and users can find content removed or accounts terminated without a hearing. Appeals are solely at the service provider's discretion.

Users get caught in the crossfire as hundreds of individual service representatives apply their own interpretations of corporate policies, sometimes imposing personal agendas or misreading guidelines.

To wit: Verizon Wireless barred an abortion-rights group from obtaining a “short code” for

conducting text-messaging campaigns, while LiveJournal suspended legitimate blogs on fiction and crime victims in a crackdown on pedophilia. Two lines criticizing President Bush disappeared from AT&T Inc.'s webcast of a Pearl Jam concert. All three decisions were reversed only after senior executives intervened amid complaints.

Inconsistencies and mysteries behind decisions lead to perceptions that content is being stricken merely for being unpopular.

“As we move more of our communications into social networks, how are we limiting ourselves if we can't see alternative points of view, if we can't see the things that offend us?” asked Fred Stutzman, a University of North Carolina researcher who tracks online communities.

First Amendment protections generally do not extend to private property in the physical world, allowing a shopping mall to legally kick out a customer wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a smoking child.

With online services becoming greater conduits than shopping malls for public communications, however, some advocacy groups believe the federal government needs to guarantee open access to speech. That, of course, could also invite meddling by the government, the way broadcasters now face indecency and other restrictions that are criticized as vague.

Others believe companies shouldn't police content at all, and if they do, they should at least make clearer the rules and the mechanisms for appeal.

“Vagueness does not inspire the confidence of people and leaves room for gaming the system by outside groups,” said Lauren Weinstein, a veteran computer scientist and Internet activist. “When the rules are clear and the grievance procedures are clear, then people know what they are working with and they at least have a starting point in urging changes in those rules.”

But Marjorie Heins, director of the Free Expression Policy Project, questions whether the private sector is equipped to handle such matters at all. She said written rules mean little when service representatives applying them “tend to be tone-deaf. They don't see context.”

At least when a court order or other governmental action is involved, “there's more of a guarantee of due process protections,” said Robin Gross, executive director of the civil-liberties group IP Justice. With a private company, users' rights are limited to the service provider's contractual terms of services.

Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard professor who recently published a book on threats to the Internet's openness, said parties unhappy with sensitive materials online are increasingly aware they can simply pressure service providers and other intermediaries.

“Going after individuals can be difficult. They can be hard to find. They can be hard to sue,” Zittrain said. “Intermediaries still have a calculus where if a particular Web site is causing a lot of trouble ... it may not be worth it to them.”

Unable to stop purveyors of child pornography directly, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recently persuaded three major access providers to disable online newsgroups that distribute such images. But rather than cut off those specific newsgroups, all three decided to reduce administrative hassles by also disabling thousands of legitimate groups devoted to TV shows, the New York Mets and other topics.

Gordon Lyon, who runs a site that archives e-mail postings on security, found his domain name suddenly deactivated because one entry contained MySpace passwords obtained by hackers.

He said MySpace went directly to domain provider GoDaddy, which effectively shut down his entire site, rather than contact him to remove the one posting or replace passwords with asterisks. GoDaddy justified such drastic measures, saying that waiting to reach Lyon would have unnecessarily exposed MySpace passwords, including those to profiles of children.

Meanwhile, in response to complaints it would not specify, Network Solutions LLC decided to suspend a Web hosting account that Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders was using to promote a movie that criticizes the Quran – before the movie was even posted and without the company finding any actual violation of its rules.

Service providers say unhappy customers can always go elsewhere, but choice is often limited.

Many leading services, particularly online hangouts like Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace or media-sharing sites such as Flickr and Google Inc.'s YouTube, have acquired a cachet that cannot be replicated. To evict a user from an online community would be like banishing that person to the outskirts of town.

Other sites “don't have the critical mass. No one would see it,” said Scott Kerr, a member of the

gay punk band Kids on TV, which found its profile mysteriously deleted from MySpace last year. “People know that MySpace is the biggest site that contains music.”MySpace denies engaging in any censorship and says profiles removed are generally in response to complaints of spam and other abuses. GoDaddy also defends its commitment to speech, saying account suspensions are a last resort.

Few service providers actively review content before it gets posted and usually take action only in response to complaints.

In that sense, Flickr, YouTube and other sites consider their reviews “checks and balances” against any community mob directed at unpopular speech – YouTube has pointedly refused to delete many video clips tied to Muslim extremists, for instance, because they didn't specifically contain violence or hate speech.

Still, should these sites even make such rules? And how can they ensure the guidelines are consistently enforced?

YouTube has policies against showing people “getting hurt, attacked or humiliated,” banning even clips OK for TV news shows, but how is YouTube to know whether a video clip shows real violence or actors portraying it? Either way, showing the video is legal and may provoke useful discussions on brutality.

“Balancing these interests raises very tough issues,” YouTube acknowledged in a statement.

Unwilling to play the role of arbiter, the group-messaging service Twitter has resisted pressure to tighten its rules.

“What counts as name-calling? What counts as making fun of someone in a way that's good-natured?” said Jason Goldman, Twitter's director of program management. “There are sites that do employ teams of people that

do that investigation ... but we feel that's a job we wouldn't do well.”

Other sites are trying to be more transparent in their decisions.

Online auctioneer eBay Inc., for instance, has elaborated on its policies over the years, to the extent that sellers can drill down to where they can ship hatching eggs (U.S. addresses only) and what items related to natural disasters are permissible (they must have “substantial social, artistic or political value”). Hypothetical examples accompany each policy.

