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Security quotes of the week

So far, in most of the drive-by download scenarios an automated injection mechanism is implemented as a simple PHP script. In the case described above, we are dealing with something far more sophisticated - a kernel-mode binary component that uses advanced hooking techniques to ensure that the injection process is more transparent and low-level than ever before. This rootkit, though it's still in the development stage, shows a new approach to the drive-by download schema and we can certainly expect more such malware in the future.
-- Marta Janus

I do stay awake at night worrying that people are tagging my photo on Facebook, which could allow the New York Police Dept to submit a photo of protesters to Facebook and get a list of names and addresses of the people in the photo. Or it could allow the police to track my movements via existing networks of surveillance cameras by matching my image to my name. Would that require a search warrant? How would that impact my trust in my government to know that my movements are being tracked? Or worse, to know they might be tracked but I'll never know if [they] are or aren't?
-- Jamie McClelland

The ITU is the wrong place to make decisions about the future of the Internet.

Only governments have a voice at the ITU. This includes governments that do not support a free and open Internet. Engineers, companies, and people that build and use the web have no vote.

The ITU is also secretive. The treaty conference and proposals are confidential.

-- Google is concerned about a closed-door International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting in December
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Security quotes of the week

Posted Nov 22, 2012 11:56 UTC (Thu) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link]

I'm not sure I understand the problem of Jamie McClelland. I've just checked and I have three kinds of government-issued ID cards with my photo (passport, driving license, ID card), so the government has at least three databases where they could look up my name from a photo. It means that if their technology is as good as Facebook's, they can already track movements, etc. I think it's not legal to access these databases for a police investigation, but the tracking itself would be not legal either...

Security quotes of the week

Posted Nov 23, 2012 23:20 UTC (Fri) by price (subscriber, #59790) [Link]

Face-recognition data works better with more data -- particularly with photos showing each subject in a number of different angles, lighting conditions, facial expressions, etc. So the authorities will have much better luck recognizing a photo from, say, a protest against Facebook's database than against the DMV's or the Passport Agency's.

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