The BBC reports on changes in Nigeria that are meant to help fight 419 fraud: Virtually anyone with an email account will be familiar with this crime, which involves sending emails or faxes to potential victims around the world, sucking them into a highly attractive but utterly false financial deal. Back in Nigeria, the rewards … Continue reading Nigerian ISPs now liable for 419ers
It always bothered me that the 419 scams in Nigeria seem to be linked to people who say that they are just playing the game of open markets. In other words, attackers ask why they should be blamed if they simply prey on others’ greed. A new story appeared last Thursday in the Guardian that … Continue reading The 419 Attack
Are you more likely to believe a prince in Africa is coming to give his wealth to you (get rich quick), or that AntiFa is coming to take your wealth away from you (get poor quick)? American cognitive trust has a dangerous vulnerability called… bias. Often I speak about the cultural relativity of privacy. Americans … Continue reading Cultural Spectrum of Trust
In our much-hyped age of big data and analytics, one might expect to find a plethora of useful virus tracking tools to help us all stay safe. Do you know which global map this one is from? Now that the deaths in Seattle officially are more than Beijing, and it’s believed virus carriers moved about … Continue reading Visualizing Coronavirus Spread: Many Tools, Results Vary Widely
Equifax soaks up a lot of news as the example of bad leadership, and there has been a lot said about the CSO role and person. But is it really the example we should focus on the most? By the numbers, Equifax appears to sit among a wide group of breaches that each lost around … Continue reading One CSO and the Three Biggest Breaches of All Time
Michelle Obama, who obviously speaks truth to power, doesn’t believe at all in the “Lean In” concept. The title of this post comes from her being quoted in a new Wired story about the aristocratic methods of Facebook’s COO (referred to as an empress). Wired points out how “Lean in” instead soon may be more … Continue reading “Lean In — That Shit Doesn’t Work”
This title comes from a recent interview with Oregon’s Senator Wyden Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly lied to the American people about privacy. I think he ought to be held personally accountable, which is everything from financial fines to—and let me underline this—the possibility of a prison term. Because he hurt a lot of people. And, … Continue reading US Senator Argues for Jailing Facebook Execs
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has an interesting origin story that is basically 180 degrees from its current incarnation. Everything it stood for was reversed when the NRA in 1975 developed a splinter extremist right-wing Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) lobby group. The ILA came into significance in 1977, taking over control of the NRA, … Continue reading Real History of the NRA
A new query tool has been posted online that purportedly searches all the flight booking services to find deals for travel. The name of the tool is “Escape” and the URL even is more interstingly: greatescape.co For some reason the first thing that comes to mind for me is a series of US evacuation/escape stories … Continue reading Escape from Tehran: Big Data Edition
The Washington Post has a well researched and written story about why the US Republican party is defined by their racism. Oh, maybe I should say spoiler alert: …slavery’s enduring legacy is evident not only in statistics on black poverty and education. The institution continues to influence how white Southerners think and feel about race … Continue reading Why the US South Needs You to Send More $50 Grant Bills