LiveJournal has recently eased restrictions on blogging. The new harassment clause, for instance, expressly lets members state negative feelings or opinions about another, and parodies of public figures are now permitted despite a ban on impersonation. Restrictions on nudity specifically exempt non-sexualized art and breast feeding.

The site took the unusual step of soliciting community feedback and setting up an advisory board with prominent Internet scholars such as Danah Boyd and Lawrence Lessig and two user representatives elected in May.

The effort comes just a year after a crackdown on pedophilia backfired. LiveJournal suspended hundreds of blogs that dealt with child abuse and sexual violence, only to find many were actually fictional works or discussions meant to protect children. The company's chief executive issued a public apology.

Community backlash can restrain service providers, but as Internet companies continue to consolidate and Internet users spend more time using vendor-controlled platforms such as mobile devices or social-networking sites, the community's power to demand free speech and other rights diminishes.

Weinstein, the veteran computer scientist, said that as people congregate at fewer places, “if you're knocked off one of those, in a lot of ways you don't exist.”

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20080707-0523-tec-disappearingfreedoms.html

Chances are it's the price of gas, not auto insurance, that's driving you to the poor house.

But if you want to cut your auto insurance premiums to the bone, stay away from small, fast cars.

"It's a common denominator among vehicles that have the highest losses -- a lot of smaller, sportier vehicles, says Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

"Contrary to the idea that smaller cars can help you avoid crashes, the data shows that small cars get into more accidents," he says. "If you feel like you have a vehicle that can zip in and out of traffic, chances are you'll do that."

Each year, the institute, and its sister organization, the Highway Loss Data Institute, analyze the actual insurance losses associated with the most popular vehicle makes and models. Since insurance companies use similar kinds of data to set premiums, the rankings give consumers a window into how their vehicle choices affect their auto premiums.

And, once again, the data suggests that small cars and speed are an expensive combination for insurers -- especially with a young driver behind the wheel.

"Sporty cars tend to be driven in ways that lead to more crashes," says Rader. "They also tend to be driven by younger, riskier drivers." And smaller cars also tend to be more affordable, which makes them more attractive to those same younger drivers, he says.

"The Subaru Impreza WRX, the Mitsubishi Lancer, the Acura RSX, the Nissan Sentra SE-R -- these vehicles have the highest rates of collision," says Rader. "And age is a part of it. It's how these vehicles are driven."

The car that comes in fifth on the "most expensive to insure" list, the Scion tC, has one of the youngest demographics. Thirty-five percent of drivers are under 25, says Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president for the Highway Loss Data Institute.

But the car at the top of the list, the Cadillac Escalade, bucks the trend. So why is a luxury SUV most commonly driven by a more affluent and comparative older clientele on the list? Two words: theft magnet.

"The Escalade has a lot of buzz in the entertainment industry," says Rader. "You can't watch an episode of 'Cribs' without seeing an Escalade. So it's desirable."

So desirable that owners face a comprehensive premium of six times the national average, says Hazelbaker.

"It's one of the iconic vehicles that continues to be popular with pop culture stars, so it continues to be popular for people to steal," he says. Plus, "everything in an Escalade bolts into a Suburban," he says.

Least Expensive to Insure

The vehicles that are likely to have the lowest insurance costs? Today's version of the good old fashioned family car, says Rader. These skew toward large sedans, or midsize SUVs or minivans.

"They tend to be driven by people who are not as likely to speed or drive recklessly," he says.

And they also aren't as likely to be used to commute to and from work, says Hazelbaker. That means the cars aren't on the road during rush hour, which also lowers their risk.

"We have an awful lot of soccer mom cars on that list," he says. "The (Buick) Rendezvous, the (Subaru) Outback, the (Honda) Pilot, the Chrysler Town & Country -- all of these are sort of 'mommy mobiles.'"

And none of the vehicles on the cheapest to insure list "are very large," either, says Hazelbaker. "As the size of an SUV or pickup goes up, you do have higher losses."

The all-around least expensive to insure? The Ford Five Hundred, the study found. A medium-sized, affordable sedan now known as the Ford Taurus, "it's probably driven by a favorable demographic in a favorable way," he says. "It's a suburban family second car."

Cars of this type "are probably living in a garage," which makes them less of a theft target. Plus they tend to be less desirable to thieves, he says.

"If you're going to pick out something to steal, what would you choose?" says Hazelbaker.

When Bigger Isn't Better for Premiums

But larger vehicles don't automatically mean lower premiums. Some super-size vehicles could actually increase the cost of your insurance.

When two cars collide, the average repair cost for each is about $3,000, says Hazelbaker. But some larger vehicles are routinely linked to higher-dollar damage to other cars. And that could cost you in terms of more expensive insurance.

The top five linked to highest dollar damages to other cars, according to the institute, are as follows.

Hummer H2 SUT 4dr 4WD

Hummer H3 4dr 4WD

Hummer H2 4dr 4WD

Dodge Ram 2500 mega cab 4WD

Toyota Highlander Hybrid 4dr

 "They're big, heavy vehicles that tend to inflict a lot of damage on what they hit," says Rader. See the top 10 list.

Keeping Premiums Down

Want to keep your premiums low? Talk to your agent before you buy your next vehicle, says Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry organization. Once you've narrowed your choices to two or three models, ask if any of the premiums will be significantly different. Note if any of the models have high repair costs or theft rates, she says.

It can be tricky. Even different models of the same car can have different costs when it comes to insurance. "A different motor or different luxury items" can change your premium, says Worters.

One example is a convertible. That ragtop could cost you more than the hardtop version of the same car, says Worters. A convertible is "easier to get into, so it might be more costly," she says.

Another tip off to high-priced premiums: higher-priced cars.

"The more expensive the car is, all things being equal, the more it's going to cost to insure," says Dick Luedke, spokesman for the State Farm Insurance Cos.

And each car has more than one score to consider. The same car that shows lower-than-average losses in terms of inflicting damage might be worse in terms of theft. But insurance companies, and the premiums, take the whole package into account.

So what categories make the most difference, when it comes to your premium?

"The biggest portion of auto insurance is for liability," says Luedke. Next is collision and comprehensive, fairly equally. And after that comes medical payments, he says.

Smart money: Look at your car's scores in all categories, but in the end, shop safety. Pick up great safety information, like crash tests results, rollover ratings, recalls, service bulletins and consumer complaints with the following sites.

And the car is only part of the equation. You, your lifestyle and your driving record will also have a sizable impact on the premium. To calculate your premium, insurance companies analyze everything from your age, residence, and driving patterns to your prior driving record and credit history.

When it comes to the premium, says Hazelbaker, "the person in the vehicle makes the most difference."  10 Most-Expensive Cars to Insure

The 10 vehicles that account for the highest dollar amount of losses for insurance companies (starting with the most expensive) are:

Cadillac Escalade EXT 4WD

Subaru Impreza WRX 4WD

Hyundai Tiburon

Mitsubishi Lancer

Scion tC

Acura RSX

Nissan Sentra SE-R

Suzuki Forenza

Nissan Sentra/Mitsubishi Eclipse

Chevrolet Cobalt two-door

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, based on 2004-2006 models

 10 Least-Expensive Cars to Insure

The 10 vehicles that account for the lowest dollar amount of losses for insurance companies (starting with the least expensive) are:

Ford Five Hundred 4WD (now the Ford Taurus)

Buick Rendezvous 4WD

Buick Lucerne/Buick Rainier 4WD/Honda Odyssey

Ford Freestyle 4WD/Subaru Outback 4WD

Buick Rendezvous/Honda Pilot

Chrysler Town & Country LWB

Honda Pilot 4WD

Buick LaCrosse/Chevrolet Uplander/Ford Escape/Volvo V70

Dodge Grand Caravan/Ford Freestyle 4WD

Ford Explorer 4WD/GMC Sierra 1500 4WD/Toyota Highlander/Toyota Sienna

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, based on 2004-2006 models

High gas prices, the housing crisis and general economic uncertainty are motivating consumers to look for the least expensive cars to own and operate.

A new study by Edmunds.com, indicates that many compact and subcompact vehicles are actually better choices than hybrids for consumers looking to save money. The data also suggest that only one hybrid, the Honda Civic Hybrid, would break into the top 10 least expensive vehicles if gas prices were to increase to $5 per gallon.

The results are based on Edmunds.com's "True Cost to Own" data, which accounts for total vehicle costs over a five-year period.

The study incorporates projected model-specific average vehicle ownership costs, consisting of depreciation, financing, taxes, fees, insurance premiums, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs in addition to fuel economy and sticker price. When all of the factors are considered, some popular vehicles look considerably less appealing on a cost-per-mile basis than their fuel economy would suggest.

"When consumers think about cars that will save them money, hybrids are typically top of mind because of their fuel efficiency," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com executive director of industry analysis. "But when you take a look at the real-world costs of car ownership, you realize that many subcompact and compact cars are actually a much better value proposition."

The study evaluated the ownership costs of vehicles assuming gas prices of $4.06, the national average on June 23, $5 and $6. With gas prices at $4.06 per gallon, the standard model Toyota Prius costs owners 50 cents per mile -- ranking 33rd among all vehicles.

The top-seeded Chevrolet Aveo, on the other hand, costs 42 cents per mile, resulting in annual savings of $1,200 to consumers who choose the Aveo over a Prius. In the event gas prices rise to $5 or $6 per gallon, the Aveo remains in the top spot and the Prius moves to positions 25 and 17 respectively.

The following are the 10 least expensive vehicles to own at $4.06 per gallon:

1. Chevrolet Aveo
2. Hyundai Accent
3. Honda Fit
4. Toyota Yaris
5. Honda Civic
6. Nissan Versa
7. Mazda3 i Sport
8. Kia Rio
9. Scion xB
10. Toyota Corolla

The following are the 10 least expensive hybrid vehicles to own $4.06 per gallon:

1. Honda Civic Hybrid
2. Toyota Prius
3. Nissan Altima Hybrid
4. Chevrolet Malibu
5. Ford Escape Hybrid
6. Mercury Mariner Hybrid (FWD)
7. Toyota Camry Hybrid
8. Mercury Mariner Hybrid (AWD)
9. Toyota Highlander Hybrid
10. Lexus RX 400h

"Many consumers neglect to consider total ownership costs when deciding which vehicle to buy," said Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. "Shoppers should look beyond fuel economy and consider the big picture when determining how a vehicle purchase will fit into their household budget." Edmunds.com's calculations make the following assumptions: Ownership expenses are for a five-year time span; vehicles are driven 15,000 miles per year; vehicles are financed using traditional financing and not leased; buyers pay 10 percent down on the vehicle; buyers are in the "Gold" credit tier for the purpose of determining the finance rate; the loan term is 60 months; and buyers represent the average demographic in their state for insurance rates.

1) When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep.  Not screaming like all the passengers in his car."
--Author Unknown 
2) Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children."
--Author Unknown 
3) "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."
--Drew Carey 
4) "The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."
--Jeff Foxworthy 
5) "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base."
--Dave Barry 
6) "Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp."
--Bob Ettinger 
7) "My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'"
--Paula Poundstone 
8) "A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh."
--Conan O'Brien 
9) "Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God.... I could be eating a slow learner."
--Lynda Montgomery 
10) "I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"
Richard Jeni 
11) "If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."
--Johnny Carson 
12) "Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
--Paul Rodriguez 
13) "My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."
--Jerry Seinfeld 
14) "Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?"
--Warren Hutcherson 
15) "Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same."
--Oscar Wilde 
16) "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.. But I repeat myself."
--Mark Twain  
17) "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan."
--A. Whitney Brown 
18) "You can say any foolish thing to a dog and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'"
--Dave Barry 
19) Do you know why they call it "PMS"? Because "Mad Cow Disease" was taken.
--Unknown, presumed deceased 
20) "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
--W. C. Fields 

Right now, gag grouper in the Gulf of Mexico face critical conservation challenges from overfishing. Along with a science-based plan to end overfishing, fishery managers are also considering economic incentives that encourage and reward sustainable fishing.

This exciting, win-win opportunity can't become a reality without your help. Please sign our petition urging Gulf fishery managers to finalize and approve a new plan for sustainable grouper fishing.

According to David Krebbs, a Destin, FL fisherman supporting the grouper plan, “This plan will give fishermen the flexibility to fish in safer weather and at the same time create a more sustainable way to catch fish.”

The program, when combined with science-based fishing limits, bycatch reduction, and protection of gag grouper when spawning, can make a sustainable fishery a reality. Only by working together can we create fisheries that are profitable and sustainable so marine life - and our economy - can thrive.

Help start a sea change today!

Click here to learn more about the new plan

Sincerely,

 

Bill Blome
Gulf of Mexico Region Outreach Manager
Ocean Conservancy

Complaints from travelers and privacy advocates have spurred lawmakers to challenge the policy of random inspections.

Bill Hogan was returning home to the U.S. from Germany in February when a customs agent at Dulles International Airport pulled him aside. He could reenter the country, she told him. But his laptop couldn't.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said he had been chosen for "random inspection of electronic media," and kept his computer for about two weeks, recalled Hogan, 55, a freelance journalist from Falls Church, Va.

Fortunately, it was a spare computer that had little important information. But Hogan felt violated.

"It's not an inspection. It's a seizure," he said. "What do they do with it? I assume they just copy everything."

For several years, U.S. officials have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices at the border with few publicly released details.

Complaints from travelers and privacy advocates have spurred some lawmakers to fight the U.S. Customs policy and to consider sponsoring legislation that would sharply limit the practice.

As people store more and more information electronically, the debate hinges on whether searching a laptop is like looking in your luggage or more like a strip search.
"Customs agents must have the ability to conduct even highly intrusive searches when there is reason to suspect criminal or terrorist activity, but suspicion-less searches of Americans' laptops and similar devices go too far," said Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), who chairs a subcommittee that examined the searches at a hearing Wednesday. "Congress should not allow this gross violation of privacy."

Authorities need a search warrant to get at a computer in a person's home and reasonable suspicion of illegal activity to search a laptop in other places. But the rules change at border crossings.

Courts consistently have ruled that there's no need for warrants or suspicions when a person is seeking to enter the country -- agents can search belongings, including computer gear, for any reason.

The latest decision was from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in April ruled that agents had acted properly when turning over information used to charge a traveler with possession of child pornography. His laptop had been searched in 2005 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Any routine search is considered "reasonable" under the 4th Amendment, legal scholars agree. But Feingold is worried that the law has not kept up with technology.
Said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "People keep their lives on these devices: diaries, personal mail, financial records, family photos. . . . The government should not be able to read this information."

In February, the group and the Asian Law Caucus sued authorities for more information about the program.

The issue is of particular concern for businesses, which risk the loss of proprietary data when executives travel abroad, said Susan K. Gurley, executive director of the Assn. of Corporate Travel Executives. After the California court ruling, the group warned its members to limit the business and personal information they carry on laptops taken out of the country.

Of the 100 people who responded to a survey the association did in February, seven said they had been subject to the seizure of a laptop or other electronic device.
Jayson P. Ahern, deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said in written testimony to the subcommittee that the agency would "protect information that may be discovered during the examination process, as well as private information of a personal nature that is not in violation of any law." The agency conducts "a regular review and purging of information that is no longer relevant."

Feingold said the testimony gave "little meaningful detail" about the program. He is considering legislation to prohibit such routine searches of electronic devices without reasonable suspicion.

But Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) said officials have to balance individual rights with protecting the nation."Terrorists take advantage of this kind of technology," he said.

Hogan, the freelance journalist, said there was no reason for customs agents to think he was a terrorist. He advised people to take precautions with their laptops when they leave the country.

"I certainly would never take it again," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-laptops26-2008jun26,0,4415017.story

This morning, a 5.4 earthquake apparently hit our area, I say apparently, because once again I did not feel anything.
I was on the road, a few miles from the house, and learned about it when Sandra who was doing an audit in Corona, close to the epicenter called me and asked me if I was OK. 
My answer was what earthquake?
Reading the news though it must have been impressive for people inside buildings.  It was felt all the way to San Diego and Las Vegas and was the strongest since the 1994 Northridge quake, and then again, I was in Ontario for a trade show when a 4.9 aftershock hit during the night.  The next morning, everybody was talking about it at the hotel gym and at breakfast…  Did not feel a thing, did not notice a thing…

  

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who became a YouTube phenomenon with his "Last Lecture," died Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47. He died at his home in southern Virginia.

PHOTOS: Randy Paush's life in pictures

Pausch told USA Today during an interview at his home in March that the now-famous lecture was never meant for public consumption, nor was it for his colleagues or students. It was for his two sons and daughter: Dylan, 6, Logan, 3, and Chloe, 2.

"I knew what I was doing that day," he wrote in the introduction of his best-selling book, also titled The Last Lecture. "Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children."

The book has been atop or near the top of USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list since it was published in April. This week The Last Lecture (Hyperion, $21.95) is No. 8. It has been translated into 30 languages.

"If people are finding inspiration, OK, but the book is for my kids," Pausch said.

President George W. Bush, touched by Pausch's story, recently honored him in a letter, citing his service to his country.

"Your love of family, dedication in the classroom, and passion for teaching will stand as a lasting legacy, and I am grateful for your willingness to serve," Bush wrote.

Bush's wasn't the only accolade that came Pausch's way. He made Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Although celebrated in his field for co-founding the pioneering Entertainment Technology Center and creating an innovative software tool known as "Alice," it was his lecture that earned Pausch worldwide fame.

Titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," the humorous and heartfelt talk was videotaped and quickly spread around the world via the Internet. Millions of people have since viewed it. It was delivered at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007, a few weeks after Pausch learned he didn't have long to live.

In the lecture he urged his students and colleagues to live life to the fullest. Among his words of wisdom:

•"Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day because there's no other way to play it."

•"We can't change the cards we're dealt, just how we play the hand. If I'm not as depressed as you think I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Good teaching is always a performance, but what Randy did was in a class all by itself," says Andy van Dam, co-founder of the computer science department at Brown University, which Pausch attended as an undergraduate. "His students responded to him as athletes do to a great coach who cares not only about winning but about the team players as individuals."

Besides his children, Pausch is survived by his wife, Jai. Donations can be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245, or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund (www.cmu.edu/giving/pausch), which supports the university's continued work on the Alice project.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-07-25-pausch-obit_N.htm

Morning Edition, July 24, 2008 · For years, the chief punishment for immigrants caught working illegally in the United States has been deportation. But prosecutors are now bringing criminal charges that include aggravated identity theft, which can bring a hefty prison sentence. Immigrant rights groups and some members of Congress are challenging the practice.

A congressional panel is meeting Thursday to look at the controversial fallout from an immigration raid on an Iowa meat-packing plant in May. Not long ago, illegal immigrants swept up in such raids faced administrative charges and swift deportation. But in recent years, the Bush administration has started bringing criminal charges against immigrants who use fake documents, including stolen Social Security numbers.

After the raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, more than 250 workers were sentenced to five months in prison. Rights groups, defense lawyers and even some judges are questioning the Bush administration's strategy.

Iowa immigration attorney Dan Vondra says he was stunned to see immigrant workers from the plant charged with aggravated identity theft. Congress created that law in 2004 to toughen penalties for the growing problem of identity theft.

Still, Vondra said, "When you think of identity theft, what you really want to target is somebody getting credit cards in your name, ruining your credit, using your name to commit crimes, things of that nature."

The immigrants had bought stolen Social Security numbers to help them find work, Vondra said. In fact, one of the translators at the court proceedings has said the mainly Guatemalan immigrants he encountered had no idea what a Social Security card was — let alone that the numbers on it belonged to real people.

Challenges In The Courts

Last year, another Iowa attorney used that argument in court. Gary Koos' client had been arrested at a concrete company after buying an ID off the street in order to fill out employment forms. Koos didn't think that fit the crime of aggravated identity theft.

"If you want to think of it in legal terms, it would be that a person has to be put upon notice of what the crime is," Koos said. "And in this case, it's knowingly to use someone else's identity. My client didn't know he had someone else's Social Security number, he just had a number."

Koos lost the case on appeal, and his immigrant client is now serving five years in federal prison. But Koos' argument has been backed by other appeals courts — and he thinks the Supreme Court may need to resolve the dispute.

The issue is coming up more often because of another part of the Bush administration's immigration crackdown. More and more companies are using a federal computer program that can detect fake Social Security numbers. But it can't tell when real numbers are used by another person — which has fueled a growing market for stolen IDs.

"The issue is whether people using false identifications should be held accountable for that," said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in northern Iowa, which prosecuted the Agriprocessors case.

Teig said he didn't know whether any of the workers charged with aggravated ID theft had used Social Security numbers for anything but work. But that's not the point, he said.

"The point is, by the time it happens it's too late. The statute is not just designed to punish, the statute is designed to prevent," Teig said.

A Stiff Mandatory Sentence

To be clear, the Agriprocessors employees did not plead guilty to aggravated ID theft. But because the charge carries a two-year prison sentence as its mandatory minimum, it put pressure on them to accept a plea deal on lesser charges.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has called for a hearing to look at that procedure. She's also an immigration attorney, and she questions whether due process was upheld.

"Hundreds of people were convinced to plead guilty to a crime without really an adequate opportunity to see if they had any remedy under immigration law," Lofgren said. "And of course, now that they've pled guilty to a crime, they have no remedies that they might otherwise have had."

Not all arrested immigrant workers are being sentenced to jail time. But federal immigration officials say incarceration can be an important deterrent. And Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says that some victims of this kind of ID theft suffer financial and legal hardships.

"We think it's tragic and unfortunate when people break the law by coming here," Myers said, "and then break the law again by actually stealing the identity of U.S. citizens."

So far this year, the immigration agency has made more than 900 criminal arrests.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92830188&ft=1&f=1012

Read The ID Theft Law

Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act of 2004

 

Let’s not forget that when those illegal immigrants who use stolen Social Security numbers get in trouble, AKA traffic accident, traffic tickets, default on loan, the actual innocent owner of the Social Security number has to defend himself and prove that he is not the one guilty.  In addition, the wages of the illegal immigrant using the stolen ID are declared to the IRS and charged to the actual owner of the SS number exposing him to IRS wrath since the IRS matches employer declarations to employee tax returns.  Discrepancies in declared income can lead to audit, tax penalties and interest, leaving the actual owner of the SS number to defend him or herself.

Immigrant Rights Groups, actually to be correct, one should say Illegal Immigrant Rights Groups, since that’s what they are, could care less about the real victims here, the people whose ID was stolen, preferring to care and defend those who already break the law (isn’t that the definition of criminal?)

In any case, the innocent owner of the SS number is potentially in for some nasty surprises that could take months or years to fix, not taking into account what they may have to spend to clean up their record. 

But again, illegal immigrants Right Groups could care less about the real victims.

 

Only 5-25% of jobs are advertised - networking helps you to find out about unadvertised openings through talking to as many people as possible and expressing that you are in search of a career.

Do's

· Join a professional organization related to the financial services industry - professional organizations were rated as the top spot for networking

· Think creatively about where to find contacts - you can network anywhere

· Ask for help - most people will be flattered to be asked for career advice and assistance with your job search

· Ask for referrals , advice and information from your current network contacts

· Volunteer - volunteer work is another top rated way to network

· Cold call - for example: call alumni, start with "I went to such-and-such university and I understand you graduated from there" You will get some rejections

· Create a system to organize your network contacts (computer spreadsheet, rolodex, three-ring binder)

· Conduct informational interviews (talk to people who are currently working in the financial services industry to gain a better understanding the industry or occupation)

· Thank everyone in your network who has helped you (send a thank-you note). Show that you are a likeable, polite person in your letter and that you sincerely appreciate your network contacts assistance

· Stay connected - Keep networking even after you've found a job - you never know when you'll need to utilize your network contacts again

· Visit chat groups, message boards and blogs that deal with the financial services industry (especially those run by professional associations)

· Perfect your telephone skills - keep conversation to under 15 minutes and follow up with a thank- you letter and a copy of your up to date resume instructing your network contact to pass your presume along to anyone who might be interested in your job skills

· Return the favor - be sure to help others when they reach out to you

· Think before you speak - present your thoughts and ideas clearly

Don'ts

 · Go anywhere without your business card or copies of your resume in case you run into someone that can pass your information along to a hiring manager

· Choose a network group by it's size - it's not about quantity, but the quality of your network contacts

· Wait for someone to call you about a job opportunity - initiate networking by yourself

· Let rejections discourage you - accept them and move forward

· Hand out your business card or resume to a contact before a conversation occurs - get to know them first

· Sound like a telemarketer while making your cold calls

· Talk about yourself too much - instead ask questions about the company

· Offer voluntary opinions on controversial subjects - remain neutral as not to put yourself in an awkward situation

· Be shy - welcome compliments by saying "thank you"

· Expect instant results - be patient · Be too aggressive - know when to back off

 

With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man in this emotionally stirring short film by Alonso Alvarez.

Fourth annual Short Film Online Competition - Cannes 2008. The NFB, in association with the Cannes Short Film Corner and partner YouTube, is proud to announce that the winner of the NFB Online Competition Cannes 2008 is Alonso Alvarez Barreda for his short film Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign) produced in Mexico/U.S.A.

Steve Bass finds 20 percent of the ink he paid for left in supposedly empty cartridges, but Brother has a logical (if not legal) explanation.

"I'm out of ink. Feed me." That was what my Brother 640CW multifunction printer demanded recently. I checked and there was still enough fluid in its cartridge for goodness knows how many more pages.

I examined all three allegedly empty cartridges--cyan, yellow, and magenta. From the top to bottom, they measured 1 1/8 inches. There was still roughly 1/4 inch of fluid at the bottom of each one. That's about a fifth of the cartridge's capacity, so my loss in ink was roughly $2.25 per cartridge. That's not exactly big bucks, but enough to make me feel like I was being scammed. (Oh, right, what printing manufacturer would do that, eh?)

I was fuming.

Brother Says: Oh, That's Normal

I used my pull and fired a note off to Brother's PR person. My question was simple: Is there a mechanical reason to leave fluid in the cartridge?

Brother's rep had a logical answer, of course. Here it is, verbatim--make sure to slip on a pair of hip boots so you don't get splattered with anything.

"First, we would like to assure you that Brother stands behind our product and the information disclosure that we provide to the consumer. It is always our policy to provide such information to consumers to help them understand both the product and the conditions under which the product operates.

"To address your specific question regarding ink volume, the rated yield for each cartridge follows the industry standard of that period which was based on 5% page coverage. So regardless of what small ink volume you may see remaining in an ink cartridge when it needs to be replaced, we guarantee that the ink volume that was provided and 'used' meets this industry standard calculation. Any additional ink volume left in a cartridge at that time was not put into the rated yield calculation that is guaranteed by Brother.

"Importantly, there is a technical and performance reason for why the small amount of ink is remaining in a cartridge that is identified as 'empty.' As mentioned in the User Manual, 'even though the machine informs you that an ink cartridge is empty, there will be a small amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge. It is necessary to keep some ink in the ink cartridge to prevent air from drying out and damaging the print head assembly.' By doing so, the machine is protected and consistent print quality is ensured to satisfy the consumer. In effect, remaining ink should not be viewed as waste, but as Brother's affirmative action to provide ongoing high quality output and performance of the machine."

Horsepucky, says I. Granted, the printer may need a small amount of ink to keep the printer heads from drying out, but the volume left in the cartridge isn't what I'd call small. And I'm not interested in the industry standard of 5 percent coverage. What I know is that even with minimal printing, the Brother needs a new cartridge way too often--and I want every last drop of ink.

Inkjet Cartridges? It's a Hot Topic

http://www.pcworld.com/article/148707/article.html

Shoppers do crazy things. And retailers bank on it.

Several studies reveal how Americans shop in irrational ways, and increasingly scientists are figuring out how easily we can be duped. Retailers in turn use these tricks to get inside our heads, encouraging window shoppers to become real shoppers, driving purchases of sales items regardless of real value, and helping buyers feel good about the things they walk out with ... often for no good reason.

One new study finds that happiness with a purchase depends on the choices that were available on a store shelf and how the items were presented.

Study participants were presented products ranging from cordless phones to lawn mowers. The goods were presented in three ways:

One choice was clearly superior to the other two (asymmetric dominance) One choice was intermediate to the other two (compromise) Two options that were somewhat equivalent (control)

After participants made choices, they rated the products and their satisfaction. In five tests that shifted the products and setups, the participants' preferences were affected by presentation. The bottom line: A product presented as clearly superior to other products on a store shelf makes for a happy customer, regardless of the product's inherent qualities to some degree.

"A pen selected from a set in which it asymmetrically dominated another pen produced a more positive writing experience and a greater willingness to pay for the pen than if the same pen was selected from a set in which it did not dominate another option," conclude Song-Oh Yoon of the Korea University Business School and Itamar Simonson from Stanford University.

The study is detailed in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

A study last year by a separate group, published in the same journal, reached a similar conclusion. Study participants were presented with two sofas. Sofa A was softer, but Sofa B was more durable. Sofa A was preferred by the minority - 42.3 percent of the participants. Then both sofas were presented with three other sofas that had very low softness ratings. Preference for sofa A jumped to 77.4 percent.

Tricks of the trade

There are many ways retailers encourage you to open your wallet. None is more obvious than putting things on sale.

Researchers have known empirically for more than 20 years a "50% off" sign leads consumers to assume a price is attractive, even if they have no knowledge of the original price or reasonable prices for that product.

In fact, shoppers as a whole seem quite clueless about sales values.

Studies have also shown that frequent but modest discounts - such as the constant sales at a car dealership - lead to perceptions of greater value than less frequent but deeper discounts.

And when math is involved, most of us can't cope. For example: See if you can calculate the total savings in the setup: 20 percent off the original price plus an additional 25 percent off the sale price. How much is that item marked down? If you said 45 percent off, then you're math skills are as pitiful as the 85 percent of college students who also got this wrong in a study last year by researchers at the University of Miami and the University of Minnesota. The right answer: 40 percent off.

More tricks

Other tricks, such as this one documented in a study last year, are more subtle:

A salesperson can totally alter a window shopper's inclination to buy something by simply asking the right question. When a salesperson asks a shopper which of several items she prefers, the shopper tends to skip the whole "Should I buy it at all?" question and go straight to the "Which one should I buy?" phase. The study was done in simulated tests and in real-world retail situations.

"Stating a preference appears to induce a which-to-buy mindset, leading people to think about which of several products they would like to buy under the implicit assumption they have already decided to buy one of them," wrote Alison Jing Xu and Robert S. Wyer, Jr. of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "Consequently, they are more disposed to make a purchase than they otherwise would be."

Amazingly, the gimmick worked even in selling unrelated products. Just 2 percent of a control group bought candy in one test. But in a group who had been asked to indicate their preference among mp3 players, restaurants, and mobile phones, 28 percent bought candy.

Some tricks are downright nasty. One sales technique is called "disrupt-then-reframe."

Frank R. Kardes at the University of Cincinnati and colleagues found that by presenting a confusing sales pitch (such as telling a potential customer that a candy bar costs 300 cents) then restating the pitch in a more familiar way, they were able to increase sales of a candy bar in a supermarket. The same trick increased students' willingness to accept a tuition increase or to pay to join a student interest group.

Loyal shoppers

Any good salesperson knows that if you really want to sell something, you just need to know what the customer wants.

Another study by Simonson, the Stanford researcher, with Ran Kivetz of Columbia University, focused on loyalty programs, in which a consumer joins to gain discounts or some other rewards but is required to make a certain number of purchases.

People who liked sushi were offered one program that required them to buy 10 sandwiches, and another program with equal rewards that required them to buy 10 sandwiches and 10 orders of sushi. The study subjects were more likely to join the second program, even though it offered no additional benefit and required them to buy more.

The study "shows that people put too much emphasis on things that seem to fit them better than others, often leading to irrational choices," Simonson told LiveScience.

The Truth About Shopaholics Men as Addicted to Shopping as Women Bad Habits: Why We Can't Stop Original Story: Buyer Beware: The Many Ways Retailers Can Trick You

Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Pictures, Science Videos, Hot Topics, Trivia, Top 10s, Voting, Amazing Images, Reader Favorites, and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/buyerbewarethemanywaysretailerscantrickyou&printer=1;_ylt=Apsuf1Wr95mWq.W.uVBAFzazvtEF

Be careful when you open your email at work today. Over the weekend, your inbox may have become inundated with messages carrying links to news stories with lurid headlines about Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Britney Spears and other celebs. Don't even think about clicking on the link. If you do, you will instantly join millions of others duped over the past 18 months into turning over your PC to the operators of the Storm botnet. Your PC will then be used to spread fraud spam; you'll help these guys sell fake drugs and carry out pump-and-dump stock market scams. For good measure, the Storm gang will gleefully harvest all of your usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, Social Security number -- any  sensitive data you type into web page forms. Your personal data will be sold to the highest bidder in a thriving, eBay-like underground market. And to add salt to your wounds, the only way to get Storm off your PC is by reinstalling a fresh copy of your Windows operating system.

Tapping people's morbid curiosity isn't terribly clever. The Storm gang first began using lurid headlines -- about weather events -- way back in January 2007. However, these crooks have demonstrated a superior ability to reduce the best firewalls and spam blockers corporations can buy into Swiss cheese, says SecureWorks researcher Don Jackson. They do it with state-of-the-art "packing" technology that allows them to churn out new variants of their malicious code magnitudes of order faster than anti virus companies can detect and block them, Jackson told me. A handful of rival crime rings --  with names like Rustock, Bobax and SriZbi -- operate equally sophisticated and persistent spamming botnets, says Jackson.

Researchers from Israeli security firm Finjan recently spent 18 months undercover prowling around criminal forums and chat rooms to document the business models used by the top cyber crime groups. Finjan CTO Yuval Ben-Itzha says the elite botnet spamming rings function as part of a  "major shadow economy with an organizational structure that closely mimics the real business world." Strict hierarchies prevail. Duties are clearly delineated. And compensation is tied directly to rank, very much like the military and the mafia,  Ben-Itza told me.

"Businesses today are even more vulnerable to cybercrime attacks, especially considering the maturity of the cybercrime market and its well-structured cybercrime organizations,” says Ben-Itza.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2008/07/---style-defini.html

The most obvious way to blow your credit score is to make a late payment. Even if your credit score is solid, a single missed payment could cost you as much as 100 points, say many financial advisers. According to the Fair Isaac, the company that calculates your FICO score, payment history accounts for 35 percent of your total score. And that credit score will help determine what kind of rates you can score when applying for home or car loans. So first things first: Figure out your credit score.

Your FICO score, a number between 300 and 850, is based on five criteria:

payment history

amounts owed

length of credit history

new credit

types of credit used

You can find out yours at myfico.com. According to Experian National Score Index, one of the major credit bureau companies, the average credit score in America is currently 692. Those with scores well above 700 will qualify for the best interest rates out there.

But even if you pay your bills on time religiously, your credit score may be endangered. Here are ways charge card sins could cost you some precious credit score points.

1. Not asking for what you want
Don’t accept everything your credit card company offers as written in stone. If you don’t want that credit line increase, ask them to reduce it back to your old one. Had one late payment? If your record is squeaky clean, ask them nicely to remove the blemish from your credit history (which, remember, could cost you up to 100 points on your credit score). They could say no, but they could very well say yes because they value you as a customer. Ask anyway. Your credit score will thank you.

2. Accepting credit line increases
Being the responsible, on-time bill-payer that you are, your credit card company rewards you by upping your credit line. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but remember how much you can afford to reasonably charge. Resist the urge to spend more or risk being unable to meet your new minimum payments.

3. Consolidating your accounts
So you’re considering transferring all your credit card balances to one card so you’re only dealing with one bill every month. It sounds sensible, right? A big no-no, according to the keepers of the credit score. Think of it this way: One big balance looks a whole lot worse than multiple low balances. Appearances are everything.

 

Breaking through AOL's anti-spam efforts, combined with talking to the wrong person, netted spammer Adam Vitale two and a half years in jail.

The repeatedly convicted Vitale finally received his sentence in a case that concerned AOL. He and another man, Todd Moeller, engaged in the kind of spamming that filtering measures should stop, but in AOL's case, did not.

Reuters said Vitale picked up a 30-month sentence in the case, as well as a $180,000 penalty to be repaid to AOL.

They managed to elude AOL's defense through a combination of relays and forged headers, which suggests the use of compromised computers as part of a botnet. Such botnets regularly figure in massive spamming campaigns.

Vitale originally faced 11 years in jail and a $250,000 fine for violating the CAN-SPAM Act. Vitale came to the attention of federal authorities after assuring a government informant he could spam about 300 million people.

Vitale also suggested a deal with the informant that would have Vitale spam people with ads for a security product in exchange for half the profits on that product's sales.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/07/16/aol-spammers-success-leads-to-jail-sentence

http://pixiesplace.com/trainride/